Eve Gersh

Honeybee Communication

Written by Eve Gersh, Bee Campus Eco Rep Part of what makes honeybees such effective pollinators is their ability to communicate with each other. Bees touch, dance, and release pheromones all to communicate messages throughout the colony. Bees touch each other’s antennae to identify each other. About 3 million tiny hairs cover their bodies thatContinue reading “Honeybee Communication”

Give Thanks for Bees, Leave your Leaves

Written by Eve Gersh, Bee Campus USA Eco Rep Would you like to spend more time this fall enjoying a bonfire, sitting down with a good book, or savoring the colors of autumn with a warm mug of hot cocoa? If so, you can cut out the chore of raking your leaves this season. NotContinue reading “Give Thanks for Bees, Leave your Leaves”

More than a Buzz: Bee Swarms Carry as much Electrical Charge as a Thunderstorm

Written by Eve Gersh – Bee Campus USA Eco Rep Electricity is not just something that powers our infrastructure and modern devices. It is one of the fundamental ingredients of the universe. Everything, from water to soil, carries its own electrical charge. This includes flowers and their pollen, and contributes to the work of honeybees.Continue reading “More than a Buzz: Bee Swarms Carry as much Electrical Charge as a Thunderstorm”

Sleeping Be(e)auty: Why Bees Need a Good Night’s Rest

Eve Gersh – Bee Campus USA Eco Rep If flying up to ten miles a day, a distance more than 100,000 times your body length, sounds like hard work: that’s because it is. Yet, foraging honeybees do this daily to contribute to their honey stores for the hive. It is no wonder they need toContinue reading “Sleeping Be(e)auty: Why Bees Need a Good Night’s Rest”

Beeswax Really is the Bees’ Knees

Why is beeswax so important, and where did the phrase ‘bees knees’ come from anyway? Do bees even have knees? Let’s start with beeswax. Most of it is produced by young worker bees aged 14-21 days because, as a bee gets older, her wax glands shrink. Older worker bees may help to produce wax ifContinue reading “Beeswax Really is the Bees’ Knees”

What a Bee Sees

What does the world look like to a bee? Although we can’t see through a bee’s eyes ourselves, we are closer to solving the mystery thanks to science. Nobel Prize winner Dr. Karl von Frisch pioneered the first research into bee vision. In one of his experiments, sugar water was placed over blue squares andContinue reading “What a Bee Sees”

The Bees are Disappearing, Can Mushrooms Save Them?

While it is normal for colonies to lose some of their population during each winter (about 10%) bee populations have continued to decline at about 40% each year, since 1980, in the United States. The answer as to what has caused such a dramatic decline is still unclear, but there are a few major factorsContinue reading “The Bees are Disappearing, Can Mushrooms Save Them?”