Humans rely on bees to pollinate 1/3 of all crops. Unfortunately, colony collapse disorder (CCD) has resulted in the death of millions of bees each year. CCD is considered a wicked problem in part because the causation cannot be pinpointed to one exact cause. Some of the current causes that researchers have found for CCD is the prevalence of monoculture, pesticides and other chemicals, mites and other parasites, and stress due to travel. The importance of bees to humans' food supply makes a solution to CCD vitally important. The goal of Sticky Innovation is to introduce cross-discipline arts-based-research as a means to approach CCD. The class begins with students learning about CCD through different media (field experiences, documentaries, readings) and then they apply arts and engineering principles to what they learn to come up with possible solutions to tackle the wicked problem of CCD.
Throughout the semester, the readings we were assigned and other articles that related to bees and CCD were posted to a website. A website was also maintained by the professors documenting the experiences and projects we did this semester as well as in the previous year. A link to the other students' webpages about this class can also be reached from this website. I have included links to these websites.
Throughout the semester, the readings we were assigned and other articles that related to bees and CCD were posted to a website. A website was also maintained by the professors documenting the experiences and projects we did this semester as well as in the previous year. A link to the other students' webpages about this class can also be reached from this website. I have included links to these websites.
Throughout the semester, we wrote reflections about the different experiences, readings, and projects we completed. Below are my reflections with images and related files that give a very thorough description of what we did.
Greenacres field experience
The first field experience the class took was to Greenacres Farm, located about 30 minutes from UC. There, Joe and Mary Gordan took us on a walk around the fields behind the old church building to talk to us about the bees that kept there. My group of nine was led by Mary Gordan who started the walk with us each picking a spot of flowers along the woods to watch for three minutes to look for signs of life. The day was cloudy and a bit cool (about 60 degrees Fahrenheit), and it had been raining a lot the days before the trip so the ground was wet. The ideal temperature for bees is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, so Mary Gordan warned us that we may not see many bees.
The three minutes of observations resulted in the sightings of spiders, beetles, other insects, and one bee. We then began to walk along the woods towards the beehives, and as we approached the hives, we saw more bees. I learned how to spot the difference between a native bumblebee and a honey bee during this walk. When I usually see bees, they are the ones with the mostly black abdomen. I never really thought that there was much of a difference between those bees and honey bees. Mary Gordan pointed out early on that the bees with black abdomen bumblebees were different than the yellow and black striped honey bees. She showed us an example of each one, so as the walk continued and we continued to see more bees, I was able to tell the difference between the two bees.
One of the interesting facts that Mary Gordan told us along the walk was that honey bees tend to pollinate only one type of flower. A question that arises from this detail is how big of a role this tendency to only pollinate one type of flower plays in the lives of bees? One of the issues almond growers have with bringing in flowers is whether the bees would spend more time pollinating the flowers than the almonds. If bees have a tendency to pick one type of flower to pollinate, do almond growers have a point in not allowing flowers? When we saw honeybees, they all landed on the same type of yellow flower, ignoring other flowers, and would not settle until they found a flower that they liked. If the bees decide that they prefer the flowers, they will spend all their time pollinating the flowers rather than the crops the beekeepers are being paid to have them pollinate. One of the beekeepers in the movie we watched in class, More than Honey, said that he was about $600,000 for his bees to pollinate the almond trees. If almond growers are paying that much money for the bees, they have a point in saying they do not want bees being distracted by other types of flora. Another issue is that if in the case of pollinating almonds and other crops, does the fact that the honey bees are being essentially forced to feed from one specific group of plants affecting their overall health, and if so, is this lack of choices for bees contributing to colony collapse disorder? When designing our ideal bees later in the semester, the preference of honey bees for a specific type of flower could be one aspect of honey bees my group could look at when determining the characteristics we want our bee to have.
As we walked closer and closer to the hives, we saw more and more bees. Soon after we arrived at the three hives, we met up with the other group led be Joe, one of the beekeepers there. He talked to us about the hives. We had to stay about 10 feet away from the hives, but we could see bees climbing out of a small opening at the base of the hives. Joe talked to us about the hives. He told us that the hive that was closest to where we were standing was the most aggressive of the three and the one farthest from us was the least aggressive. I think it speaks to the care that Joe puts into the hives that he attributes a personality to each hive. He also talked to us about how the top box of each hive contained sugar water for the bees in case they are unable to gather enough nectar from flowers and the hives that had supers (box from which they take honey) also had a screen that prevented the queen from entering it so that she could not lay eggs in the honey that would be taken from the hive. He also told us that during the winter, the bees form a bee ball with the queen in the center to keep warm. The bees huddle together in a ball, and when a bee towards the middle becomes too warm, he or she goes towards the outside of the ball, and when a bee becomes cold, he or she goes into the middle of the ball. The bee ball is another way that bees show how they survive thanks to the hive working as one.
Mary Gordan finished the walk around the field by showing us the garden that the bees pollinate and a mason beehive. Overall, we probably saw about a dozen bees and a handful of other insects such as wasps, ladybugs, and beetles.
The experience finished in the old church with Joe showing us an empty super box, the honey harvesting equipment, and an actual honeycomb that had the wax seals and was ready to be harvested. He said that each of the frames inside the super can hold up to 5 lbs of honey, so with nine frames per super, a colony with one super can produce up to 45 lbs of honey. Joe told us that the number of supers depends on how much honey the beekeepers believe the hive can spare. If a hive is not doing well, they do not include a super. The hive farthest from us did not have a super, which I think shows again that Joe and the other beekeeper care about the bees to consider what is best for each hive rather than focus on the amount of honey that they can produce without thought towards the health of the hive. He said that if a hive was really healthy, they could even give a hive two supers from which they can gather honey. He also showed us a screen that had been collected that had honey ready to consume. It takes time for the nectar that bees gather to become honey. Once it becomes honey, bees place a wax seal over the comb, which indicates that the screen can be collected to extract honey from. We were able to walk up and see the screens, the honey extractor, and the screen with honey. Mary Gordan also brought out a natural beehive which was a hive within part of a tree trunk.
