Bees are Natural Engineers

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator

Scioto Valley BeekeepersScioto Valley Beekeepers visited STEM Club this month. The Scioto Valley Beekeepers are active and dedicated to assisting current and future beekeepers in Pickaway County and the surrounding areas in Ohio. Their mission is “to promote public awareness of the benefits, necessity, and value of the honeybee throughout human existence.” If you would like to learn more about this organization or become more involved please visit their website or attend one of their monthly meetings.

The Benefits of Bees

Bees provide essential pollination services to millions of acres of crops, improving sustainability and biodiversity. Bees are critically important to agriculture. At least a third of the human food supply from crops and plants depends on insect pollination, which is mostly done by bees! They also contribute to the complex, interconnected ecosystems that allow a diverse number of different species to co-exist. (1)

Many of our scientific and engineering projects have been inspired by bees, such as the use of hexagons in engineering. The study of bees (particularly honey bees) continues to produce an enormous amount of scientific research and these insects have become one of the most studied creatures after humans. (2)

They have also generated an array of philosophical and poetic ideas. In ancient times, bees and honey played major roles and were symbolic of ancient Greek culture. Bees have been frequently connected with ideals of knowledge, health, and power. The ancient Greeks considered bees servants of the gods and their honey was worshipped for its healing qualities and power. Artisans represented bees in jewelry, money, and statues of goddesses. (3)

Bees have much to teach humans about cooperation and industriousness.

Bee Society

An average beehive is about two square feet (or 22 inches by 16 inches), with at least a five-foot buffer around the hive for in- and outbound bee traffic. In many ways, honey bees create a well-organized mini-society in a box. Honey bees, in particular, are very social insects that have evolved into a highly cooperative or collective existence. A hive is fiercely united around the “all-for-one and one-for-all” slogan as their workforce sets out to do a variety of complex tasks that are decided by the communal collective groups that are acted on instinctually. (4)

Honey bees communicate with each other through movement and odor. They send sophisticated messages about which duties to shift to, potential dangers, intruder alerts, locations of food sources, new hive sites, and a variety of other things. (5)

With ultraviolet visions, bees see targets on flowers where the pollen and nectar are located.

Bees can see both visible and ultraviolet light and have precise olfactory receptors. They can also detect electric fields. Flowers have a slight negative charge relative to the air around them. When bumblebees are flying through the air the friction between the air and their bee bodies causes them to become positively charged, and the students learned threw our program that two electrical charges of opposite polarity attract – chemistry in motion. (6)

Infographic by Fuse Consulting Ltd.

Each colony has only one queen at a time, whose primary function is reproduction. She only mates once in her lifetime shortly after she emerges from her egg and kills her other sister queens. She leaves the hive seeking out a cloud of drone bees from another colony. When she returns to her hive, she starts laying 1,500-2,000 eggs per day, selectively fertilizing or not fertilizing the eggs in accordance with how her worker bees are collectively directing her to do. The worker bees engineer and manage each opening of their comb. A queen lives two to three years (sometimes five years) and will produce up to 250,000 eggs per year and possibly lay more than a million eggs in her lifetime.

Drone bees represent five percent of the colony’s bee population and are only present during the late spring and early summer months. The queen may have a longer abdomen for storing the sperm, but a drone is larger overall than the queen and female worker bees. Drones also do not have stingers, pollen baskets, or wax glands, because their main purpose for their colony is to fertilize a virgin queen from a neighboring colony. They die instantly upon mating. While alive drones rely solely on food gathered and processed by the workers’ groups. Drones stay in the hive for the first eight days of life and eat three times more than their sister workers. Day 9 they start leaving the hive from noon to 4:00 p.m. taking orientation flights to acquaint themselves with the surrounding territory for mating purposes. When the weather cools and food becomes scarce the surviving drones are forced out of their hive to starve. (The only exception to this ousting is if the colony is queenless.)

Workers may be the smallest in body size, but they are some of the busiest bees in the group and make up 94 percent of the colony’s population. When compared to their queen they are sexually undeveloped females who under normal hive conditions do not lay eggs (and under a queenless condition lay unfertilized eggs.) Workers have specialized anatomy such as the addition of brood food glands, scent glands, wax glands, and pollen baskets, which allow them to perform all the laborious duties the hive requires. They also clean cells, feed the brood, care for the queen, remove debris and dead bees, handle incoming nectar, engineer beeswax combs, guard the entrance, and air-condition and ventilate the hive during their first few weeks as adults. Works then advance to field duties where they forage for nectar, pollen, water, and propolis (plant sap). (7, 8, 9)

Bee Body Parts and Anatomy

 Infographic source: https://awkwardbotany.com/2015/03/14/year-of-pollination-the-anatomy-of-a-bee/

Infographic source: https://beeprofessor.com/anatomy-of-a-honey-bee-beginners-guide/


The Power of Pollinators

#BeeTheSolution

1. Plant a Bee Garden

One of the largest threats to bees is a lack of safe habitat where they can build homes and find a variety of nutritious food sources. By planting a bee garden, you can create a safe haven for bees with pollen- and nectar-rich flowers by planting a range of shapes, sizes, colors, and bloom times. You don’t need a ton of space to grow bee-friendly plants — gardens can be established across yards and in window boxes, flower pots, and mixed into vegetable gardens. Seek out locally native plants as often as possible as many bee species have coevolved to feed exclusively on native flowers and need them to survive.

2. Go Chemical-Free for Bees

Regardless of which flowers you plant, avoid using pesticides and herbicides. Synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, and neonicotinoids are harmful to bees, wreaking havoc on their sensitive systems. A garden can thrive without these harmful chemicals — in fact, one goal of a bee-friendly garden is to build a sustainable ecosystem that keeps itself in check by fostering beneficial populations. If you must use a pesticide, choose a targeted organic product, and always avoid applying pesticides when flowers are blooming or directly to the soil.

3. Become a Community Scientist

Join a global movement to collect data on our favorite pollinators! Community science transforms the passion and interest of regular people into data-driven activities that support scientific research. By participating in a community science project, you can provide important insights and local knowledge, which can lead to more relevant and useful research outcomes. Join our “A Bee Or Not a Bee” iNaturalist project, which invites you to document and upload species on iNaturalist, collaborating with naturalists around the world to determine whether the insect buzzing by is a bee, wasp, fly, or other common bee doppelgängers.

4. Provide Trees for Bees

Did you know that bees get most of their nectar from trees? When a tree blooms, it provides hundreds — if not thousands — of blossoms to feed from. Trees are not only a great food source for bees but also an essential habitat. Tree leaves and resin provide nesting material for bees, while natural wood cavities make excellent shelters. Native trees such as maples, redbuds, and black cherry all attract and support bees. You can help bolster bee food sources and habitats by caring for and planting trees. Trees are also great at sequestering carbon, managing our watersheds, and cooling air temperatures.

5. Create a Bee Bath

Bees work up quite a thirst foraging and collecting nectar. Fill a shallow bird bath or bowl with clean water, and arrange pebbles and stones inside so that they break the water’s surface. Bees will land on the stones and pebbles to take a long, refreshing drink.

6. Protect Ground Nesting Bees

Did you know that 70% of the world’s 20,000 bees — including bumblebees — live underground? There, they build nests and house their young, who overwinter and emerge each spring. Ground nesting bees need bare, mulch-free, well-drained, protected soil in a sunny area to create and access their nests. Leave an untouched section for ground-nesting bees in your garden!

7. Leave Stems Behind

30% of bees live: in holes inside trees, logs, or hollow plant stems. Don’t cut those hollow stems, which are valuable bee habitats. A hollow stem may not seem like prime real estate to us, but to Mason and other bees, it’s a cozy home in which they may overwinter. Wait until the spring to cut back dead flower stalks, leaving stems 8 to 24 inches high to provide homes for cavity-nesting bees.

8. Teach Tomorrow’s Bee Stewards

Inspire the next generation of eco citizens with guides, lessons, and activities to get them buzzed about bees! Educators can use our collection of free resources to bring nature and ecology into the classroom — and the hearts of children everywhere.

9. Host a Fundraiser

Peer-to-Peer fundraising is a fantastic way to spread the mission of The Bee Conservancy and empower your community to help raise money for our impactful programs. With the help of tools from Fundraise Up, you can share your personal fundraising page on social media and with friends and family. It’s an easy, fun way to make a serious impact. Start your own fundraiser today!

10. Support Local Beekeepers and Organizations

Local beekeepers work hard to nurture their bees and the local community. The easiest way to show your appreciation is to buy locally-made honey and beeswax products. Many beekeepers use products from their hives to create soaps, lotions, and beeswax candles. Plus, local honey is not only delicious — it is made from local flora and may help with seasonal allergies! You can also give time, resources, and monetary donations to local beekeeping societies and environmental groups to help their programs grow. (10)


Ohio Bee Identification Guides

 

OhioBeeGuideFINAL

 

Ohio Bee Identification Guide _ Ohioline


REFERENCE
1  Medicine, C. for V. (n.d.). Helping Agriculture’s helpful honey bees. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/helping-agricultures-helpful-honey-bees#:~:text=It’s%20their%20work%20as%20crop,bills%20buzzing%20over%20U.S.%20crops.
2  Why do honey bees make hexagons when building honeycombs? with video. BuzzAboutBees.net. (n.d.). https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/why-bees-use-hexagons.html
3  Out of the past. Bee Culture -. (2020, September 1). https://www.beeculture.com/out-of-the-past/#:~:text=Bees%20and%20honey%20were%20a,money%2C%20and%20statues%20of%20goddesses.
Wcislo, W., & Fewell, J. H. (n.d.). Sociality in bees (Chapter 3) – comparative social evolution. Cambridge Core. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/comparative-social-evolution/sociality-in-bees/EDB3BC0012570CEEF1237E662563B4FD
5  The language of bees. PerfectBee. (2020, September 17). https://www.perfectbee.com/blog/the-language-of-bees#:~:text=They%20don’t%20use%20words,a%20variety%20of%20other%20things.
6  Baisas, L. (2022, October 24). A swarm of honeybees can have the same electrical charge as a storm cloud. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/environment/honeybees-electric-atmospheric-charge/
7  Remolina, S. C., & Hughes, K. A. (2008, September). Evolution and mechanisms of long life and high fertility in queen Honey Bees. Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2527632/#:~:text= Honey%20bees%20(Apis%20mellifera)%20are,200%20days%20in%20the%20winter.
8  The colony and its organization. Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium. (n.d.). https://canr.udel.edu/maarec/honey-bee-biology/the-colony-and-its-organization/
9  Welcome to the Hive!. Beverly Bees. (2019, January 30). https://www.beverlybees.com/home-hive/
10  10 ways to save the bees. The Bee Conservancy. (2023, April 21). https://thebeeconservancy.org/10-ways-to-save-the-bees/

Coronavirus is NO JOKE! Limit person-to-person transmission of the virus.

STEM Club is canceled through March.

While we know many are taking this seriously, many people are still slow to react.

Please share the below message with your friends, family, colleagues or anyone else who thinks this is not a big deal.

We all know by now the risks to the older populations and persons with compromised immune systems (and many of us have family, friends, and colleagues in these categories); however, what is not getting enough attention is the coming shock to our health system (Links to an external site.).

The best evidence is that the number of cases is doubling every 5-8 days and that 10% of cases require hospitalization, often for weeks at a time. In China 15% of confirmed cases required hospitalization. Italy has higher populations of older people and has roughly 50% of confirmed cases. Simple math shows what lies ahead unless significant steps are taken to reduce transmission.

Assuming on the conservative side, the virus doubles every 7 days, and 100 people in the Columbus area have the virus today, March 11th but are not yet symptomatic (hopefully this is not the case, but we just don’t know for certain).

  • 200 people will have the virus by March 18th
  • 400 people will have the virus by March 25th
  • 800 people will have the virus by April 1st
  • 1,600 people will have the virus by April 8th
  • 3,200 people will have the virus by April 15th
  • 6,400 people will have the virus by April 22nd
  • 12,800 people will have the virus by April 29th
  • 25,600 people will have the virus by May 6th with 2,500 hospitalized
  • 51,200 people will have the virus by May 13th with 5,100 hospitalized
  • 102,400 people will have the virus by May 20th, with 10,240 hospitalized
  • 204,800 people will have the virus by May 27th, with 20,480 hospitalized

And so on. This is in Columbus alone. We cannot manage 10,000 people hospitalized in the Columbus area for weeks on end.

This is not alarmism or a worst-case scenario. This is reality. Even if you assume 5% of cases require hospitalization or that only 10 people in Columbus currently have the virus, you still arrive at numbers that will overwhelm the healthcare system by the end of May.

Unless we …… Slow…. The…. Virus…. Down….

In Italy, they are currently turning people away from Intensive Care and rationing ventilators based on the likelihood to survive. (Links to an external site.) In China, they have had to build entire hospitals from scratch to house the scores of sick. (Links to an external site.) Health care workers catch the virus and cannot work leading to shortages of doctors and staff (Links to an external site.).

There is an attorney in New York that single-handedly infected over 50 people (Links to an external site.). In Boston, over 70 people were infected by attending a single conference (Links to an external site.).

Please take care to avoid large gatherings and interacting in tight quarters. Please avoid parties and big gatherings. It sucks. It’s no fun. But our actions now will determine how things play out by the end of May.

Useful Interactive ArchGIS Resource: Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

Club Highlights from 2018-2019

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension

LED Display Circuit Board Challenge

Elementary STEM Club just started its third year of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) programming, engaging approximately a hundred 4th and 5th graders in after school hands-on STEM challenges and career exploration throughout the academic school year. Judy Walley, Teays Valley High School Chemistry Teacher, and Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, co-teach the program, which also involves over two dozen high school mentor students. The mentors assist with club activities while themselves gaining both soft and technical skills, leadership, community service, and college/career exploration opportunities.

Physics and Center of Gravity Challenges

STEM education programs can have a positive impact on students’ attitudes towards STEM disciplines, 21st century skills, and a greater interest in STEM careers. Educators throughout Pickaway County have been busy in supporting a number of problem-based learning initiatives, business-teacher partnerships, and STEM teaching initiatives.

Foldscope, Origami Microscope Biology Challenge

Elementary STEM Club is one of those local initiatives that employs hands-on learning through a multidisciplinary approach into many subjects and career paths. The program challenges its youth in chemistry, astronomy, biology, coding, drone technology, connected toys, wearable tech, strategic mind games, escape classrooms, electric circuits, physics, renewable energy, beekeeping, aerospace, flight simulations, aviation, fostering a community service mindset, and more.

Strategic Mind Games and Bee Science Challenges

We invite specialists from the community to teach, share, and engage with the students, such as the Scioto Valley Beekeeping Association, OSU Professors, an Extension Energy Specialist, an OSU Health Dietitian, and the Civil Air Patrol to name a few. Next year we’re hoping to bring some virtual reality, 360 photography, and video production challenges to our students. If you’re interested in sharing a skillset, a technology, a career path, or a meaningful life experience to some amazing and eager-minded students, please email, thoreau.1@osu.edu or jwalley@tvsd.us.

We’d like to also thank everyone who has been involved in the program over the last two years. It’s been a pleasure and a plunge into the wild side of STEM education, youth workforce development, and promoting a mindset of lifelong learning – all critical to today’s workforce.

Civil Air Patrol and Aerospace Careers

Civil Air Patrol

We ended last year with a great program partnering with Civil Air Patrol (CAP). Civilian volunteers – with a passion for flight, science, and engineering – led the program highlighting STEM careers in aviation, space, cyber security, emergency services, and the military. The whole organization is powered by a team of dedicated civilian volunteers with a passion for aviation and STEM education. If you know of a student, 12-years and up, that has in interest in aviation, would like a chance to fly a plane, work towards their pilot license, attend leadership encampments, career academies, and more, visit http://www.ohwg.cap.gov/.

Aerospace Officer Donna Herald, Lieutenant Casey Green, and Lieutenant Colonel David Dlugiewicz volunteered their time and aviation skills to lead our youth into exploring the history of the Civil Air Patrol, emphasize the value of civic engagement, and underscore the growing deficient of pilots and aerospace specialist in the workforce.

Physics Concepts, Bernoulli Principle on Air Pressure Differential Theory Challenges

The CAP lessons built on previous STEM Club programming that taught physic concepts, the law of gravity, and re-instilled aircraft principal axes, such as the friction, center of gravity, and coding parrot drones challenges. Lieutenant Colonel Dlugiewicz taught the discussed Bernoulli Principle (an air pressure differential theory) and Sir Isaac Newton and the laws of motion and lift. The students engaged in a hands-on activity such as filling an air bag with one breath, leaving a gap between their mouth and the bag to allow a vacuum to form, demonstrating Bernoulli’s principle.

