Can studying honeybee brains improve bees’ health?

Bucknell University researchers looking to find out

• Scott LaMar/WITF
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar was formerly the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

 Matt Rourke / AP Photo

Honey bees move about in their display during the 104th Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa., Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.

Beekeepers in the U.S. lost more than 45% of their honeybee colonies in the one-year period starting in April 2020. The loss of bees from colony collapse disorder and other causes over the past decade is critical to food supply since bees pollinate native plants and tree fruit crops.

Researchers at Bucknell University in Lewisburg have taken a novel approach — they are studying the brains of bees for stress, which has been identified as a factor in colony collapse disorder.

Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, the researchers are comparing the brains of healthy bees to those that are diseased.

Monday’s Smart Talk focuses on the research with Jayne McDevitt, cell biology/biochemistry major and lead author of their latest study, chemistry professor David Rovnyak and biology professor and bee researcher Beth Capaldi.