Overall, this experience has allowed me to see that beekeepers, and I would assume especially small-scale beekeepers, really care about their hives. They see the value in the bees as pollinators for plants, and try to do what is best for them even if it means that they are unable to collect honey from a hive. They are also extremely knowledgeable and excited about bees. Mary Gordan said she was new, but she planned on learning as much as she could about the bees. She told us that all of the details she was telling us during our walk was everything she knew about bees. I think that an essential part of the solution of colony collapse disorder involves people like Joe and Mary Gordan who really care about bees to pass on their passion of bees to others.
The three minutes of observations resulted in the sightings of spiders, beetles, other insects, and one bee. We then began to walk along the woods towards the beehives, and as we approached the hives, we saw more bees. I learned how to spot the difference between a native bumblebee and a honey bee during this walk. When I usually see bees, they are the ones with the mostly black abdomen. I never really thought that there was much of a difference between those bees and honey bees. Mary Gordan pointed out early on that the bees with black abdomen bumblebees were different than the yellow and black striped honey bees. She showed us an example of each one, so as the walk continued and we continued to see more bees, I was able to tell the difference between the two bees.
One of the interesting facts that Mary Gordan told us along the walk was that honey bees tend to pollinate only one type of flower. A question that arises from this detail is how big of a role this tendency to only pollinate one type of flower plays in the lives of bees? One of the issues almond growers have with bringing in flowers is whether the bees would spend more time pollinating the flowers than the almonds. If bees have a tendency to pick one type of flower to pollinate, do almond growers have a point in not allowing flowers? When we saw honeybees, they all landed on the same type of yellow flower, ignoring other flowers, and would not settle until they found a flower that they liked. If the bees decide that they prefer the flowers, they will spend all their time pollinating the flowers rather than the crops the beekeepers are being paid to have them pollinate. One of the beekeepers in the movie we watched in class, More than Honey, said that he was about $600,000 for his bees to pollinate the almond trees. If almond growers are paying that much money for the bees, they have a point in saying they do not want bees being distracted by other types of flora. Another issue is that if in the case of pollinating almonds and other crops, does the fact that the honey bees are being essentially forced to feed from one specific group of plants affecting their overall health, and if so, is this lack of choices for bees contributing to colony collapse disorder? When designing our ideal bees later in the semester, the preference of honey bees for a specific type of flower could be one aspect of honey bees my group could look at when determining the characteristics we want our bee to have.
As we walked closer and closer to the hives, we saw more and more bees. Soon after we arrived at the three hives, we met up with the other group led be Joe, one of the beekeepers there. He talked to us about the hives. We had to stay about 10 feet away from the hives, but we could see bees climbing out of a small opening at the base of the hives. Joe talked to us about the hives. He told us that the hive that was closest to where we were standing was the most aggressive of the three and the one farthest from us was the least aggressive. I think it speaks to the care that Joe puts into the hives that he attributes a personality to each hive. He also talked to us about how the top box of each hive contained sugar water for the bees in case they are unable to gather enough nectar from flowers and the hives that had supers (box from which they take honey) also had a screen that prevented the queen from entering it so that she could not lay eggs in the honey that would be taken from the hive. He also told us that during the winter, the bees form a bee ball with the queen in the center to keep warm. The bees huddle together in a ball, and when a bee towards the middle becomes too warm, he or she goes towards the outside of the ball, and when a bee becomes cold, he or she goes into the middle of the ball. The bee ball is another way that bees show how they survive thanks to the hive working as one.
Mary Gordan finished the walk around the field by showing us the garden that the bees pollinate and a mason beehive. Overall, we probably saw about a dozen bees and a handful of other insects such as wasps, ladybugs, and beetles.
The experience finished in the old church with Joe showing us an empty super box, the honey harvesting equipment, and an actual honeycomb that had the wax seals and was ready to be harvested. He said that each of the frames inside the super can hold up to 5 lbs of honey, so with nine frames per super, a colony with one super can produce up to 45 lbs of honey. Joe told us that the number of supers depends on how much honey the beekeepers believe the hive can spare. If a hive is not doing well, they do not include a super. The hive farthest from us did not have a super, which I think shows again that Joe and the other beekeeper care about the bees to consider what is best for each hive rather than focus on the amount of honey that they can produce without thought towards the health of the hive. He said that if a hive was really healthy, they could even give a hive two supers from which they can gather honey. He also showed us a screen that had been collected that had honey ready to consume. It takes time for the nectar that bees gather to become honey. Once it becomes honey, bees place a wax seal over the comb, which indicates that the screen can be collected to extract honey from. We were able to walk up and see the screens, the honey extractor, and the screen with honey. Mary Gordan also brought out a natural beehive which was a hive within part of a tree trunk.
Overall, this experience has allowed me to see that beekeepers, and I would assume especially small-scale beekeepers, really care about their hives. They see the value in the bees as pollinators for plants, and try to do what is best for them even if it means that they are unable to collect honey from a hive. They are also extremely knowledgeable and excited about bees. Mary Gordan said she was new, but she planned on learning as much as she could about the bees. She told us that all of the details she was telling us during our walk was everything she knew about bees. I think that an essential part of the solution of colony collapse disorder involves people like Joe and Mary Gordan who really care about bees to pass on their passion of bees to others.
