Bee Alerted!

Researchers from the University of Montana are using bee hives as a sort of early warning system for chemicals and pathogens by analyzing the change in frequency of "collective buzzing" when exposed to contaminants:

"We found bees respond within 30 seconds or less to the presence of a toxic chemical," said Research Professor Jerry Bromenshenk. "The military is interested in that for countering terrorism. But the real surprise was that the sounds bees produce can actually tell what chemical is hitting them."

The insects also make different sounds when attacked by honeybee maladies such as varroa mites or foul brood. This may lead to applications that help beekeepers maintain healthy hives.

"We can tell not only whether the colony has mites or not," Bromenshenk said, "but also the level of infestation they have. The sounds they make change with every stressor in characteristic ways."

Scott Debnam, a Bee Alert field technician and self-described "bee whisperer," said people have known for centuries that hives make a different sound when the queen is removed. Now modern listening equipment and computer software have revealed a secret bee vocabulary much more intricate than previously thought.

Bees lack sound-making organs, but they buzz by vibrating their wings and bodies and pushing air through spiracles -- tiny airways used for respiration. Debnam said Bee Alert discovered the unique hive sounds two years ago while studying how bees react to a poisoning event. The bees were filmed, recorded and counted, and it soon became apparent that sound was the best medium for determining if something toxic had entered the hive.

This is, by far, the best quote in the story, especially since the writer decided to quote the sound effect the researcher used to describe the changing sound of the hive:

"With some chemicals you can hear they don't like it," he said. "With the solvent toulene, for example, you hear their buzz go to BZZZZZZZZZZ just like that."

Just like that. Bzz. I can hear it.