tagged w/ Bees
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Millions of Americans live out their lives unaware that they are severely allergic to bee and wasp stings, so much so that a single sting can send them into anaphylactic shock and cause death.
According to government statistics, about 3.3 percent of adults will experience anaphylaxis after an insect sting and there are 40 to as many as 100 deaths annually from insect-sting-related anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a severe type I hypersensitivity allergic reaction in humans and other mammals.
Dr. David Golden, associate professor in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Johns Hopkins University's Medical Institute, told ABCNews.com it's "nearly impossible" for someone to die from being stung the very first time, although any sting can trigger the development of the allergic sensitivity.
Golden said there have been about 40 sting deaths per year based on 10-year national statistics. The statistic was confirmed in a similar study done in the 1990s by physician David Graft.
"About 3 percent of adults have had a history of one systemic reaction. On the other hand, almost none of them ever told their doctor about it. Of these 40 people a year, how many of them knew? The answer is about 50 percent."
Unlike allergies such as asthma, there is not a clear pre-screened test for insect sting reactions if someone has never been stung before, although an allergist can conduct a skin test, which can show if the patient has a strong negative indication.
But as for routinely testing people for the allergy, Golden says that wouldn't be practical or desirable.
Government statistics also indicate that among people who have symptoms of anaphylaxis after being stung, there is a 60-70 percent chance that future stings will cause a similar reaction. The chances of a reaction with a future sting will decrease over time, but still remains at about 20 percent many years after the last sting.
*FYI: for all of you amateur beekeepers, bee lovers, etc., make sure you get checked!Millions of Americans live out their lives unaware that they are severely allergic to... more
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A London hotel has unveiled its latest way to cut down on food miles - serving honey produced by 250,000 bees living on its roof.
The Royal Lancaster Hotel, near Hyde Park, is installing beehives to produce honey for guests. It also hopes to produce its own candles and beauty products from the beeswax.
It is hoped the first honey can be harvested next summer. "We are confident they will produce some great honey," said Ms Hemesley. "The bees have the whole of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to fly around.
"Our guests will be able to enjoy the fact that the honey is literally made on their own doorstep."
The move is another example of how Londoners are increasingly turning to beekeeping. Hundreds of hives are dotted around the capital.A London hotel has unveiled its latest way to cut down on food miles - serving honey... more
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Beekeeping is booming. Britain's leading association for the insects is struggling to meet demand from would-be apiarists. Despite fears that British bees are at risk of falling into a catastrophic decline from which they may not recover, a growing number of celebrity beekeepers are helping to fuel interest.
Courses in beekeeping are so oversubscribed that people are already on waiting lists for next year. Nearly 1,000 wannabe apiarists applied for 60 places on an introductory course in London this year. And the pattern is being repeated across the country, with the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) having seen its membership rocket by almost 50 per cent since 2007, from 10,000 to 14,500.
The company that made the hugely popular Eglu, which fuelled a boom in urban chicken-rearing, plans to capitalise on this later this month when it launches a futuristic plastic beehive.
The profile of beekeepers is changing fast, according to Tim Lovatt, the BBKA's president: "The average age is dropping quite noticeably. It used to be in the mid- to upper fifties but is now in the lower forties. We are also seeing more and more children becoming involved, and growing numbers of women, too."
Retailers are looking to exploit the trend. Fortnum & Mason, in central London, will start selling honey next month from its own rooftop beehives. And guests at the Royal Lancaster Hotel near London's Hyde Park are able to have honey from bees kept on the hotel roof.
The interest in all things bee-related has extended to Hollywood stars:the actor Samuel L Jackson recently bought Scarlett Johansson and husband Ryan Reynolds a beehive as a wedding gift. "Scarlett," he said, "was always talking about how the bees were dying and the planet was going to die."
Bees will be a central theme in a "Pestival" event at London's South Bank next month. Omlet, the company behind the Eglu, will be launching the Beehaus in two weeks' time. It has spent 18 months developing the brightly coloured, plastic beehive. It will come in various colours including red, green, yellow and purple.