Livewell Field experience
The second field experience we took was to UC's new 1819 Innovation Hub. We began at the Live Well Collaborative, which is located in the old Sears building, where Live Well's President and DAAP Associative Dean Craig Vogel talked to us about Live Well, which was founded as a collaborative effort between UC and P&G in 2007 to bring together people from different disciplinaries to provide design solutions for various companies, which is also the point of the class itself. Sticky Innovation is meant to bring together students from a wide variety of disciplines to "solve" the wicked problem of colony collapse disorder. On the Live Well website, the staff reflects the multi-disciplinary purpose of Live Well. There are current and past faculty from the Linder College of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Nursing, the College Conservatory of Music, and the College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning. The diversity of faculty reflects the idea that problem solving is beginning to shift into a more cross-disciplinary effort to solve more complex problems. Different perspectives are able to come together and bring new insight to a problem that may not be able to be solved with only one viewpoint.
Craig Vogel showed us the presentations given to prospective companies wanting to partner with Live Well and talked about the design process. The three major steps he talked about were ideation, research, and refinement which we read about in The
Field Guide to Human Centered Design. He also talked about the three major partners with which Live Well collaborates most often, Cincinnati Children's, P&G, and Boeing, as well as some of the products and processes Live Well has come up with for the them. Below are some picture showing the partnerships of Live Well and some of the products produced for Boeing.
The product that I took the most interest in was a system developed for Cincinnati Children's that kept track of when children recovering from cancer treatment performed tasks that have proven important to recovery such as showering and exercise. A biomedical engineering student came up with this device after observing a nurse who had a physical chart keeping track of these tasks for her patients. The student wanted to come up with an easier system, so he went about designing and producing a product to do so. He decided that rather than making an app to keep track of these tasks, he wanted to make a physical console which children would scan a card for the specific task that they complete. A parent or nurse would then have to confirm that the task was completed, and then the action would be recorded in the nurses' system. Children would then be able to earn points for completing the tasks, which they could then convert into rewards. The biomedical engineering student hoped that by making it a physical device, children would see it as a game and become not just willing, but excited to perform tasks that they did not want to do before. To add to the game-feel of the system, the children could also compete with one another to earn points. Craig Vogel told us that Cincinnati Children's is currently testing 30 of these devices, and so far, the results have been positive.
I am currently a biomedical engineering student, so hearing about an upperclassman from my major creating a device that is being tested and potentially used throughout Children's and maybe even other hospitals is exciting. In as soon as a few months when I start my coop rotations, I too could be on a team designing devices for hospitals, and in a few years, maybe even leading a team. Craig Vogel mentioned that the biomedical engineering student worked on a team with electrical and computer engineers as well, showcasing how people from different majors come together to complete a project.
Another interesting aspect of Live Well is that it does not claim any of the intellectual rights to the products and processes they produce. The companies that they may/do partner with would be able to claim the rights to what is produced from any data or information they provide that Live Well would not have access to otherwise. More organizations have been turning to open source information where the goal is to make software and information publicly available so that people can share their work and build upon the work of others. Live Well seems to be combining the idea of open sourcing with the private sector by exchanging the rights to any information and products produced for private intellectual property. Live Well's faculty is then able to combine the company's data with their own skillsets and backgrounds to provide a new perspective to solutions for the company, and they can use the knowledge gained from the experience for future projects. Craig Vogel said that Live Well is usually working on two projects at any given time, and has the capability to complete twelve project each year in addition to hosting workshops and talks for various companies.
At the end of the Live Well tour, one student asked Craig Vogel what his definition of a wicked problem. Craig Vogel's response differed slightly from what we have read, and I actually like his definition better. Craig Vogel said that he believes that a wicked problem is a problem that is too complex to the point that the solution is blurred, but in ten years or so, we will have found what will then seem like an obvious solution. This definition takes us back to the idea of the necessity for people from different backgrounds to come together to solve difficult problems because the complexity of a problem is often due to the fact that the problem spans many different disciplines. With the shift to open information and cross-disciplinary approaches to problem solving, it will be interesting to see how many of the world's problems that have existed for decades will be solved within the next ten years.
The field experience ended with an early preview of the University's new 1819 Innovation Hub. The University has created a space where students have access to all sorts of machines such as 3D printers and various machines to cut different materials including the University's only water jet cutter. By taking 2-3 hour classes, students can operate the more advanced machinery such as the different lathes and welding equipment. Hopefully, we will be able to use the resources in our Ideal Bee projects to print our bees and in our final project. I am hoping that I will have time this semester once the Innovation Hub officially opens on October 5 to take some of these classes to have different ideas of what we can do for the final project (one of the staff members said that she often comes with new ideas of what she can create as she is using the machines) and to just gain experience using machines that I can use over the next four years at the University for other projects or ideas I may come up with.
Craig Vogel showed us the presentations given to prospective companies wanting to partner with Live Well and talked about the design process. The three major steps he talked about were ideation, research, and refinement which we read about in The
Field Guide to Human Centered Design. He also talked about the three major partners with which Live Well collaborates most often, Cincinnati Children's, P&G, and Boeing, as well as some of the products and processes Live Well has come up with for the them. Below are some picture showing the partnerships of Live Well and some of the products produced for Boeing.
The product that I took the most interest in was a system developed for Cincinnati Children's that kept track of when children recovering from cancer treatment performed tasks that have proven important to recovery such as showering and exercise. A biomedical engineering student came up with this device after observing a nurse who had a physical chart keeping track of these tasks for her patients. The student wanted to come up with an easier system, so he went about designing and producing a product to do so. He decided that rather than making an app to keep track of these tasks, he wanted to make a physical console which children would scan a card for the specific task that they complete. A parent or nurse would then have to confirm that the task was completed, and then the action would be recorded in the nurses' system. Children would then be able to earn points for completing the tasks, which they could then convert into rewards. The biomedical engineering student hoped that by making it a physical device, children would see it as a game and become not just willing, but excited to perform tasks that they did not want to do before. To add to the game-feel of the system, the children could also compete with one another to earn points. Craig Vogel told us that Cincinnati Children's is currently testing 30 of these devices, and so far, the results have been positive.
