Sweet Science
THERE’S A BEE BUZZING about 10 centimetres from my eyes, back and forth, distracting me from looking for her royal mother. She wants me to leave, and will give her life to scare me away. Her plunging stinger can deliver a biochemical attack that will cause me pain and discomfort for days (fortunately not everyone reacts as strongly as me), and will rally her sisters to sting as well to defend their hive.
The pheromone signal that draws worker bees to attack is part of a network of chemical products and transformations that govern a colony’s success. I got into bee-keeping for the honey and through my interest in being somewhat self-sufficient, but along the way I’ve become fascinated with bees’ social structure and what amazing chemists they are.
The bee most keepers exploit is the Western (or European) honey bee, , which is now spread across the globe. Highly social, bees have evolved to make massive amounts of stored food to help the colony survive winter. The most common methods of managed bee-keeping encourage them to fill “super” boxes with as much honey as possible.