Johannes Paul, one of the team behind the new hive, said: "It looks like a little sort of moon lander and is almost insect-like. We think it will appeal to urban beekeepers as it is much more modern and contemporary than traditional hives."
Clearly aimed at capturing the "green pound" of eco-conscious Britons, a complete kit – including a beekeeping hat and protective suit – will cost £495. Mr Paul added: "The idea is to simplify things and make it all more accessible."
Honey bees are vital for pollinating essential food crops and soft fruits. But bees are in short supply. In the past few years, hives have suffered large losses, mainly due to a disease caused by the varroa mite; the honey bee population crashed by 30 per cent during the winter of 2007-08, according to the BBKA.
The collapse in bee numbers is threatening the process of pollination which is worth hundreds of millions to the UK every year, MPs said last week. The Commons Public Accounts Committee claimed funding for research on honey bees is being "diluted" since the money is shared with research into other insects.
end of excerpt.Beekeeping is booming. Britain's leading association for the insects is... more
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Honey has been used to treat wounds since ancient times, but recent years have seen a surge of medical interest in the sticky stuff. Manuka honey has been the subject of particular interest, with the results of a study just published by Sydney University finding that it has powerful antibacterial properties, and is even effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Associate Professor Dee Carter, from Sydney University's School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences said: "Our research is the first to clearly show that these honey-based products could in many cases replace antibiotic creams on wounds and equipment such as catheters. Using honey as an intermediate treatment could also prolong the life of antibiotics."
"Most bacteria that cause infections in hospitals are resistant to at least one antibiotic, and there is an urgent need for new ways to treat and control surface infections."
She added: "We don't quite know how these honeys prevent and kill infections, but a compound in them called methylglyoxal seems to interact with a number of other unknown compounds in honey to prevent infectious bacteria developing new strains that are resistant to it."
Honey is a complex substance, containing up to 800 compounds and its complexity means it has been difficult to pinpoint exactly how it kills bacteria.
Manuka is a type of honey that is made by bees pollinating the flowers of the Manuka bush, a member of the Leptospermum family that grows naturally in New Zealand.
Now, an Australian company is claiming to have produced the world's most potent medical-grade antibacterial honey, made by bees pollinating the Australian jellybush, also a member of the Leptospermum family.
Australia's Medi Bioactive Honey Company claims its Berringa antibacterial honey has twice the antibacterial content of normal manuka honey, and has launched the product in the UK.
Dr Rose Cooper of the University of Wales Cardiff School of Health Sciences has researched honey's antibacterial action and has written a book called "Honey in Modern Wounds Management."
Cooper told CNN that there are many components in honey that contribute to its antibacterial nature. She says its high sugar content, low water content and low pH are all factors. Additionally, some honey produces hydrogen peroxide, which can kill bacteria.
Since 2004, Britain's National Health Service has licensed the use of manuka-honey wound dressings and sterilized medical grade manuka-honey creams.Honey has been used to treat wounds since ancient times, but recent years have seen a... more
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With the deadly swine flu, bird flu and bee colony collapse disorder it kind of makes you feel like nature is biting back. Some good news for at least one of the big problems: the Israeli company Beeologics has developed a vaccine against colony collapse disorder, the disturbing syndrome that has been wiping out bee communities and threatening agricultural production all over the world.
Their new drug, Remembee has completed successful clinical trials on millions of bees in North America. Not only has it proved effective in maintaining bee health, but it also improved the longevity of bees and increased the honey in the hives. Based on Nobel prize-winning RNAI technology, Remembee helps the bees overcome IAVP virus, also discovered in Israel, which has been associated with colony collapse in scientific literature.
"It's really a tug of war between the virus and the host. We are helping the bee tug the rope more strongly and beat the virus. We take advantage of an immune system that the bees elicit for viral disease. But we are really using naturally occurring phenomenon. It's not a pesticide and it's not toxic," says Nitzan Paldi, CTO of Beeologics.
Watch the video above to see how it works.With the deadly swine flu, bird flu and bee colony collapse disorder it kind of makes... more
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This Urban beehive design by Bikube Urba hopes to help the bee-population crisis which has got Winnie in a tizzy.
I suppose most people don't want bees near where they live but those who care enough about this crisis, and still want to look stylist while acting on it, will be willing do something about it
I'm sure it will create a real buzz
(Shoot me now)This Urban beehive design by Bikube Urba hopes to help the bee-population crisis which... more
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Ryan Reynolds has revealed he and his wife Scarlett Johansson received a bizarre wedding gift from Samuel L Jackson.
According to Metro, 'The Proposal' actor, 32, was shocked when a colony of bees arrived at their home.
The actor told the newspaper: "I had a colony of 10,000 bees delivered to my doorstep from Samuel L Jackson.
"We definitely had a conversation about bees. I'm not involved in any bee movement; it was just idle chit-chat.
"We live in a very green household and we do as much as we can to leave as small a footprint as possible.
"Somewhere in the back of Sam's mind, he must have thought, 'The best gift I can give this guy is a swarm of bees'."Ryan Reynolds has revealed he and his wife Scarlett Johansson received a bizarre... more
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Hymenopteran biomimic (moth) -- can you name the species Photographed this morning in Tvärminnen eläintieteellinen asema (Tvärminne Zoological field research station) on the coast of southwestern Finland.Hymenopteran biomimic (moth) -- can you name the species Photographed this morning in... more
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Maybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves. A gang of honeybees landed on the wing of a plane used for flight school training at Beverly Airport. At first, the 10,000 or so bees swarmed over the left side of the aircraft, then landed on top of the left wing. The owner of the flight center called police, who said to call local bee removal expert Al Wilkins.
Wilkins used a specially designed vacuum to suck the bees off the plane, and then relocated them to hives where they will produce honey.
Wilkins guessed that the queen may have stopped to rest on the plane, and the other bees congregated around to protect her.Maybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves. A gang of honeybees landed on... more
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Thursday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch or listen to the show here on CURRENT TV on Tues, Thurs & Sats.
In today's show :
Little bits everywhere.
Plant factories.
Sticks.
A change of sheets.
Avoiding the bees.
Benidorm.
Early Sunday morning.
The elf house.
Gary is doing OK.
The staircase.
Remote control.
Dynasty.
Mouldy blueberries.
Robert has been buying properties.
A new way of growing vegetables.
Where are you going on holiday ?
Katie waits to greet me.
Cutting the hedge.
Buy local.
chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk
WWW.UNITEDKINGDOMTALK.CO.UKThursday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch or listen to the show... more
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Farmers in Africa have managed to save their crops from elephants by using tiny bees to frighten some of the biggest animals on earth away.
Elephants regularly destroy food crops in Kenya, but because the huge animals are impossible to keep out with fences, locals are forced to shoot the endangered species.
Now a pilot study by Oxford University and Save the Elephants charity has found the one thing elephants seem to be scared of – bees.
A simple beehive fence has been shown to significantly reduce crop raids by elephants. The fence is constructed of beehives suspended on poles and connected by lengths of fencing wire. Elephants avoid the hives and will attempt to push through the wire but this causes the hives to swing violently, prompting an attack of angry bees.
Bees swarm around the elephants' eyes and up their trunks and can even kill calves, as they have thinner hides.
Even when the hives are empty the elephants remember the harm that can be caused by the insects and stay away.
Lucy King of Oxford University's Department of Zoology, said a farm protected by the beehive fence had 86 per cent fewer successful crop raids by elephants and 150 per cent fewer raiding elephants than a control farm without the fence. Farmers are also protected from cattle rustlers and can harvest the honey two or three times a year.
