Just days after Europe placed a two year ban on bee-killing pesticides, the US government has released a claim that there is no clear link between widespread colony collapse and neonicotinoids, The Guardian reports. Seemingly ignoring a lot of research upon which the EU based their decision to ban pesticide use on crops that attract bees, the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency blame plummeting bee populations on a mite.

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Post tags: agriculture, Bayer, bees, colony collapse disorder, Environment, environmental protection agency, epa, neonicotinoids, News, pesticides, pollinator, US Dept of Agriculture

Colony Collapse Disorder, which is causing a significant decline in bee populations, has been associated with everything from pesticides to cell phones. And while it’s almost certainly due to a combination of factors (primarily pesticides), a team at the University of Illinois believes that they’ve found an additional culprit in the plight of bees: high fructose corn syrup.

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Post tags: bee, bee colony collapse, bee colony collapse disorder, bee population, bees, bees death, CCD, corn syrup, hfcs, high fructrose corn syrup, pesticides, university of illinois

Today the European Commission voted to ban pesticides that are widely believed to be harmful to bees, The BBC reports. Last month the commission presented a proposal to ban neonicotinoid pesticides such as lothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam following alarming declines of bee populations across the globe. But the move failed to garner a meaningful majority among European states, with 13 countries in favor, nine against and five abstentions. The proposal was addressed today by an appeals committee, which voted to ban bee-harming pesticides for a period of two years on flowering crops such as corn, rapeseed, and sunflowers.

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Post tags: agriculture, ban, Bee Wars, bees, Environment, EU, European Commission, farmers, lobbying, neonicotinoids, News, pesticides, politics

Apple and pear trees are often at risk for fire blight, but unfortunately by the time a tree shows signs of disease it’s too late and surrounding arbors have already been infected. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have found a way to detect the early onset of fire blight with the help of bees. After bees visit the blossoms on fruit trees, they then return to the hive, bringing the fire blight bacteria with them. Scientists can then test the hive for fire blight DNA, catching the disease before it ravages entire orchards.

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Post tags: bees, eco design, fire blight, fire blight prevention, green design, sustainable design, Vienna University of Technology

Beekeepers across the country are reporting that colony collapse disorder has resulted in bee losses in their hives at higher rates than ever before. Bees have been dying off at alarming rates since 2005, directly affecting farmers’ output of food — less pollination means fewer crops. Many beekeepers are blaming the combination of neonicotinoid pesticides, fungicides and herbicides to be responsible for killing bees.

Read the rest of Beekeepers Report Bee Losses of Up to 50 Percent in 2012

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Post tags: bees, colony collapse disorder, eco design, falling bee populations, green design, neonicotinoid, sustainable design

American beekeepers, conservation groups and food campaigners have filed a lawsuit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to protect the country’s bees from toxic pesticides. Three quarters of the country’s crops rely on bees for pollination, according to The Guardian, yet the EPA is accused of rushing bee-toxic pesticide registrations despite a suite of scientific reviews that have identified neonicotinoids as a serious threat to declining bee populations.

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Post tags: agriculture, Bayer, bees, colony collapse disorder, Environment, environmental protection agency, epa, neonicotinoid, News, pesticides, pollinators, Sierra Club, syngenta, US

Honey bee populations around the world are in decline due to causes ranging from ‘super mites‘ to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and even cell phones – and if the insects disappear completely the planet’s ecosystems would be in peril. The issue has become so dire that now a team of Harvard and Northeastern University scientists are working on a swarm of miniature Robobee robots that could pollinate flowers and do the job of real bees if required.

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Post tags: bee loss, bees, biomimicry, harvard, miniature robots, Northeastern University, robert wood, robobees, robot bees, robot swarm

A cure for HIV has eluded scientists since the virus was first discovered in the early 1980s, but researchers at Washington University believe that bee venom could provide a successful treatment. The venom that bees carry contains a toxin called melittin that can penetrate the protective envelope surrounding HIV. The team used nanoparticles carrying melittin to successfully destroy HIV without harming nearby cells, which represents a potentially huge breakthrough in the ongoing effort to find a cure.

Read the rest of Study Finds that Nanoparticles Loaded with Bee Venom Can Kill HIV

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Post tags: aids, aids cure, bee sting, bee venom, bees, Hepatitis, hiv, HIV cure, HIV virus, honeybees, Medicine, melittin, nanomaterials, nanoparticles

Bees have had a rough time in the past few years – from the Varroa mite and colony collapse disorder to factory waste contaminating their honey. Heeding the insect’s buzz for help, UK home improvement retailers B&Q and Wickes have pledged to withdraw products containing a family of compounds called neonicotinoids – pesticides linked to the decline in bee populations. B&Q will stop selling its only product using imidacloprid, and Wickes will remove products with thiamethoxam, both of which are neonicotinoids. Together with clothianidin, these three chemicals are identified by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as nerve agents that are seriously damaging to the health of pollinators.

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Post tags: b&q, Bayer, bees, colony collapse disorder, efsa, epa, european food safety authority, friends of the earth, home improvement, neonicotinoids, pesticides, prime minister, soil association, united states, varroa mite, wickes

Studio DRIFT’s interactive Shylights gracefully move up and down, opening and closing, similar to the way flowers attract and repel pollinating bees. Made from stainless steel, recyclable aluminum, sheer silk, and hi-bright LED lights, these gorgeous “living lights” react to sunshine and music to create a beautiful spectacle inspired by nature.

