Episode Details

In this episode of Beekeeping Today Podcast, Jeff and Becky welcome an extraordinary young researcher, Vince Wu, a high school senior and Davidson Fellow Scholarship winner. Vince's groundbreaking research combines artificial intelligence and honey bee foraging behavior, using radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking and deep learning models to predict how weather influences bee foraging activity.

Vince's project, which started as a personal exploration of beekeeping and science, turned into a sophisticated study that gathered over 50,000 data points. He tracked individual foraging flights across three hives using RFID tags and monitored concurrent weather conditions to build predictive models. His findings provide insight into how sunlight, temperature, and other environmental factors influence honey bee foraging.

Before diving into Vince's research, Dr. Dewey Caron shares another insightful audio postcard, this time focusing on winter colony losses and the importance of performing necropsies on deadouts. He explains how beekeepers can better understand colony mortality by examining key indicators such as starvation, small winter clusters, and Varroa mite infestations. Dewey also discusses recent survey results on colony losses, highlighting the ongoing challenges beekeepers face in maintaining healthy colonies.

If you've ever wondered how technology is shaping the future of beekeeping and pollination science, this is an episode you won't want to miss!

Websites we recommend:

• Davidson Page about Vince's Project: https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-programs/fellows-scholarship/fellows/current-and-past-fellows/2024-fellows/2024-davidson-fellow-vince-wu/
• Vince's Full Paper on the IEEE Xplore Page: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10233527
• Honey Bee Health Coalition: https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org
• The National Honey Board: https://honey.com

• Honey Bee Obscura Podcast: https://honeybeeobscura.com
• 2 Million Blossoms - The Podcast: https://2millionblossoms.com

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