Back to Show
Deep Look
Varroa Mites Are a Honeybee's 8-Legged Nightmare
Season 10
Episode 14
Every year, up to half the honeybee colonies in the U.S. die. Varroa mites, the bees’ ghastly parasites, are one of the main culprits. After hitching a ride into a hive, a mite mom hides in a honeycomb cell, where she and her offspring feed on a growing bee. But beekeepers and scientists are helping honeybees fight back.
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By

4:00
Mussels create byssal threads to attach themselves to rocks and each other.

4:10
Earthworms cozy up with a mate inside tubes of slime to make cocoons full of baby worms.

3:52
What keeps the boneless, jawless hagfish thriving after more than 300 million years? SLIME

5:04
Researchers use invisible lasers, ghastly wasps and more trickery to protect orange groves

4:20
As they gorge, oblique streaktail hoverflies help keep orange trees safe from disease.

3:37
Why is that yellowjacket crashing your BBQ? She’s gathering food for the nest’s larvae.

5:04
Explore the parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) and ways to help monarch butterflies.

4:14
Floating colonies of red fire ants are a risk for people wading through floodwater.

3:57
These voracious predators cruise belly up below the surface of a pond or gentle stream.

4:55
Barn owls turn mice, gophers and voles into balls of fur and bones known as pellets.

4:02
It’s called nectar robbing: Bees get nectar, but don’t pollinate the plants in exchange.

3:49
Giant water bugs pack one of the most painful bites of any insect, but they're great dads.