Penn State Scientists Track Honeybee Foraging Habits With QR Codes

Penn State scientists have devised a creative way to learn the secrets to honeybees’ hives.

Scientists attached AprilTags, tiny QR codes smaller than a pinky fingernail, to the backs of young bees to investigate their foraging habits. Robyn Allwood, a Penn State Extension educator, said more than 32,000 bees have been tagged so far.

In a research paper describing the project, a team of biologists, engineers, and entomologists shared how they created a system to gather data from the honeybees at six hive locations in New York and Pennsylvania.

As the bees make their way in and out of the hive, cameras containing sensors spot the bees’ QR codes. The technology helps the researchers identify individual bees and track the length and number of trips the bees make to and from their hives.

“This technology is opening up opportunities for biologists to study systems in ways that weren’t previously possible, especially in relation to organic beekeeping,” said Margarita López-Uribe, the Lorenzo L. Langstroth Early Career Professor at Penn State, associate professor of entomology, and author on the paper. “In field biology, we usually just look at things with our eyes, but the number of observations we can make as humans will never scale up to what a machine can do.”

Through their study, researchers have learned that most of the bees’ trips are short, while other bees were out of the hives for over two hours.

Researchers said that the monitoring system could promote more expanded knowledge on the subject of organic beekeeping. Beekeepers and scientists alike are buzzing over the promise of what continued research data on the subject could yield. Through a collaboration with a team at Virginia Tech, researchers at Penn State also hope to investigate how the duration time for foraging matches decoded bees’ “waggle dances.”
Gina Cosenza is a digital content coordinator for Beasley Media Group Philadelphia. She has been with the company for a year, writing and assisting with all things social. As a content creator in Philadelphia, Gina covers all things Philly sports, food, music, and lifestyle

5 Epic Saturday Morning Cartoons From the 80's

Back in the ‘80s, Saturday mornings were sacred. It was the one time of the week kids had the TV all to themselves. No parents yelling about chores or bills, no news anchors going on about politic. Just pure kid fun in the form of cartoons. These weren’t just any cartoons either; these were shows so epic, they made waking up early on a weekend feel worth it. If you were lucky, you’d grab a bowl of your favorite sugary cereal, plop down in front of the TV, and let the magic happen.

In the ‘80s Saturday morning cartoons had it all! Action, comedy, and sometimes a random PSA about how not to be a jerk to your friends. They had characters you wished you could be, like a sword-wielding hero or a cool mutant turtle with ninja skills. The stories were wild, the animation was colorful (for the time), and the theme songs? Certified bangers. Seriously, some of those intros still live rent-free in my head decades later.

The best part? These Saturday morning cartoons shows had no shame in being completely over the top. They’d mix robots with dinosaurs, throw in some aliens, and add a plot about saving the planet for good measure. But that’s what made them awesome, they were ridiculous, and we loved them for it. Even now, thinking about those Saturday mornings hits me with a wave of nostalgia so strong I can almost taste the Cap’n Crunch.
Here’s My List Of Top 5 Saturday Morning Cartoons:
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

He-Man wasn’t just jacked—he was the guy. Fighting Skeletor in a world of magic and monsters, He-Man made you believe yelling “By the power of Grayskull!” could fix anything. The show was cheesy but in the best way.

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