"Our previous research has shown that elephants are scared away by recordings of the buzzing of angry bees," she said. "We designed the beehive fence as an affordable and practical way of applying this knowledge to create a barrier that the elephants would be afraid to cross."Farmers in Africa have managed to save their crops from elephants by using tiny bees... more
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Maybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves.
A gang of honeybees landed on the wing of a plane used for flight school training at Beverly Airport.
At first, the 10,000 or so bees swarmed over the left side of the aircraft, then landed on top of the left wing. The owner of the flight center called police, who said to call local bee removal expert Al Wilkins.Wilkins used a specially designed vacuum to suck the bees off the plane, and then relocated them to hives where they will produce honey.
Wilkins guessed that the queen may have stopped to rest on the plane, and the other bees congregated around to protect her.Maybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves.
A gang of honeybees landed... more
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Maybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves.
A gang of honeybees landed on the wing of a plane used for flight school training at Beverly Airport. At first, the 10,000 or so bees swarmed over the left side of the aircraft, then landed on top of the left wing. The owner of the flight center called police, who said to call local bee removal expert Al Wilkins.
Wilkins used a specially designed vacuum to suck the bees off the plane, and then relocated them to hives where they will produce honey.
Wilkins guessed that the queen may have stopped to rest on the plane, and the other bees congregated around to protect herMaybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves.
A gang of honeybees landed... more
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Louisville is considering becoming one of a growing number of communities statewide and nationally that have passed laws allowing chickens and beehives in neighborhoods.
The Louisville City Council is scheduled to discuss allowing both backyard chickens and bees at its Tuesday meeting.
Chicken proponents say backyard hens are part of an overall desire for more sustainable living. Chickens provide a ready supply of high-quality eggs, eat table scraps and produce waste that makes good compost. Opponents cite noise, stink and the possibility that chickens will attract more predators to neighborhoods.
One of the requests to legalize backyard hives came from resident Joseph Alper, who said he’s seen the effects of Boulder County’s diminishing bee population on his large vegetable garden.
Last summer, Alper said, he and his wife had to hand pollinate his fruit trees and had few strawberries, tomatoes and peppers. They decided to try bee keeping, but then found out its was illegal in Louisville. He and his wife have taken a bee-keeping class and have gotten tips from a backyard beekeeper in Boulder. He said commercial beekeepers also are encouraging hobbyists in hopes of increasing the local bee population, which is now estimated to be about half of what it was 50 years ago.
While the most common concern about allowing hives is bee stings, he said, honey bees aren’t aggressive. It’s the yellow jackets that are behind most stings, he said.Louisville is considering becoming one of a growing number of communities statewide... more
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A large swarm of bees gathered in an alley in Belmont County Sunday, and it prompted locals nearby to call in an expert.
A woman who lives on Virginia Street told NEWS9 she and a friend noticed the swarm of bees, and they called a beekeeper.
The swarm was so large that they were afraid it would cause issues for locals -- so the bee keeper put out a box to try and trap them.
Other than causing a nuisance, locals said the bees did not cause any other problems.
The woman said the keeper informed folks living in the area that it is the season for bee swarming.
honey bee swarms make me happy!A large swarm of bees gathered in an alley in Belmont County Sunday, and it prompted... more
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NEW YORK - Thousands of bees have swarmed outside a New York City game store, trapping employees inside for hours.
Worried employees looked out the window of the Manhattan store while talking on the phone as the bees clustered Saturday afternoon. A sign in the window warned: "Look! ... closed due to bee infestation."
Most passers-by avoided the GameStop store near Union Square, one of the city's busiest shopping areas. But Edward Albers tried to help. Dressed in regular clothes, he lured many bees into a box without getting stung.
Eventually, bee specialist Tony Planakis arrived in protective gear and used the scent of a queen bee to collect the rest of them.
The store reopened for business. The bees were being taken to hives upstate.NEW YORK - Thousands of bees have swarmed outside a New York City game store, trapping... more
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Thousands of bees have swarmed outside a New York City game store, trapping employees inside for hours.
