In the intricate world of honeybee colonies, the survival of the hive hinges on the health and productivity of the queen bee.

It sounds like the plot of a medieval historical drama: A once-powerful monarch, weakened by illness, is overthrown by her previously loyal subjects. But in honey bee colonies, such high-stakes coups ...

When you think “bee,” you likely picture one species that lives all over the world: the honey bee. And honey bees have queens, a female who lays essentially all of the eggs for the colony. But most ...

In honeybee hives, a surprising phenomenon regularly occurs: worker bees can turn against their own queen to replace her when ...

That’s a good question, because it’s complicated. A queen bee is a female bee that is the only bee in the hive to lay eggs. She is also the largest bee in the hive. If you think that wasps have queens ...

In chess, the queen is the most valuable piece for a player. She’s capable of making any move, which also makes her the most protected after the king. In a bee colony, the queen holds the same rank.

Honey bee colonies have a surprising way of ensuring survival. When a queen bee weakens due to virus infection, her pheromone signals decline. Worker bees sense this weakness and instinctively raise a ...

SEATTLE — They rule the roost and are key to strengthening the honey bee population in the face of climate change. So who’s got the guts to tell these queens to chill out? Enter Brandon Hopkins an ...

A honeybee visiting wildflowers. UC Davis biologist Felicity Muth is studying how bees understand their world, making decisions about which flowers to visit and how often. (Thomas J. Ushing, UC Davis) ...