I am currently a biomedical engineering student, so hearing about an upperclassman from my major creating a device that is being tested and potentially used throughout Children's and maybe even other hospitals is exciting. In as soon as a few months when I start my coop rotations, I too could be on a team designing devices for hospitals, and in a few years, maybe even leading a team. Craig Vogel mentioned that the biomedical engineering student worked on a team with electrical and computer engineers as well, showcasing how people from different majors come together to complete a project.
Another interesting aspect of Live Well is that it does not claim any of the intellectual rights to the products and processes they produce. The companies that they may/do partner with would be able to claim the rights to what is produced from any data or information they provide that Live Well would not have access to otherwise. More organizations have been turning to open source information where the goal is to make software and information publicly available so that people can share their work and build upon the work of others. Live Well seems to be combining the idea of open sourcing with the private sector by exchanging the rights to any information and products produced for private intellectual property. Live Well's faculty is then able to combine the company's data with their own skillsets and backgrounds to provide a new perspective to solutions for the company, and they can use the knowledge gained from the experience for future projects. Craig Vogel said that Live Well is usually working on two projects at any given time, and has the capability to complete twelve project each year in addition to hosting workshops and talks for various companies.
At the end of the Live Well tour, one student asked Craig Vogel what his definition of a wicked problem. Craig Vogel's response differed slightly from what we have read, and I actually like his definition better. Craig Vogel said that he believes that a wicked problem is a problem that is too complex to the point that the solution is blurred, but in ten years or so, we will have found what will then seem like an obvious solution. This definition takes us back to the idea of the necessity for people from different backgrounds to come together to solve difficult problems because the complexity of a problem is often due to the fact that the problem spans many different disciplines. With the shift to open information and cross-disciplinary approaches to problem solving, it will be interesting to see how many of the world's problems that have existed for decades will be solved within the next ten years.
The field experience ended with an early preview of the University's new 1819 Innovation Hub. The University has created a space where students have access to all sorts of machines such as 3D printers and various machines to cut different materials including the University's only water jet cutter. By taking 2-3 hour classes, students can operate the more advanced machinery such as the different lathes and welding equipment. Hopefully, we will be able to use the resources in our Ideal Bee projects to print our bees and in our final project. I am hoping that I will have time this semester once the Innovation Hub officially opens on October 5 to take some of these classes to have different ideas of what we can do for the final project (one of the staff members said that she often comes with new ideas of what she can create as she is using the machines) and to just gain experience using machines that I can use over the next four years at the University for other projects or ideas I may come up with.
Book club and Fishbowl discussion
The first day of class, everyone selected one of six books to read about bees. The six books were both fiction and non-fiction. I selected Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive by Mark L. Winston which was one of the four non-fiction books. One of the goals of the book clubs was to experience reading as research. Because my book was non-fiction, it lends itself more towards the classic reading as research idea.
The style of Bee Time reflects Winston’s background. Mark Winston has a B.S. in biology and a Ph.D. in entomology (study of insects). As an undergraduate, he was a part of the research group that the U.S. government sent to research the killer bees when they first appeared and during his early years as a professor, he managed an apiary, so he has a scientific background. For nearly a decade, though, Winston has been one of the Senior Fellow at Frasier University's Center for Dialogue, so a lot of his recent work has been utilizing dialogue to convey controversial issues to the public. I would describe Bee Time as a combination between a memoir and a textbook. Winston combines his personal experiences with bees with research and other information pertaining to bees to give readers a deeper understanding of bees and how the relationship humans have with them. |
Winston based the book on what he calls “bee time” which is essentially when we can gain a deeper understanding of human interactions using bees. Each chapter covers a different aspect of bees, from honey to killer bees to the history and mysticism of bees. I would say that each chapter consists of half research and hard facts about the topic and the other half focuses on personal experiences and more of the emotional response to bees. Winston used over 130 studies or other sources to write the book in addition to his 10+ years involved in the bee community. Winston did a great job providing data to support the ideas he was trying to convey, and the personal aspect just added to impact of the information.
One of the most memorable chapters to me was the chapter called "A Thousand Little Cuts". Winston talked about the idea of synergy. Winston defines synergy as "combined action being greater than the parts" (pg. 59). He attributes synergy to the causation of colony collapse disorder, and he talks about how synergy is relevant to human health. He talks about how each day, we digest various pesticides from the produce we eat and are exposed to other toxins in the environment. The amount of each toxin we are exposed is within the safety limit for that individual toxin, but the question is how will those toxins interact with one another and will the interactions amongst the toxins have a negative effect on us? There has not been much research about the synergy of the chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis, but the studies on what is causing colony collapse disorder implies that synergy is to blame. From pesticides to disease to mites, many small factors that may have not been as serious individually have combined to lead to the devastating effects of colony collapse disorder. As I read about synergy and bees, I made the connection of bees being the canary in the coal mine for chemicals. Miners use canaries before they enter coal mines to test if the air is safe because canaries are especially sensitive to different poisons in the air. The death of the canary is used as an early warning to miners that entering the mine is dangerous. Winston actually uses this comparison of bees to canaries later in the chapter, saying that the synergy behind colony collapse disorder may be a warning to humans that all of the small amounts of toxins humans are exposed to daily may lead to detrimental effects.
I am a biomedical engineering major, so this chapter was especially interesting to me. The major purpose of biomedical engineering is developing solutions in the healthcare field. After having the idea that bees are the canary in the mine presented to me, I have realized the importance of research in the synergy behind the toxins humans are exposed to daily. In order to prepare solutions for improving human health, we need a better understanding of how our current environment is affecting us than what we currently have. If it turns out that the culmination of trace amounts of toxins are going to have adverse effects later in life, we need to prepare solutions to address the effects as soon as possible rather than struggle to find solutions after humans have experienced the effects. The last thing we want is to have the human version of colony collapse disorder because as scientists have discovered, a solution to synergetic effects is not easy to find.
