It’s been well-established in recent years that the humble honey bee is facing some challenging circumstances.
The insect that is responsible for pollinating the food crops of people and animals has a big role to play in our ecosystem, and external factors such as climate change and pesticide use have decimated some bee populations that are critical to the food industry. For example, CNN Business says it takes more than 2 million beehives to support the California almond industry alone.
But there are some startups that are looking for ways to assist beekeepers in keeping their hives viable, and one of them is Ireland-based ApisProtect, who has just released a smart sensor that can raise alerts if a beehive is in trouble.
The smart sensor can be attached under the roof of a beehive and provide measurements of critical factors like temperature and humidity and can send them via the cloud to be analyzed using algorithms that calculate potential problems. Even sound and movement detected can indicate the health of the bees, and ApisProtect says the technology allows for beekeepers to effectively manage many more hives than they could on their own and to “know what to do for… colonies and when.”
CNN Business points out in a recent report that there are several other startups whose main goal is to enable more effective pollination, including a company called Pollenity that’s even invented a bee robot that can help direct a hive’s swarm.
So as they do their part, let’s do ours and stop mowing down dandelions the second they appear. Experts say that in early spring these “weeds” are sometimes the only source of food for essential insects.