Worried employees looked out the window of the Manhattan store while talking on the phone as the bees clustered Saturday afternoon. A sign in the window warned: "Look! ... closed due to bee infestation."
Most passers-by avoided the GameStop store near Union Square, one of the city's busiest shopping areas.Thousands of bees have swarmed outside a New York City game store, trapping employees... more
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Honeybees are still in trouble.
Over the past year, almost 29% of honeybee hives in the USA have died off, less of a loss than was reported in 2007 and 2008. But it's still an unsustainable situation for the insects responsible for pollinating many important food crops, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the Department of Agriculture's Honey Bee Lab.
"This is the third winter in a row where we've lost almost a third of the colonies," says Dennis van-Engelsdorp, Apiary Inspectors president. The hive loss reported was 35.8% in 2008 and 31.8% in 2007. Beekeepers start new hives, but it's expensive and time-consuming. VanEngelsdorp worries that some of the USA's 900 or so migratory beekeepers may go out of business because of the losses.
Bees are dying for reasons known and unknown. The known reasons include new fungal diseases and a parasite called the vampire mite, which was introduced from Asia in the 1980s.
What's unknown is the phenomena called colony collapse disorder, in which healthy worker bees fly away, leaving the hive, honey, queen and immature workers to die. "It's altruistic suicide," vanEngelsdorp says. "The workers somehow know they're sick, and in an attempt to stop their sisters from getting infected, they fly away."
But no one knows what's making them sick.
"It might be nutrition, new and changed pathogens, and also possibly pesticide exposure," he says. It doesn't appear to be tied to genetically engineered crops: Studies have shown such pollen fed to bees doesn't reduce their longevity, he says.
Honeybees are crucial for pollination-dependent crops, such as almonds, apples, blueberries, cranberries, pumpkins, watermelons and cucumbers, vanEngelsdorp says.
i'm really concerned about the future of the Honeybee. does anyone have any ideas on how we can help prevent the loss of more bees?Honeybees are still in trouble.
Over the past year, almost 29% of honeybee hives in... more
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In Defense of Food author Michael Pollan says the high demand of pollinating central California's almond crop may be contributing to the collapse of bee colonies. Pollan says bees are shipped in from around the globe and even given "high fructose corn syrup so they will be sturdy enough to attack the almond crop."In Defense of Food author Michael Pollan says the high demand of pollinating central... more
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For the first time, Japan has been hit with a large-scale collapse of honeybee populations like that experienced in other countries around the world.
"There have been small-scale honeybee losses for many years, but a massive collapse like they had in the U.S. is very unusual," said Kiyoshi Kimura of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science. "We must investigate the situation in Japan."
The phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, in which large numbers of worker bees simply vanish, was first identified in the United States in 2006. Since then, it has also been reported across Europe and, most recently, in Taiwan.
In Japan, the Japanese Beekeeping Association undertook a survey of its 2,500 members and determined that 25 percent of all beekeepers had "experienced sudden losses of honeybees" on some scale.
"The number of beekeepers to lose large numbers of bees was more than we expected," Kimura said.
Although most honey in Japan is imported, honeybees play a critical role in the pollination of a wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops in the country. According to Osamu Mamuro, owner of a company that supplies beehives to farmers for pollination purposes, populations of the insects have dropped so drastically that he expects to have to cut his deliveries by more than 50 percent this year.
"If this keeps up," he said, "it'll be the end of my business."
A wide scale collapse of bee populations might also mean local food shortages. At the very least, it would probably mean rising prices as farmers turn to hand pollination and retailers turn to importation to make up for lessened domestic production.
"From now on," said the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "it is possible that it will be increasingly difficult to secure honeybees for the purposes of pollinating eggplant, melon, watermelon and other produce plants."For the first time, Japan has been hit with a large-scale collapse of honeybee... more
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