Friday, 25 May, 2012

Many of the tastiest crops can’t pollinate themselves: melons, cucumbers, strawberries, almonds, cacao. But pollinators — both native and managed — are under threat from diseases and pesticides. They aren’t finding enough to eat. Their colonies are dying. What can we do?

A honeybee queen mates with 15 guys. This weakens family ties in the hive, possibly hampering the selfless behavior these bees need for survival. Does polyandry have hidden benefits for bees?

How do smart diners decide from an unfamiliar menu? They take advice. Ditto for bees. If they haven’t seen the flowers before, they follow the lead of another bee.

At the center of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity are questions of perspective. For example, what would a man look like to another man traveling at the speed of light and vice-versa? In that spirit, and to put a biological spin on it, what would Einstein look like to a bee? According to Andrew Giger, [...]