bees butterflies pollinator image updated x

Featured Backgrounders

Below is the complete archive of articles related to this topic, sorted by date.

hummingbird bee crisis

Viewpoint: ‘Bird apocalypse’? Study wrongly blames neonicotinoid pesticides for declining bird biodiversity

Though periodic deaths of bees continue to happen, and have been documented for as long as records of bees have ...
beebomb

‘No change in insect population sizes’: Massive North American study challenges ‘insect apocalypse’ claims

In recent years, the notion of an insect apocalypse has become a hot topic in the conservation science community and has ...
IMG

France poised to lift neonicotinoid insecticide ban to save pest-ravaged sugar beet industry

The French government is planning to lift a blanket ban on the use of neonicotinoids to help save its sugar ...
img

Zoanthropy: The curious case of the woman who believes she is a chicken

[A] 54-year-old woman, who had no history of drug or alcohol abuse, was found by her brother in her garden ...
d

Viewpoint: Battling deadly disease with gene drives is worth the limited risk

The fate of society rests in part on how humans navigate their complicated relationship with insects – trying to save ...
screen shot at am

Democratic lawmakers propose ban on organophosphate and neonicotinoid insecticides

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) are introducing companion legislation to cancel the registrations of organophosphates and ...
Screen Shot at PM

Facing decimated yields, French sugar-beet growers demand access to banned neonicotinoid insecticides

Since April, the beet yellows virus has destroyed a large part of France's sugar beet harvest, including nearly 50% of ...
a bee covered in pollen x

Preventing spread of parasites, not cutting pesticide use, key to protecting bees

For as long as beekeeping records have been kept, 1,100 years, there have been accounts of colony collapse disorder. Just ...
istock

Sustainable farming advances: Global movement to ban pesticides and GMOs spur next-generation biotech pest controls

Their target remains GMOs—a range of agricultural products made with modern techniques of genetic engineering, from eggplant grown mostly in ...
Factory Supply Higher Quality Blue Granular Powder Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate

Organic fungicide copper sulfate endangers humans, animals and insects

Organic farming is not chemical free. Copper sulfate is a popular one. How does it work and how does it ...
Field of oilseed rape with bees e

EU environmental groups say proposed pesticide rules would ‘water down’ protection for pollinators

EU countries .... expressed their preference for a way of regulating potentially bee-harming pesticides that has been contested by environmental ...
Roundup Glyphosate Pesticides

Viewpoint: Mexico’s activist government pushes glyphosate ban that threatens food security and farmer welfare

Biotech giant Bayer is currently in the fight of its life against more than 100,000 lawsuits alleging its flagship weedkiller ...
gmo x @ x

Viewpoint: Activist opposition to GMOs fueled by an ‘extremist’ vision of nature

We would like to take the opportunity on #Worldenvironmentday to come back to a problem we have been thinking about ...
crispr babies

Podcast: Beepocalypse debunked; Ban CRISPR babies? Anti-science views slow COVID-19 herd immunity

Some experts are calling for a ban on embryo gene editing after a "disaster" experiment resulted in potentially dangerous and ...
screen shot at pm

Viewpoint: Conservation isn’t enough. We need technology to blunt the impacts of climate change

We need direct, technology-driven intervention for conservation ...
bees

We depend on bees for 1/3 of our food? Pesticides threaten bees? Farmer challenges pollinator myths

.... [W]ithout [bee] pollination efforts, the world would still have plenty of food .... The vegetables we eat don’t require ...
defense

Fighting cancer by boosting the body’s immune system with genetically engineered bacteria

Our immune system can defeat cancer. Immune cells can directly attack cancer cells or produce proteins that don’t let tumors ...
dead bee desolate city

Are we facing an ‘Insect Apocalypse’ caused by ‘intensive, industrial’ farming and agricultural chemicals? The media say yes; Science says ‘no’

The media call it the “Insect Apocalypse”. In the past three years, the phrase has become an accepted truth of ...
Seed treating x

Bayer, UK farmers appeal EU neonicotinoid insecticide ban, citing lack of scientific evidence

Lawyers acting on behalf of the [National Farmers Union] are in court battling to overturn a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, ...
microctonus brassicae a parasitoid targeting the adult cabbage stem flea beetle psylliodes chrysocephala x

With neonicotinoid insecticides banned, wasps might help UK canola growers combat cabbage stem flea beetle

Researchers have determined that the Microctonus brassicae wasp species, and genetically similar parasitic wasps, could be used in controlled conditions ...
csm Oilseed canolafield bayer b a c a d

Neonicotinoid insecticide ban, poor weather cut EU canola harvest area to 13-year low, USDA finds

Rapeseed production in the European Union (EU27 + UK) for 2020/21 is forecast at 17.0 million metric tons (mmt), 0.2 ...
gettyimages

Bees pollinate 1/3 of our food? Entomologist debunks 6 pervasive pollinator myths

.... [B]ees are ever-increasing in popularity across many sectors including conservation, gardening, fashion, marketing, and public/corporate strategies .... And as ...
atomo beta brew

Coffee of the future? Lab-made ‘molecular’ version might feed the world’s caffeine habit while sparing the environment

The coronavirus pandemic has led to many shifts in how we eat, but our collective coffee habit remains strong. As ...
honeybee flower jpg x q crop scale

Microscopic algae diet could help honeybees fight off deadly pathogens and other threats

A microscopic algae ("microalgae") could provide a complete and sustainably sourced supplemental diet to boost the robustness of managed honey ...
CKdfBgWUkAATPZz

Neonicotinoid insecticide ban leaves UK canola farmers with few tools to stop flea beetle resurgence

The bright yellow rapeseed flowers that adorn the British countryside have largely disappeared after crops this season failed. The flaxen ...
sm bee feat x

Disease is the greatest threat to bee health. Can we protect them through genetically engineered probiotics?

If you cannot engineer the organism, engineer its microbiome. Since scientists began exploring how to solve problems using synthetic biology, ...
b ffbe f fa dacc a original

Podcast: With honeybees no longer abandoning their colonies, deadly Varroa destructor mite now biggest threat to bee health

University of Maryland entomologist Samuel Ramsey sits down with NPR's Maddie Sofia to discuss how America's honeybees are faring in ...
shutterstock

Viewpoint: Bees and pesticides—Europe’s precautionary rules neglect science, hinder sustainable farming

A core element of EU environmental law is the precautionary principle (PP), which theoretically requires regulators to err on the ...