Last year, almost half of the honeybee colonies in the U.S. died, making it the second deadliest year for honeybees on record. The main culprit wasn’t climate change, starvation, or even pesticides, but a parasite: Varroa destructor.
“The name for this parasite is a very Transformer-y sounding name, but … these Varroa destructor mites have earned this name. It’s not melodramatic by any means. [They are] incredibly destructive organisms,” says Dr. Sammy Ramsey, entomologist at the University of Colorado Boulder.
These tiny mites feed on the bees and make them susceptible to other threats like diseases and pesticides. They’re also highly contagious: They arrived in the US in 1987, and now they live in almost every honeybee colony in the country. Honeybees pollinate many important crops, like apples, peaches, and berries, and their pollinator services add up to billions of dollars.
Ramsey and his lab are trying to put an end to the varroa mites’ spree. Part of their research includes spying on baby bees and their accompanying mites to learn how the parasites feed on the bees and whether there’s a way to disrupt that process.
In Boulder, Colorado, SciFri producer Rasha Aridi speaks with Dr. Ramsey and fellow entomologist Dr. Madison Sankovitz about how the varroa mites terrorize bees so effectively, and what it would take to get ahead of them.
Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.
Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.
653: The West’s Wild Horses | Artist Explores History Of Humans Genetically Modifying Pigs
650: Moon Rock Research | Science of Unraveling Sweaters
652: 2023’s Best Science Books For Kids
649: How AI Chatbots Can Reinforce Racial Bias In Medicine
651: An Exoplanet Where It Rains Sand
648: Ask A Chef: How Can I Use Science To Make Thanksgiving Tastier?
645: Monumental And Invisible: How Infrastructure Works
647: Everything You Never Knew About Squash And Pumpkins
644: How A University Is Adjusting One Year After ChatGPT
646: Euclid Telescope’s First Images | A Black Hole That Came From Gas
642: How Five Elements Define Life On Earth
639: Climate Future Exhibit | Oregon's Proposed Fish Vacuum
641: How A Deaf Advisory Group Is Changing Healthcare
643: 40 Years Of Sounding The Alarm On Nuclear Winter
640: CRISPR-Based Sickle Cell Treatment | Pain Tolerance From Neanderthals
637: How Poisons Have Shaped Life On Earth
635: Placenta Research May Help Explain Pregnancy Loss
634: A Common Cold Medicine Ingredient Doesn’t Work. What Now?
633: Diving Into Elon Musk’s Mind
636: RSV Drug Shortage & Beech Leaf Disease
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL