For thousands of years, humans have prized honey for its taste as well as its health benefits. By raising bees at home, beekeepers can harvest and enjoy their own honey. There are two types of honey: raw and processed. Raw honey is collected from a beehive and consumed after it’s passed through a filter to…

Commentary Australia was (until recently) the sole major honey-producer free from Varroa mites (also known as “varroa destructors”) after New Zealand fell to infection in 2000. It has been four months since a Varroa mite infection on the east coast triggered Australia’s biosecurity procedures, during which 15 to 45 million bees were culled by the…

The deadly Varroa mite has been detected in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) at the Port of Newcastle, threatening the country’s population of European honey bees and the livelihoods of its beekeepers. Biosecurity surveillance first detected the tiny and reddish-brown mite on June 22; however, hundreds of hives have been identified as infected…

The bright, orange globe mallow flower, which flourishes in the desert, has been likened to a refreshing grenadine summer drink. That vivid flower blossom has a friend in the blue-eyed globe mallow flower bee (Diadasia diminuta). It loves gorging on pollen by day and, strangely, curling up inside those same blossoms—in a nectar-induced stupor, covered…