By Blair Richards, Mercury News Australia Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff has announced the state will remain GMO-free for at least the next five years. TASMANIAN agriculture is set to remain free of genetically modified organisms for at least five more years, with the State…
By Heather Callaghan Many arrows point to the bee decline. A Harvard professor recently warned that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is only the beginning for us. The ripple effect from new classes of pesticides is just getting started. But there’s more… The problems they face…
By Heather Callaghan While chemical corporations and critics of bee activists want people to remain focused on addressing symptoms of colony collapse disorder, and fund research aimed at that goal, one Harvard PhD stands out as he presses on pesticides. Researcher and Harvard professor, Chengsheng…
According to a new study, it lies in an unpatented technique… By Heather Callaghan What will ultimately feed the world? Is it really genetic engineering? Is it biodiversity? What can maintain and stoke that diversity – I mean, make it really flourish with bountiful food…
Heather Callaghan Activist Post With friends like these… Recently I wrote about a large Canada-wide surveillance initiative: Look Who’s Behind This Large Study to “Help the Bees”. Following the money trail, one could see that Canada’s government was placing “hope” for an answer unto major international biotech…
By Heather Callaghan Netherlands researchers fear the second coming of Silent Spring “Neonicotinoids were always regarded as selective toxins. But our results suggest that they may affect the entire ecosystem,” says Hans de Kroon of Radboud University and co-author of a study recently published in…
By Heather Callaghan In a recent press release by the Alberta Beekeepers Commission, it was announced that a Canada-wide health surveillance study of the honeybee will take place over the next four years. According to the ABC, the study will be conducted in order to find…
A study co-authored by a University of Guelph scientist that involved fitting bumblebees with tiny radio frequency tags shows long-term exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide hampers bees’ ability to forage for pollen. The research by Nigel Raine, a professor in Guelph’s School of Environmental Sciences,…
Many “bee-friendly” home garden plants sold at Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) have been pre-treated with pesticides shown to harm and kill bees, according to a study released today by Friends of the Earth and allies. The study, Gardeners…
Two widely used neonicotinoids—a class of insecticide—appear to significantly harm honey bee colonies over the winter, particularly during colder winters, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The study replicated a 2012 finding from the same research group that found…
by Heather Callaghan No, this is not a tabloid – it’s real. According to several videos, which are posted below, robotic insects have made their first controlled flight. According to the creators of Robobee: “The demonstration of the first controlled flight of an insect-sized robot…
By Andrea Germanos When I came out and saw my loss, I mean you literally just cry. The record cold that gripped much of the Midwest this winter added insult to injury to already struggling bee populations. While they expect to lose a small proportion…
by Heather Callaghan If you plant it, they will come. A new study confirms the crucial aid that typical British gardeners might unknowingly provide to rapidly declining pollinators. According to Ecologists at Plymouth University, it matters not to busy bees where they are are getting…
by Alex Pietrowski With all of the immediate problems facing people these days, it is difficult to be concerned and proactive about the looming environmental crises that will affect us in big ways in the not-too-distant future. After all, who has time to do anything…
by Heather Callaghan There are diseases that show up in beekeeper hives – they are common among managed colonies. But now they are showing up widely in in the UK’s wild bumblebee population, according to new research published in Nature. Are they spreading from sickened…
Once the snow melts, Canada’s bee population will be back in business — pollinating, making honey and keeping busy doing bee things. For at least two urban bee species, that means making nests out of plastic waste. A new study by a University of Guelph…
Mexico is the fourth largest honey producer and fifth largest honey exporter in the world. A Smithsonian researcher and colleagues helped rural farmers in Mexico to quantify the genetically modified organism (GMO) soybean pollen in honey samples rejected for sale in Germany. Their results will…
By Heather Callaghan Another explanation for Colony Collapse Disorder and the rapid decline of honeybees follows a surprising discovery involving a virus that typically infects the Plant Kingdom – Tobacco Ringspot Virus (TRSV). U.S. and Chinese researchers report their findings in mBio, the online open-access…
by Jeffrey Green Over the last decade, the decline in the number of bees has become an undeniable fact. It is leading many to consider the real possibility of a global food crisis as bee colonies continue to collapse. What remains in question is exactly…
by Heather Callaghan A first-grade field trip to one of the top-ten U.S. zoos led us to a prehistoric bee display. It was much bigger than my little fist. It was like a radish on top of turnip but dark brown with faded yellow stripes…
