Around the world, researchers have been busy bees – pun intended – when it comes to supporting pollinator health. To keep your hive mind in tip-top shape, we’ve rounded up the latest news in pollinator health. Whether you’re a researcher, beekeeper, pollinator enthusiast or just curious about our fuzzy friends, read on to learn the latest buzz from April:

• Six Reasons Why You Should Apply for the Young Beekeeper Award – Do you know a young beekeeper between the ages of 12 and 18 who is making a difference for pollinators in his or her community? Encourage them to apply for Bayer Bee Care’s second annual Young Beekeeper Award by May 15, 2018!
• UNCA aims to help bee population with Pollinator Seed Library – UNC Asheville has launched the Pollinator Seed Library on their campus. The university collected, cleaned and packaged seeds from local pollinator-attractant plants and have made them available for members of the community to plant home gardens.
• The importance of pollinators to soil and water conservation in Texas – Multiple organizations in Texas tasked with overseeing Texas’s conservation efforts have joined forces to create Soil and Water Stewardship Week, which will encourage Texans to participate in voluntary land stewardship and learn about the impact of pollinator health.
• NASA funding a swarm of drones to explore the Red Planet – Bees are meeting robotics with NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program. The new project led by a team of American and Japanese researchers, Marsbees, will create bee-inspired drones that will enable scientists to better explore and research Mars.
• A new hope: One of North America's rarest bees has its known range greatly expanded – The Cuckoo Bee, thought to be extinct until the early 2000s, has been located in Alberta, Canada. The bee, which acts as a nest parasite, was previously thought only to be in Ontario, which makes the discovery very exciting for the future of the species.
• Newly identified bacteria may help bees nourish their young – Three new species of bacteria, discovered on wild flowers and in the gut of bees by the University of California, may be the key to preserving food for larvae in nests.

We’ll see you again next month for another review of what’s happening in the hive and around the industry!