Overall, I was surprised at how much I learned from the book. I never really thought about bees having a connection to humans beyond honey, but after reading the book, I gained a deeper appreciation towards bees. I am someone who likes data and facts when doing research and adding to my knowledge, of which this book provided an abundance. However, the book also provided a lot of information that was not based in facts but rather personal experiences such as the people who swear by bee venom to treat multiple sclerosis. There have been scientific articles that have been published that have shown that there is zero evidence that bee venom is actually effective in treating multiple sclerosis, but there are still many people who swear by the treatment. Part of the reason for the miraculous improvement in these people may be a placebo effect, but it introduces the question that if theses people's quality of life because they believe that the venom worked, does it really matter if there is scientific evidence to back them up? There are a couple of other cases in the book where while there is no hard evidence to support an idea, people's accounts of personal experiences give insight to the importance of bees to humans whether that be on a spiritual level (there are actually religions dedicated to bees) to inspiration for art that moves people. I actually enjoyed these accounts as much as I enjoyed learning about the different facts about bees. To me, reading about both the tangible and intangible reasons that bees are important to humans makes the book much more impactful than if the book focused on either just the tangible or intangible relationship between bees and humans.
Everybody in the class gave a presentation over the book they read. The idea was that from these presentations, we could get a taste of what six different books about bees were about. As great as the idea sounds, after experiencing the presentations, I still think that nothing beats the experiences of actually reading the book yourself. For me, I have a hard to time following audio presentations simply because I am able to remember words that I read rather than hear much better. In addition, the presentations included slides with words, but the smaller details which are what I usually like are not included in the written aspect of the presentation so I cannot go back and find those smaller details by looking at the presentation slides again. Below is a link to the presentation my group gave. We ended up giving a short summary of each chapter and then we selected some quotes and other moments from the book and discussed some questions regarding the quotes.
One of the most memorable chapters to me was the chapter called "A Thousand Little Cuts". Winston talked about the idea of synergy. Winston defines synergy as "combined action being greater than the parts" (pg. 59). He attributes synergy to the causation of colony collapse disorder, and he talks about how synergy is relevant to human health. He talks about how each day, we digest various pesticides from the produce we eat and are exposed to other toxins in the environment. The amount of each toxin we are exposed is within the safety limit for that individual toxin, but the question is how will those toxins interact with one another and will the interactions amongst the toxins have a negative effect on us? There has not been much research about the synergy of the chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis, but the studies on what is causing colony collapse disorder implies that synergy is to blame. From pesticides to disease to mites, many small factors that may have not been as serious individually have combined to lead to the devastating effects of colony collapse disorder. As I read about synergy and bees, I made the connection of bees being the canary in the coal mine for chemicals. Miners use canaries before they enter coal mines to test if the air is safe because canaries are especially sensitive to different poisons in the air. The death of the canary is used as an early warning to miners that entering the mine is dangerous. Winston actually uses this comparison of bees to canaries later in the chapter, saying that the synergy behind colony collapse disorder may be a warning to humans that all of the small amounts of toxins humans are exposed to daily may lead to detrimental effects.
I am a biomedical engineering major, so this chapter was especially interesting to me. The major purpose of biomedical engineering is developing solutions in the healthcare field. After having the idea that bees are the canary in the mine presented to me, I have realized the importance of research in the synergy behind the toxins humans are exposed to daily. In order to prepare solutions for improving human health, we need a better understanding of how our current environment is affecting us than what we currently have. If it turns out that the culmination of trace amounts of toxins are going to have adverse effects later in life, we need to prepare solutions to address the effects as soon as possible rather than struggle to find solutions after humans have experienced the effects. The last thing we want is to have the human version of colony collapse disorder because as scientists have discovered, a solution to synergetic effects is not easy to find.
Overall, I was surprised at how much I learned from the book. I never really thought about bees having a connection to humans beyond honey, but after reading the book, I gained a deeper appreciation towards bees. I am someone who likes data and facts when doing research and adding to my knowledge, of which this book provided an abundance. However, the book also provided a lot of information that was not based in facts but rather personal experiences such as the people who swear by bee venom to treat multiple sclerosis. There have been scientific articles that have been published that have shown that there is zero evidence that bee venom is actually effective in treating multiple sclerosis, but there are still many people who swear by the treatment. Part of the reason for the miraculous improvement in these people may be a placebo effect, but it introduces the question that if theses people's quality of life because they believe that the venom worked, does it really matter if there is scientific evidence to back them up? There are a couple of other cases in the book where while there is no hard evidence to support an idea, people's accounts of personal experiences give insight to the importance of bees to humans whether that be on a spiritual level (there are actually religions dedicated to bees) to inspiration for art that moves people. I actually enjoyed these accounts as much as I enjoyed learning about the different facts about bees. To me, reading about both the tangible and intangible reasons that bees are important to humans makes the book much more impactful than if the book focused on either just the tangible or intangible relationship between bees and humans.
Everybody in the class gave a presentation over the book they read. The idea was that from these presentations, we could get a taste of what six different books about bees were about. As great as the idea sounds, after experiencing the presentations, I still think that nothing beats the experiences of actually reading the book yourself. For me, I have a hard to time following audio presentations simply because I am able to remember words that I read rather than hear much better. In addition, the presentations included slides with words, but the smaller details which are what I usually like are not included in the written aspect of the presentation so I cannot go back and find those smaller details by looking at the presentation slides again. Below is a link to the presentation my group gave. We ended up giving a short summary of each chapter and then we selected some quotes and other moments from the book and discussed some questions regarding the quotes.

