The Art of the Bee & Honey Bee Genetics with Dr. Rob Page (S3, E53)

Today, we invite Dr. Robert E. Page, Jr.  to the podcast to talk about his research on honey bee genetics and his new book, The Art Of The Bee. Shaping the environment from Landscapes to Societies.

Rob is an Emeritus professor at both Arizona State University and The University of California, Davis. He has published hundreds of research papers, and he is the author of two other books. And he is the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships and recognitions from institutions around the world.

Rob Page is a geneticist and has studied the workings of honey bee genetics his whole career. He has perfected instrumental insemination of queen honey bees, studied the physiology and anatomy of natural mating of a honey bee drone and a queen, and the distribution of millions of sperm cells inside a queen when on a mating flight and hooks up with multiple drones. His work at selecting for certain behaviors is extraordinary as is his ability to organize and define his works of science, graduate level leadership and University organization.

All of this comes into play in this book. The way honey bees actively groom their environment to fit their needs, paint their colony lives to best fit their environment, and still more about the evolution of social life in a honey bee society.

Best of all, it is written in a style that is almost unscientific. It is down home in style and entertaining in content. He explains in detail the parallels between a honey bee society and our human society.

Listen today as Dr. Page talks about all this and more!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

• Art of the Bee YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@artofthebee 
• Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. BetterBee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected]

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC