By Gavin Hudson •
January 1, 2009
By doping honey bees with cocaine, researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered evidence that the insect brain has a reward system.
The famous “waggle” dance of honey bees is a complex language that allows foraging bees to communicate the distance, direction and quality of a food source to the rest of the hive. The study showed that honey bees on cocaine tend to dance more, without relation to the quality of food or state of the hive. Given the effects of cocaine on people, hyperactivity may seem like a fairly obvious reaction. However, the implications of the study suggest something that has not been found before: a reward system in the insect brain.
2008 was a banner year for sustainablog, and we want to end it as strongly as we started. So, for the next twelve days, I’ll take a look back at some of the best and most memorable posts from the past year.
Let me start off, though, by expressing my immense gratitude to all of the writers who contributed during 2008. This was our first full year as a multi-author blog, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the way it turned out. Some of the writers I’ll mention have moved on; others on coming on board. I’m grateful for the inspiration you’ve all brought to the blog over the past year, and look forward with anticipation to what the new year brings us.
January 2008
Like New Year’s fireworks, January started off with a bang. Here are a few great posts to remember:
By Kay Sexton •
November 29, 2008
Summers have been more silent in recent years because the bee population has been falling at an alarming rate – in Britain it fell by a third between last year and this, and right across Europe the decline is similar and disturbing
By Jennifer Lance •
August 28, 2008
30-90 percent of bee colonies have been dying over the past two years. Europeans are banning the pesticide clothianidin to protect their bee populations from “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD), yet the FDA, which approved the pesticide in 2003, refuses to release public documents of studies conducted by clothianidin’s maker Bayer CropScience on the chemical’s impact on bees and the environment. Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit [...]
By Tiana Griego •
July 4, 2008
Clark’s Honey Farm is committed to help SAVE THE PLANET.
With all the news’s going around about the disappearing of the bees, (about 70% on the East Coast) I became very intrigued to learn more about this honey farm’s passion to help save the planet.
At the current time they have over 2,000 healthy bee colonies. Their goal is to double the colonies in the next few years. Each colony has over 60,000 + bees.
They claim to provide enriching environments for their bees to thrive. “The bees are instrumental in the survival of the planet”.
They also ship their bees across the country to help farmers in need of pollination.
Bees pollinate up to one third of our food plants, and in recent months, bee colonies have been mysteriously collapsing. Up to 70% of bees on the East coast have disappeared, and about 50% in other parts of the country. One recent news account from New Hampshire says this: “The problem, called colony collapse disorder, already has hit beekeepers in 24 states, part of Canada, and several European countries. Many bees seem to disappear, with few to no bodies of dead bees found near the hives. The remaining bees, meanwhile, show mysterious symptoms. ”
By Beth Bader •
July 1, 2008
© Kuleczka | Dreamstime.com
We’ve got some sweet posts for the week ahead. This week is Honey Week at Eat. Drink. Better. in tribute to bees and all they do for us, including that delicious honey. To kick it off, I want to share a cool bee fact and a recipe.
Did you know?
- California’s almond orchards are the location of the largest pollination event annually. Nearly one million hives (about 50 percent) of the US honey bees are brought to the almond orchards each spring.
- The apple crop in just New York requires about 30,000 hives.
- 50,000 hives each year are needed for Maine’s blueberry crop.
- According to the USDA, one-third of our diets rely on insect-pollinated plants. 80 percent of this pollination is done by bees.
Recipe for Honey Curried Cauliflower follows the jump.
Häagen-Dazs has given $250,000 to researchers studying colony collapse disorder, the mysterious condition causing large numbers of bees to simply disappear. The grant isn’t sheer altruism, though: Häagen-Dazs says 40 percent of its flavors depend on the bee’s specialty, pollination.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Abrahami.
The famous “waggle” dance of honey bees is a complex language that allows foraging bees to communicate the distance, direction and quality of a food source to the rest of the hive. The study showed that honey bees on cocaine tend to dance more, without relation to the quality of food or state of the hive. Given the effects of cocaine on people, hyperactivity may seem like a fairly obvious reaction. However, the implications of the study suggest something that has not been found before: a reward system in the insect brain.
