http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Evolution places the highest premium on reproduction, natural selection`s only standard for biological success. In the case of replicating cells, life spares no expense to ensure that the offspring is a faithful copy of the parent. Researchers have identified a new player in this elaborate system of quality control, a gene whose mutation can cause a rare but lethal disease. http://www.physorg.com/news179522040.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:30:01 EST news179522040 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first analysis of immunity-related genes in a solitary bee has been conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators. http://www.physorg.com/news178792830.html Biology Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:50:01 EST news178792830 (PhysOrg.com) -- Charles Darwin and many other scientists have long been puzzled by the evolution of orchids, the largest and most diverse family of flowering plants on Earth. Now genetic sequencing is giving scientists insights into how these plants could evolve so quickly. http://www.physorg.com/news177838192.html Biology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:32:40 EST news177838192 Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that honeybees can discriminate between food at different temperatures, an ability that may assist bees in locating the warm, sugar-rich nectar or high-protein pollen produced by many flowers. http://www.physorg.com/news177676732.html Biology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:10:02 EST news177676732 Poor Texas. First it was killer bees, then fire ants. Now, it's the Rasberry ants. http://www.physorg.com/news177341639.html Biology Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:34:36 EST news177341639 (PhysOrg.com) -- Since reports of widespread bee die-offs began to surface in October 2006, researchers have investigated possible reasons ranging from hive-infecting mites to cell phone-tower radiation. They have yet to pinpoint the cause of colony collapse disorder -- most likely, because there isn`t just one, say University of Florida researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news176049830.html Biology Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:10:01 EST news176049830 (PhysOrg.com) -- Across the country, pollinators such as honeybees and hummingbirds are declining due to habitat loss, diseases such as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), pests and excessive pesticide use. Penn State researchers and educators are hoping to help combat these issues by promoting ways home gardeners can help pollinator populations thrive. http://www.physorg.com/news175194346.html Biology Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:20:01 EST news175194346 Aggressive African bees were accidentally released in Brazil in 1957. As "killer bees" spread northward, David Roubik, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, began a 17-year study that revealed that Africanized bees caused less damage to native bees than changes in the weather and may have increased the availability of their food plants. http://www.physorg.com/news173628737.html Biology Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:30:22 EST news173628737 Honey bees are now fighting back aggressively against Varroa mites, thanks to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) efforts to develop bees with a genetic trait that allows them to more easily find the mites and toss them out of the broodnest. http://www.physorg.com/news171872868.html Biology Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:40:01 EST news171872868 Bee colonies are well known for high levels of cooperation, but new research published in Molecular Ecology demonstrates a conflict for reproduction between worker bees and their Queens, leading some workers to selfishly exploit the colony for their own needs. http://www.physorg.com/news171746038.html Biology Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:20:01 EST news171746038 Native pollinators such as these fat, fuzzy bumblebees, once an overlooked sideshow in the insect world, are gaining widespread appreciation among everyone from backyard gardeners to big-time farmers. That's because European honeybees, the pollination mainstay of commercial agriculture, continue to struggle, with bee keepers routinely losing 30 percent of their bees every winter. Yet farmers count on those bees to pollinate some $15 billion in crops annually. http://www.physorg.com/news171137363.html Biology Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:40:02 EST news171137363 The electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phone towers and cellphones can pose a threat to honey bees, a study published in India has concluded. http://www.physorg.com/news170920128.html Biology Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:00:01 EST news170920128 Walking up to the roof of the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C., is not a jaw-dropping experience. Exit the door and you are confronted with a sea of roof tiles and empty space -- there is nothing about this rooftop that really captures the eye. But walk around the corner, and you will discover something that a handful of other D.C. rooftops have in common -- a faint buzzing. http://www.physorg.com/news169838433.html Biology Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:20:02 EST news169838433 Honeybees in colonies affected by colony collapse disorder (CCD) have higher levels of pathogens and are co-infected with a greater number of pathogens than their non-CCD counterparts, but no individual pathogen can be singled out as the cause of CCD, according to a study by an international team of researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news169398399.html Biology Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:07:32 EST news169398399 A new plastic beehive was launched in Britain on Wednesday to encourage people to keep bees in their gardens or on rooftoops to help boost declining honeybee populations. http://www.physorg.com/news168683346.html Biology Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:50:03 EST news168683346 Long-term memory formation in honeybees is instigated by a calcium ion cascade. