Harnessing The Power Of The Bumblebee

As Springtime captures the spirit of vibrant growth and the official escape from the icy and pesky gravity well of Winter, the reality of pollen is sure to wreak havoc on the collective allergies and sinuses. Even with a plethora of over the counter drugs and home remedies, the three month window until the grains of irritation gracelessly dissipate into the Summer heat is not a pleasant consequence to the mild and what should be an pleasant and enjoyable climate.

In a needed distraction for the 90 days of sniffling and eye itching hell, the icon of the season, the bumblebee, provides the effective tonic of distraction with its amazingly resilient and efficient pollinating powers and dive bomb and buzzing circular harrowing fly by assaults on the gardener. Though the workers and the queens never sting unless the nest is directly encountered, the B-52 too close for comfort aerial maneuvers do not get any easier to process with age.

As flying fortress species endemic to North America are crucial in pollinating crops, especially vegetables, researchers at the University of Washington put two and two together and developed a micro sensor capable of tracking the flight path of the individual worker bee, as well as the health of each plant it encounters. The aptly named “backpack” allows scientists to evaluate micro sets of data that would not normally be available in furthering the understanding of the interaction between pollinators and crops, the net production economics of a nest, and the effects of various factors on plant growth and cultivation.

Next up in the social insect hierarchy is the engineering of the ant colony to remove the microscopic plant matter devils causing widespread sniffling. Hachoo!

WATCH- The Lucky Bee Hauling The Equivalent To A Fifty Pound Load For Science (courtesy University of Washington)