Bees

For many years, scientists believed that bumblebee flight was aerodynamically impossible. Somehow, despite this “impossibility,” bees are great at getting around in the air! Over half a decade of scientific inquiry has created a better understanding of how the quick flapping of wings paired with a twist on the upstroke creates enough lift for a bee remain airborne. The scientific process leading to a better understanding of the flight of the bumblebee is a perfect example of how science works in the “real world.”

One summer when I was about 5 or 6 years old, I obsessively collected bees. My favorites were bumblebees – fat, fuzzy, and all around adorable. I kept them in glass canning jars – one bee per jar – that had been filled with red clover and had air holes punched through the lids. I loved looking at them, watching them suck nectar from the clover, and buzzing around the jar. Sometimes I had pangs of conscience, watching them in their little glass prisons, and always let them go after a day or two of captivity. There were some casualties along the way for which I felt guilty, but my fascination with them was too strong to give up the collecting.