bees news stories on Newser

New Studies Blame Pesticides for Bee Decline

Matt Cantor — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:19:05 CDT

Scientists have a new lead in the mystery of the disappearing bees . While pesticides had only a "trivial" effect on honeybee populations in lab experiments, a researcher says studies in natural settings have shown that the chemicals can have "big effects," reports the Guardian . Common pesticides known as neonicotinoids appear...

Bees Might Have Personalities

Dustin Lushing — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 07:35:05 CST

Bees are not merely mindless, mechanical insects with rigid behavior patterns. They may actually exhibit personalities and feelings. A new study from the University of Illinois reveals that some bees display a higher willingness to head off on adventures than others, which can be interpreted as a personality trait, reports...

Why Bee Trucks Keep Crashing

Matt Cantor — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:52:05 CDT

A truck packed with 25 million bees crashed in Utah today , only a few months after a smashed-up semi released 14 million bees Idaho. And last year, a Minnesota crash saw 17 million bees fly flee. Why so many incidents? LiveScience explains: As a mysterious bee epidemic continues to decimate...

Utah Truck Crash Frees 25M Bees

Rob Quinn — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:12:00 CDT

Some 25 million bees swarmed a highway in southern Utah after a truck carrying 460 hives from South Dakota to California toppled over on a sharp bend. The driver and his wife were stung around a dozen times each after first responders pulled them out of the vehicle. More than...

Angry Bees Send 4 to Calif. Hospital

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:11:15 CDT

Bees are on the warpath again. Thousands of the angry stingers swarmed four men in a Southern California storage yard yesterday, sending them all to the hospital. The attack began when a man in a wheelchair somehow disrupted a hive. He was stung more than 60 times and had tumbled...

95-Year-Old Survives 400 Bee Stings

Rob Quinn — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:05:05 CDT

An apparently indestructible 95-year-old man is doing well after being stung more than 400 times by a swarm of bees in Redondo Beach, California. Police say the man was walking near his home yesterday when he was attacked by the bees, which had been agitated by a fumigator trying to...

Angry Bees Kill Horse

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 02:42:00 CDT

A horse was killed and his owner seriously hurt when swarms of angry bees attacked them in southern California yesterday. The man asked someone to check on his horse as he was being treated in a Riverside emergency room for numerous bee stings. Animal service workers were dispatched to the...

Bees Kill Texas Couple

Rob Quinn — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 02:38:15 CDT

An elderly couple was killed and their son injured when they messed with a swarm of bees at their Texas ranch. William Steele, 90, was spraying to kill bees that had built a hive in the fireplace of a small house he owned in a remote area of the ranch...

US Bumblebee Populations In Freefall

Rob Quinn — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 06:08:32 CST

The collapse in honeybee populations has been getting all the attention, but bumblebees are also in serious trouble, according to a new study, Populations of four common species of bumblebee in the US have dropped by up to 96% over the last few decades, according to a nationwide census of...