Attach the chip to the bee

German scientists are experimenting with bee chips to find out why there is a huge decline in bee populations in the world.

In the past, to monitor the bees - each had about 50,000 individuals, which were closely related to each other, were difficult to understand and observe - the scientists painted different colors on their backs, Recording and basing on that to find out the activity of each child.

Prof. Juergen Tautz and colleagues at the University of Wurzburg (Germany) now have another way of doing research: attach tiny microchip RFID (radio frequency identification) on the back of the bee.

This microchip has a volume of about 2mg, perfectly suited to the average volume of 70mg of a bee. When tagged, each will carry a code, and each time they come out or into the nest, they are recorded by a detector outside the honeycomb.

This data allows scientists to determine the health of each bee as well as the number of pollen counts and the amount of pollen they acquire. Scientists hope the technology will help them discover why a bee lives for only four weeks and that some bees can live up to 10 months.

A honey bee with two pollen grabs.

In addition to studying the bees, scientists are also training the bees for sniffing bees, which can help identify explosives or suicide bombers.

Currently there are three bee species tested for this plan with about 150,000 animals, but the cost of research is expensive due to the recovery of microchips (each microchip cost about $ 1.2) is quite difficult when the bees die. on the way to collect honey or die outside their nest.