Once bees develop a taste for caffeine, they’ll do just about anything to get a fix. “The effect of caffeine is akin to drugging, where the honey bees are tricked into valuing the forage as a higher ...

Bees that have been exposed to nicotine make very bad decisions that are not in their own self-interest, according to new research. Nicotine is produced naturally by some plants that use insect ...

Neonicotinoids are common pesticides that target the same mechanisms in insect brains that are affected by nicotine in our brains. And according to a new field experiment, neonicotinoids are harmful ...

Some plants offer top-shelf nectar, but they face stiff competition when it comes to getting bees' attention. Researchers have found that some plants are spiking their own nectar with caffeine because ...

Bees can get drunk from fermented nectar, and guard bees may eject intoxicated foragers to protect the hive from harm.

It’s called nectar robbing: Bees get nectar, but don’t pollinate the plants in exchange. With their short tongues, Valley carpenter bees can’t easily drink the nectar from tubular flowers. So they use ...

Humans love flowers because of their beautiful colors, intriguing shapes, and lovely fragrance. From the plant’s perspective, however, these qualities are more about function than aesthetics. Plants ...

Researchers from KU Leuven have discovered that the presence of yeasts can alter the chemical composition and thus the nutritional value of nectar for pollinators such as bees. The study discovered ...

Mary Poppins taught us that a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. A bumblebee's favorite sugary drink may already be laced with medicine. And bees seem to dose themselves with medicinal ...

Hummingbird feeders are among the many ways you can attract these tiny birds to your yard and garden. Since homemade hummingbird nectar is easy to make, this is by far the most affordable method, as ...