bee_time_presentation.pptx | |
File Size: | 2750 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
For the fish bowl discussions, we divided into three groups of six. Each group discussed a different topic that was developed based on the presentations we gave on the books while everyone else observed. The first group discussed whether bees should have human rights and the role of capitalism in the treatment of bees. This discussion ended up being very intense because there were a couple of people that had very clear views pro- or anti- capitalistic viewpoints. The main idea that people agreed on is that we should minimize the suffering for bees whether we give them animal rights or not. I think one of the most insightful comments was that bees are the epitomy of the long-term effects of capitalism. I can see both sides of the capitalism argument, but I think that comparing the exploitation of bees and beekeepers by capitalism to the dark side of capitalism was spot-on.
The second topic was the ecological services bees provide and the unintended consequences we may face if we replace bees. A lot of this discussion circled around how humans are naturally selfish. Because they do not realize how important bees are and have not yet been directly affected by colony collapse disorder, they do not care. People suggested the idea of public ad campaigns to bring awareness to the issue, but someone brought up the chicken industry to make the point that even if people knew about the treatment of bees and beekeepers, the public still would not care because they are not being directly affected. However, they did agree that if the public were to care about the bees, a much bigger change could occur than what exists now. The topic of Starbucks and plastic straws was brought up to support this idea. While creating cups and lids that do not require plastic straws will be a hassle to Starbucks, the company is still going to do it because there are enough people that really do not want to use plastic straws that Starbucks is willing to make the change. In terms of replacements for bees, the group discussed that odds are, there are not really any good true replacements for bees. They agreed that we do not know the unintended consequences of trying to replace bees, but it would be nice if we were able to have small test areas that are isolated to try out different approaches to reducing the burden on honeybees whether it be using alternative pollinators to simply using other types of bees.
The third topic was whether fiction and movies can be considered arts based research. This was the discussion group I participated in. The general consensus was that fiction and movies can be considered arts based research. Part of what decides whether these media can be considered research is the creator's intent (what effect does he/she want his/her work to have) and the effect the work has on others. I will admit, I am not a fan of discussion groups. I am ok if the group is three or four people, but I do not do as well in larger groups. I am not one who likes to try to insert into conversation, which when there are more than four of you, you tend to have to do. There was also some pressure because you were having the discussion in front of other people. Most of the observers were behind me, so I did not see them, but I was aware of their presence.
During the discussion itself, I did not feel very confident. Before the discussion started, I had jotted down some ideas I had about the topic. The issue with a discussion (for me at least) is that you are essentially being guided by your peers and what they want to discuss. To me, what makes works of fiction and films research is the effect it has on the audience. I do not think that fictional works or movies have to be scientifically accurate if the purpose is to create a piece of work to introduce a topic to the general public. The fact of the matter is that people do not necessarily care about things that do not pertain to them on a personal level. I think that is why fiction and movies are important. Authors and filmmakers are able to utilize their media to instill an awareness or even an appreciation of a topic in the audience that will stick with them and may lead them to do their own research into the topic.
I am someone who enjoys fiction and films. I believe that they allow me to be exposed to a wide variety of topics that I would not be interested in if the topic was being discussed strictly on its own in a 100% accurate portrayal such as a research paper or textbook. Part of the reason is that fiction and film allow the creator to add an emotional element to the topic that gives the personal connection to the audience that makes the ideas stick with them (we did discuss the fact that a benefit of film and fiction as art based research is that an emotional connection is able to be established). I am the type of person who if something in a film or book piques my interest, I want to do at least do some research on the topic to have a better understanding of it. From there, if the topic continues to interest me, I will begin to do deeper research and explore other sources that are more accurate than the piece of fiction.
I guess for me, I consider fiction and film as art based research if it is a platform with which the creator is able to instill an awareness in the general public of a topic that they would otherwise never be exposed to. This awareness is then able to stick with the audience member at some level and will hopefully inspire him/her to want to learn more about the topic. Even if the audience does not do any research on their own, I think that so long as the author or filmmaker did research on the topic to make the book or film the best representation of the topic it can be even if it means not being completely accurate (there should still be some accuracy), the work can still be considered arts based research if the goal was to spread awareness of a specific topic. Research has gone in to producing the book or film with the intention to spread if not completely accurate knowledge then at least awareness and some knowledge into a larger audience.
I had a lot of thoughts about the topic, however, I was unable to convey them during the discussion very well. Part of the reason is that because it is a discussion, it is essentially impromptu speaking since you are responding to what others are saying. I am terrible at impromptu speaking because I have a tendency to not be able to get my message across clearly if I do not know exactly what I am going to say beforehand. During the discussion, I started to think of new ideas that I tried to convey during the discussion, but because I did not have much time to actually think how I was going to say it, I was not really able to get my ideas across as clearly as I would have liked to since I did not have much time to fully develop the thoughts.
As an observer, I was not able to contribute to the conversation, but I think being able to listen to all of the ideas and viewpoints that were brought up during the debate allowed me to see the thought processes of my classmates and introduce me to ideas I had never considered before. As an observer, I was able to follow along in the conversation and jot down ideas and questions that came to me. I was not able to share them, but that may have been for the best given how I did during my time as a discusser. Having the time to write down my thoughts allowed me to be able to put into clear words what ideas I came up with listening to my classmates which would have been nice during the discussion. I also prefer listening to other people discuss because I think that I learn better when I able to just listen to what other people have to say since they bring up points I never would have thought of.
