By Brian Lovett As winter phases into spring across the U.S., gardeners are laying in supplies and making plans. Meanwhile, as the weather warms, common garden insects such as bees, beetles and butterflies will emerge from underground burrows or nests within or on plants. Most gardeners know how beneficial insects can be for their plots. […]
By Andrea Germanos Warning that threats including the climate crisis and pesticides are pushing the American bumblebee toward extinction, two conservation groups on Monday urged the Biden administration to give federal protections to the native pollinator. “We’re asking President [Joe] Biden to be the hero that steps up and saves the American bumblebee from extinction,” […]
By Daniel Raichel Industry would have us believe that pesticides help sustain food production — a necessary chemical trade-off for keeping harmful bugs at bay and ensuring we have enough to eat. But the data often tell a different story—particularly in the case of neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics. Despite being the most widely […]
The UK government is facing backlash after it approved the emergency use of a pesticide thought to kill bees. In 2018, the EU widened a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides because of their impact on bees and other pollinators. At the time, the UK government pledged to keep the ban in place after leaving the EU, […]
Now that the campaign season is over, what do we do with all those political yard signs? Trash them? Keep them for memories’ sake? Florida beekeeper Alma Johnson has a better idea: donate them to help keep her honeybee hives warm. “I saw the politician signs and I said, ‘What a great opportunity,’” Johnson told […]
The European Court of Justice on Oct. 8 found that France did not violate EU rules when it banned certain chemicals considered harmful to bees. The legal row between the French Crop Protection Association and France goes back to 2018, when the government banned some pesticides belonging to the neonicotinoid group. The ban placed France […]
By Jodi Helmer Bees are facing a pandemic of their own. A collection of threats — habitat loss, pathogens, pesticides, pollution and poor nutrition — have led to widespread decline in bee health and pollinator populations. The threats add up: The number of commercial honeybee colonies declined by more than quarter million between April and […]
As human activity transforms the atmosphere, flowers are changing their colors. A study published in Current Biology this month found that the ultraviolet (UV) pigmentation of certain flowers had changed in response to the climate crisis and the depletion of the ozone layer. While this isn’t something that would be visible to the human eye, […]
By Rachael Bonoan and Phil Starks As many states and cities across the U.S. struggle to control COVID-19 transmission, one challenge is curbing the spread among people living in close quarters. Social distancing can be difficult in places such as nursing homes, apartments, college dormitories and migrant worker housing. As behavioral ecologists who have studied […]
568k 
233k 
41k 
Subscribe 
