Researchers Develop Anti-Pesticide Boosters for Bees

TaiwanPlus News

Researchers at a university in Colombia have developed a nutritional supplement that may boost bees' resistance to pesticides. As pollinators, bees are seen as critical for the planet's ecology and human food production.

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00:00Getting in their vitamins. These bees at a lab in Colombia are taking supplements that

00:05the researchers say boost their resistance to pesticides. Scientists sedate the bees,

00:10then place them in tubes to feed them the supplement. They then expose the insects to

00:14pesticides.

00:15Once we expose them to the pesticides, in the realistic levels, that is, in the levels

00:21that are actually found in the field, the bees are protected. What does this mean?

00:27In bees that still learn well, in bees that move well, in bees that make good decisions.

00:34Scientists say the plant-based formula helps protect bees' brains from neurological damage

00:38from pesticides sprayed on crops. Bees are an important part of the ecosystem, as they

00:43pollinate both wild plants and human food crops. But chemicals meant to protect crops

00:47from harmful pests could actually hurt the bees that support their growth.

00:51We know that there are molecules that improve bees' health. We know that there are molecules

00:56that prevent neuronal damage caused by pesticides and a lot of other effects that still need

01:01to be studied. And we have the option of continuing to investigate how these methods work, which

01:07are already working, to be able to optimize them and to start seeing an improvement.

01:13The first tests proved effective enough that the team is now trying out the supplement

01:17in real-world situations at an apiary on campus to keep the world's busy bees buzzing.

01:23Patrick Chen and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.

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