One of the thoughts I had during the discussions I was an observer is in regards to the idea that we should limit bees' suffering as much as we can. It seems in order to limit honeybees' suffering, we really cannot rely on the capitalistic structure the bees are currently involved. One question I have is should bee breeders limit the number of bees they sell to commercial beekeepers? The commercial bee keepers are the ones who are making the bees travel across the country where they are exposed to the pesticides that are sprayed while bees are out gathering pollen. A lot of breeders nowadays like to give a application form for the animals they breed. They ask about vet care of past animals and the adoptees' intentions with the animal to make sure that the animals go home to someone who will take the best care of them. If commercial bee keepers were to fill out a similar application, it is doubtful that they would pass the breeders' standards knowing the life their bees would face with the commercial bee farmers. I would like to know if limiting the number of bees sold to commercial farmers would have any impact on colony collapse disorder because by making fewer bees unavailable to commercial farmers, hopefully fewer bees will be transported across the country and exposed to the conditions they are subjected to on the road and in the fields owned by different food industries, reducing the overall suffering of honeybees.
The second topic was the ecological services bees provide and the unintended consequences we may face if we replace bees. A lot of this discussion circled around how humans are naturally selfish. Because they do not realize how important bees are and have not yet been directly affected by colony collapse disorder, they do not care. People suggested the idea of public ad campaigns to bring awareness to the issue, but someone brought up the chicken industry to make the point that even if people knew about the treatment of bees and beekeepers, the public still would not care because they are not being directly affected. However, they did agree that if the public were to care about the bees, a much bigger change could occur than what exists now. The topic of Starbucks and plastic straws was brought up to support this idea. While creating cups and lids that do not require plastic straws will be a hassle to Starbucks, the company is still going to do it because there are enough people that really do not want to use plastic straws that Starbucks is willing to make the change. In terms of replacements for bees, the group discussed that odds are, there are not really any good true replacements for bees. They agreed that we do not know the unintended consequences of trying to replace bees, but it would be nice if we were able to have small test areas that are isolated to try out different approaches to reducing the burden on honeybees whether it be using alternative pollinators to simply using other types of bees.
The third topic was whether fiction and movies can be considered arts based research. This was the discussion group I participated in. The general consensus was that fiction and movies can be considered arts based research. Part of what decides whether these media can be considered research is the creator's intent (what effect does he/she want his/her work to have) and the effect the work has on others. I will admit, I am not a fan of discussion groups. I am ok if the group is three or four people, but I do not do as well in larger groups. I am not one who likes to try to insert into conversation, which when there are more than four of you, you tend to have to do. There was also some pressure because you were having the discussion in front of other people. Most of the observers were behind me, so I did not see them, but I was aware of their presence.
During the discussion itself, I did not feel very confident. Before the discussion started, I had jotted down some ideas I had about the topic. The issue with a discussion (for me at least) is that you are essentially being guided by your peers and what they want to discuss. To me, what makes works of fiction and films research is the effect it has on the audience. I do not think that fictional works or movies have to be scientifically accurate if the purpose is to create a piece of work to introduce a topic to the general public. The fact of the matter is that people do not necessarily care about things that do not pertain to them on a personal level. I think that is why fiction and movies are important. Authors and filmmakers are able to utilize their media to instill an awareness or even an appreciation of a topic in the audience that will stick with them and may lead them to do their own research into the topic.
I am someone who enjoys fiction and films. I believe that they allow me to be exposed to a wide variety of topics that I would not be interested in if the topic was being discussed strictly on its own in a 100% accurate portrayal such as a research paper or textbook. Part of the reason is that fiction and film allow the creator to add an emotional element to the topic that gives the personal connection to the audience that makes the ideas stick with them (we did discuss the fact that a benefit of film and fiction as art based research is that an emotional connection is able to be established). I am the type of person who if something in a film or book piques my interest, I want to do at least do some research on the topic to have a better understanding of it. From there, if the topic continues to interest me, I will begin to do deeper research and explore other sources that are more accurate than the piece of fiction.
I guess for me, I consider fiction and film as art based research if it is a platform with which the creator is able to instill an awareness in the general public of a topic that they would otherwise never be exposed to. This awareness is then able to stick with the audience member at some level and will hopefully inspire him/her to want to learn more about the topic. Even if the audience does not do any research on their own, I think that so long as the author or filmmaker did research on the topic to make the book or film the best representation of the topic it can be even if it means not being completely accurate (there should still be some accuracy), the work can still be considered arts based research if the goal was to spread awareness of a specific topic. Research has gone in to producing the book or film with the intention to spread if not completely accurate knowledge then at least awareness and some knowledge into a larger audience.
I had a lot of thoughts about the topic, however, I was unable to convey them during the discussion very well. Part of the reason is that because it is a discussion, it is essentially impromptu speaking since you are responding to what others are saying. I am terrible at impromptu speaking because I have a tendency to not be able to get my message across clearly if I do not know exactly what I am going to say beforehand. During the discussion, I started to think of new ideas that I tried to convey during the discussion, but because I did not have much time to actually think how I was going to say it, I was not really able to get my ideas across as clearly as I would have liked to since I did not have much time to fully develop the thoughts.
As an observer, I was not able to contribute to the conversation, but I think being able to listen to all of the ideas and viewpoints that were brought up during the debate allowed me to see the thought processes of my classmates and introduce me to ideas I had never considered before. As an observer, I was able to follow along in the conversation and jot down ideas and questions that came to me. I was not able to share them, but that may have been for the best given how I did during my time as a discusser. Having the time to write down my thoughts allowed me to be able to put into clear words what ideas I came up with listening to my classmates which would have been nice during the discussion. I also prefer listening to other people discuss because I think that I learn better when I able to just listen to what other people have to say since they bring up points I never would have thought of.