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Post tags: bees, biomimicry, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, flowers, green lighting, green products, interactive design, Shylights, silk, studio drift, sustainable light

Poor bees. Not only do they have problems with Colony Collapse Disorder and pollutants affecting the quality and color of their honey, they also have to worry about coming into contact with a barrage of pesticides on their flights for food. A new paper published in the scientific journal Nature has shown that foraging bumblebees exposed to the chemicals are twice as likely to die than those not exposed, and are only half as efficient in collecting food.

Read the rest of Stinging New Study Uncovers More Evidence of Pesticide Harm to Bees

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Post tags: bees, bumblebee, colony collapse disorder, honeybee, Nature, nigel raine, pesticides, tomatoes, UK, University of London

M&M candies come in every color of the rainbow – but what if honey came in the color of M&Ms? Distraught beekeepers in Northeastern France are facing just that conundrum, as honey from their apiaries has been turning up in shades of green and blue. After weeks of perplexing investigation, the farmers found the candy colored honey to be caused by waste from nearby Agrivalor biogas plant, which has been processing M&M’s waste.

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Post tags: Agrivalor, Alsace, bees, contaminated honey, eco design, green design, green honey, M&M's honey, M&Ms, sustainable design, tainted honey

Scientists from the UK Universities of Sheffield and Sussex have been collaborating on an ambitious project to produce the first accurate computer models of a honey bee brain. The project is designed to help us advance our understanding of Artificial Intelligence, and how animals think. The UK team will build models of the systems in the brain that govern a honey bee’s vision and sense of smell – and then they will use the information to create the first flying robot able to sense and act as autonomously as a bee.

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Post tags: artificial intelligence, bees, drones, flying robots, honey bee brain, honey bees, robots, university of sheffield, university of sussex, virtual systems

According to Food Safety News, a third or more of all honey consumed in the United States has been smuggled illegally into the US and may contain antibiotics and heavy metals. Some honey doesn’t even contain real honey at all. So how can a honey lover know that their locally sourced honey is the real deal? Cue Vaughn Bryant, the honey detective who can tell whether or not your honey is what it claims to be.

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Post tags: bee pollen, bees, counterfeit honey, fake honey, HFCS honey, honey, local honey, pollen science, texas a&m, Vaughn Bryant

It has long been theorized that the use of certain pesticides has contributed to the declining bee population around the world. In order to counter and further prevent the detrimental effect to the UK’s ecosystems, The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have issued a draft plan outlining the future of pesticide use in the UK.

Read the rest of Is DEFRA Not Doing Enough to Battle Bee-Killing Pesticides In the UK?

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Post tags: bee population decline, bees, DEFRA, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pesticide use, pesticides, UK National Action Plan, UK national action plan for the sustainable use of pesticides

The black honeybee (also known as the European dark bee) was long thought to be extinct in the UK, but the species was recently rediscovered and found to be better suited to surviving the British climate. Researchers studying the species believe that it could hold the key to reversing colony collapse, which has caused declining numbers of bees worldwide.

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Post tags: bee mites, bee population, bees, bibba, black bees, british bees, british climate, extinct, honeybees

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Post tags: Bee Collective, bees, eco design, green design, Masstricht, Sky Hive, Sphinxpark, sustainable design, urban beehive, urban beekeeping

Strawberry-loving Brits may be in for a bit of a rude awakening according to a new report released by the University of Reading and charity Friends of the Earth. The study quantifies the fears we’ve been hearing about all over the world about what would happen if bee populations keep declining at their current pace, warning that without the help of the insects, strawberry prices could increase a startling 84 percent in the UK. To put those numbers into perspective, the study used the famous Wimbledon tennis tournament as an example, stating that a 10-strawberry basket would be sold at concession stands for the extremely unreasonable cost of £4.14 (or about $6.50) if the country continues to lose its bees.

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Post tags: bees, bees and strawberries, bees effect on strawberry prices, pollination, strawberries, strawberry price rise, strawberry prices, Strawberry Prices Could Rise Without Bees, Strawberry Prices Rise Without Bees, wimbledon strawberry prices

This week the French government announced that it plans to prohibit the use of Cruiser OSR, a pesticide manufactured by the Swiss company Syngenta that researchers say may contribute to the massive disappearance of bees. The ban comes in the light of studies indicating that pesticides such as Cruiser OSR are linked to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a phenomenon that has occurred throughout the world that worries agronomists, farmers and environmentalists alike. The problem is critical because of the role pollination has in agriculture, and it has festered in North America and Europe since 2006.

Read the rest of France Proposes Ban on Pesticide Linked to Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

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Post tags: and the Environment, ANSES, bees, CCD, colony collapse disorder, cruiser osr, france, french government, honeybees, National Agency for Food, pesticides, safety, sygenta, thiamethoxam

Read the rest of Aganetha Dyck Works With Live Bees To Make Beautiful Art

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Post tags: Aganetha Dyck, apiary, bee artist, bee sculpture, beekeeping, bees, Canadian artists, eco design, green design, honeycomb sculpture, sustainable design, winnipeg