Do you ever just wonder, “are the bees doing okay?” They’re so important to our food industry and native ecosystems, and every couple of years it seems like something horribly bad is happening to them. So this week, we’re taking a look at the fascinating lives and deaths of bees! Can they recognize human faces or understand the concept of zero? Why are blister beetles mimicking sexy bee pheromones? And what do nightclubs and honeybee hives have in common?

Sources:

[Poem]

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120316-hot-bee-balls-hornets-insects-brains-animals-science/

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/206/2/353.full.pdf

[Truth or Fail]

1. Handedness in bees
2. Bees understanding zero
3. Bees recognize faces

[Ask the Science Couch]

CCD: 

https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder

Glyphosate:

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/218/17/2799

https://www.glyphosate.eu/glyphosate-mechanism-action

https://www.pnas.org/content/115/41/10305

Native bees:

https://www.wired.com/2015/04/youre-worrying-wrong-bees/

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Xerces_policy_statement_HB_Final.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5722319/

[Butt One More Thing]

Isopentyl acetate:

https://www.extension.entm.purdue.edu/beehive/pdf/Breed_et_al.pdf

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/isoamyl_acetate#section=Top