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have shown that calcium acts as a switch between short- and long-term storage of learned information. http://www.physorg.com/news164337671.html Biology Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:02:10 EST news164337671 New research shows some bees brace themselves against wind and turbulence by extending their sturdy hind legs while flying. But this approach comes at a steep cost, increasing aerodynamic drag and the power required for flight by roughly 30 percent, and cutting into the bees' flight performance. http://www.physorg.com/news163161417.html Biology Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:37:43 EST news163161417 (AP) -- The decline of honeybee colonies has slowed slightly since last fall, but a mysterious combination of ailments is still decimating the insect's population, federal researchers say. http://www.physorg.com/news162017048.html Biology Wed, 20 May 2009 05:45:12 EST news162017048 When bees collect nectar, how do they hold onto the flower? Cambridge University scientists have shown that it is down to small cone-shaped cells on the petals that act like 'velcro' on the bees' feet. http://www.physorg.com/news161527337.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 13:43:08 EST news161527337 Mites not only inhabit the dust bunnies under the bed, they also occupy the nests of tropical sweat bees where they keep fungi in check. Bees and their young are healthier when mites live-in, report researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and the University of Texas at Austin. Mutually beneficial cleaning relationships have been documented for shrimps and fish that eat parasites on larger fish, but this is the first confirmation of a cleaning relationship between two different species on land. http://www.physorg.com/news159447859.html Biology Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:04:47 EST news159447859 (AP) -- For millennia, people have watched the birds and bees and wondered: "How do they do that?" Thanks to high-speed film and some persistent scientists, at least one of the secrets of flight is now revealed. When birds, bats or bugs make a turn, all they have to do is start flapping their wings normally again and they straighten right out. http://www.physorg.com/news158516858.html Biology Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:28:16 EST news158516858 Adults facing unexpected career changes, take note. Scientists from Brazil and Cuba are reporting that honey bees - a mainstay for behavioral research that cannot be done in other animals - change their brains before transitioning to that new job. Appears in the current edition of ACS' monthly Journal of Proteome Research, the research provides valuable insight into the biochemistry behind the behavior, feats of navigation, and social organization in these animals. http://www.physorg.com/news158235082.html Chemistry Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:12:07 EST news158235082 Over the past few years, honey bee keepers have experienced problems due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has hurt honey bee populations, causing some growers of fruits, nuts and vegetables to wonder how their crops will be pollinated in the future. A new study published in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America shows that wild bees, which are not affected by CCD, may serve as a pollination alternative. http://www.physorg.com/news157125509.html Biology Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:59:01 EST news157125509 New research from Monash University bee researcher Adrian Dyer could lead to improved artificial intelligence systems and computer programs for facial recognition. http://www.physorg.com/news151928996.html Biology Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:30:41 EST news151928996 In a study that challenges current ideas about the insect brain, researchers have found that honey bees on cocaine tend to exaggerate. http://www.physorg.com/news149247995.html Biology Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:46:35 EST news149247995 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research led by the head of visual neuroscience at UQ's Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) has demonstrated honey bees are capable of routinely counting up to four. http://www.physorg.com/news144427441.html Biology Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:44:01 EST news144427441 Bumblebees use flower scent to guide their nest-mates to good food sources, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London. http://www.physorg.com/news144069782.html Biology Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:23:02 EST news144069782 A UC Davis researcher known for her honey bee line "New World Carniolans" has crossed her bees with their Old World counterparts to enhance their positive characteristics. http://www.physorg.com/news143825043.html Biology Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:24:03 EST news143825043 It's one of the hallmarks of spring: a swarm of bees on the move. But how a swarm locates a new nest site when less than 5% of the community know the way remains a mystery. Curious to find out how swarms cooperate and are guided to their new homes, Tom Seeley, a neurobiologist from Cornell University, and engineers Kevin Schultz and Kevin Passino from The Ohio State University teamed up to find out how swarms are guided to their new home and publish their findings on October 3rd 2008 in The Journal of Experimental Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news142228088.html Biology Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:48:08 EST news142228088 A study by scientists from the Nairobi-headquartered international research centre icipe, in collaboration with the French Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) has established that bees have the potential to mediate the escape of transgenes (genetically engineered material) from crops to their wild relatives over several kilometres. The findings, which have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of 9th September, bear significant implications for the introduction of genetically modified crops in Africa. http://www.physorg.com/news141290166.html Biology Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:16:06 EST news141290166