Part of a Airplane and Axis Challenges

Lieutenant Casey Green discussed the parts of an airplane focusing on the components that control an aircraft’s moment and direction. The students broke into groups and rotated between two stations. The first engaged the students in building paper airplane that they cut strategic slits into. The students experimented by folding different components of their airplanes to change and control the overall direction of their paper airplanes. The second station engaged the students in two different sets of CAP flight simulators to further the students’ understandings of the aviation principles taught in the program. The flight simulators provided a semi authentic experience that helps young pilots learn to fly.

Flight Simulator Challenges

Our community has some amazing young minds that are thinking and embrace the many dynamic career pathways of a STEMist. Please get involved and support more STEM programming in your community, it matters.

 

PhysBot Fitness and Strategic Board Game Challenges

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator

November’s Body and Mind Workout Challenges

In STEM Club, we stress the importance of multidisciplinary learning and problem-solving by allowing students to engage in hands-on STEM challenges. Remember, it takes more than one subject to solve real-world problems. It’s also important to stress a lifelong learning mode where the body and mind are working together. A healthy active mind requires a healthy active body; the two systems work and support each other.

Day 1: PhysBot Wearable Tech and Fitness Challenges

Students learned about wearable technology and the importance of maintaining an active lifestyle by exploring the PhysBot Data Tracker which inspires healthy minds. The PhysBot technology was developed through an Ohio-based partnership between Ohio State University Extension 4-H, Big Kitty Labs, and Tiny Circuits. For a quick club overview visit: go.osu.edu/PhysBot.

Our young STEMist learned that physical fitness matters. Our body and brain need a mix of activity and mind challenges to stay healthy. Teens need at least 60-minutes of active every day, where adults can get away with 150 minutes/week! Wearable technology is growing and becoming a popularized accessory for all ages. It’s estimated that in 2019 almost 90-million people in the U.S. will be wearing some form of wearable technology.

The PhysBot breaks down wearable technology and allows students to see and understand all the working components. The students also learn how to calculate their resting heartbeat by hand. Then they put on their individual PhysBot to compare their heart’s beats per minute (BPM) through an LED pulse sensor. Finally, the students engage in different physical fitness challenges while monitoring their BPMs. Students can also download their data to a computer using free downloadable software to continue investigating their physical activity results.

To learn more or to order a PhysBot Kit visit: ohio4h.org/physbots.


“When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing ‘fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter, Cuz You’ll Know That You’re Right.”

-Fiona Apple


Day 2: International Strategic Board Game Challenges

Coming up with strategies and tactics to over challenges and problems requires a 21st Century Skillset. November’s STEM Club focused on discovering new ways in plotting winning strategies which, later on, will foster more strategic thinking skills that could help when applied to real-life scenarios. Practicing strategizing skills is important and STEM Club exposed students to international strategic board games they can continue playing and learning from. The more these types of games are played, the better students will be at coming up with winning strategies and making smart decisions for a lifetime. The games shared came from around the world: Chess (India), Five Field Kono (Korea), Backgammon (the Middle East), Fox and Geese (Northern Europe), and Mū Tōrere (New Zealand).

Why are strategy games so important?

Strategy games are great for learning life skills, such as patience, self-control, and thinking critically. These types of games teach emotional competence and help students learn to control their impulses; not to make a decision immediately, but rather wait for a better more effective opportunity.

Strategic games help students learn to evaluate other factors at play, realizing that their next decision may actually cause more problems for them or possibly lead to a strategic advantage. Strategy games also help set and maintain goals while many avenues of thought and decisions have to be sorted through. Students start thinking of the next move, but in reality, they are looking further ahead, thinking how their next movie will lead to the next challenge. It’s that skill of anticipating the counter move that leads to making smart decisions in the future. These games teach student to make decisions after identifying the alternatives available to them and anticipating the possible consequences. And that is the basis to critical thinking.

Stay tune for December’s STEM Club highlight. Students will be diving into biology and building their own microscopes to study a variety of plant and animal specimens!