One of the thoughts I had during the discussions I was an observer is in regards to the idea that we should limit bees' suffering as much as we can. It seems in order to limit honeybees' suffering, we really cannot rely on the capitalistic structure the bees are currently involved. One question I have is should bee breeders limit the number of bees they sell to commercial beekeepers? The commercial bee keepers are the ones who are making the bees travel across the country where they are exposed to the pesticides that are sprayed while bees are out gathering pollen. A lot of breeders nowadays like to give a application form for the animals they breed. They ask about vet care of past animals and the adoptees' intentions with the animal to make sure that the animals go home to someone who will take the best care of them. If commercial bee keepers were to fill out a similar application, it is doubtful that they would pass the breeders' standards knowing the life their bees would face with the commercial bee farmers. I would like to know if limiting the number of bees sold to commercial farmers would have any impact on colony collapse disorder because by making fewer bees unavailable to commercial farmers, hopefully fewer bees will be transported across the country and exposed to the conditions they are subjected to on the road and in the fields owned by different food industries, reducing the overall suffering of honeybees.
Ideal bee project
For the ideal bee project, we were given the task to improve the honeybee by modifying or adding different traits. I was in a group with David Moore (5th year architectural engineering student) and Emily Speck (4th year mechanical engineering student). We decided to focus on making the bee more resistant to the Varroa mite and to the cold when making our modifications.
The first idea that we came up with was to give our bees thicker skin so that the Varroa mite would have a more difficult time reaching the bee's blood supply. It is by sucking the blood of bees that Varroa mites make bees sick. The idea was that the skin would not only be thicker, but also harder to break the surface of in general. The added thickness of the skin would consist of dead skin since it would not be connected to any of the blood supply, so the thought was that there would not be too much weight added to the extra layers as opposed to if the new skin cells were living and connected to a blood supply; however, we did not do too much research into the added weight.
The second idea that we had was to give our bee more fur. When we looked at an image of a bee's fur taken with a scanning electron microscope, there was a bit of distance between each of the individual strands of fur. Our idea was that having denser fur would give the bee more surface area to collect pollen with as well as keep the bee warmer during the winter. At Greenacres, we learned that bees form a large bee ball to keep warm where the bees essentially all group together to share warmth. When a bee on the outside of the ball becomes cold, he or she goes deeper inside the ball where it is warmer. The addition of more fur will act as insulation and allow the bee to keep warmer during the cold months and it would also allow bees to come out when temperatures are cooler such as early evening when the temperature begins to drop. In addition, the fur would also provide a bit more protection from the Varroa mite.
The third and final idea we came up with was to give our bee longer legs with a hook at the end. The hook at the end of their legs would allow bees to grab Varroa mites off of the backs of other bees and even themselves while the added length would give the bees a larger range that they can reach. The wider range the bees can reach and the hooks would also contribute to better hygiene all around for the bees which would help them stay healthy.
We started the project by creating a low-fidelity prototype out of recycled materials. We ended up using various plastic containers for the shape of the body. There was canvas material which we used for the thicker skin as well as Velcro to represent fur. For the legs, we used wires that we wrapped in string that was meant to represent more fur on the legs, and for the wings, we covered cardboard cut out in the shape of wings in tape.
When it came time to plan how we were going to make our actual prototype, we first planned on 3D printing the body and then somehow covering it in fur, but we really struggled with how we could also show thick skin and fur on a 3D printed model. Wood and laser cutting also did not seem like very good ideas for the same reason. We eventually came up with the idea to create a stuffed animal-like model to represent our bee since most of our changes involved textures. A body was sewn using canvas material since canvas is thicker than normal fabric and more durable. The canvas material thereby represented the thick skin we wanted for our bee. I was responsible for stuffing and hand-sewing the individual body pieces closed. It was my first time hand-sewing, and it made me realize that it takes a lot of patience and skill to hand-sew. I think it took me twice as long to stuff and sew the pieces closed than it did to sew the pieces together. We then hot glued the three pieces of the body together to form the whole body.
For the fur, we found furry black fabric that we cut into strips and hot glued onto the body in stripes. The idea would be that the whole body of the bee would be covered in the fur, but for the model, we wanted to show the canvas since it represented the thick skin aspect of our bee.
For the legs, we took two metal wires and wrapped them together with pipe cleaners so they would be connected. The use of two metal wires was to make sure the legs were strong and could support the weight of the model when we stand it on the legs. We wrapped the legs in the furry material since the legs are also a major place where pollen can stick to the bee. We added small hooks made out of pipe cleaners to the end of each leg that the bees could use to grab the Varroa mites off one another. The pipe cleaner hooks actually blended quite well into the furry legs we had created. The legs were then hot glued onto the body. One unexpected feature of our model that came from hot gluing the legs onto the body was that the legs were able to be moved around and adjusted.
For the final touches, we used pipe cleaners to create the wings, eyes, and antennae for our bee. We did not focus much on changing the wings since the idea would be that the changes we made would not change the weight of the bee too much, though we did not do any real research into that aspect; if we had more time, I would have liked to have done this research and see if the changes we made would change the weight to the point where flight would be impacted, and if so, adjust our model so that we represented the change we would need to make for wings that could support a heavier body. We also used a metal charm in the shape of a screwdriver as a stinger for our bee.
All of the materials we used for our ideal bee model allowed us to showcase the textural changes we made. This project showcased the importance of choosing materials that best represent what you want in your model and how material selection can play an important role in how you go about creating a model. In addition, we ended up using quite a few different materials in our model (canvas, stuffing, wires, fake fur, pipe cleaners, metal charm). This project allowed us to combine materials that do not always go together (fabric and metal) and create a final prototype that I think represented what we wanted really well.
The process of creating a low-fidelity prototype also allowed us to create a baseline for us for what we wanted to include in our model. Obviously, for the final model, we were able to make major improvements from the low-fidelity prototype, but that initial model allowed us to quickly take our thoughts and implement them into a rough model.
This was my first experience going from a rough prototype based on initial ideas and then implementing those ideas and creating a final model that would be presented to others. It was really neat to see how our ideas were able to really come to life in our final model as well as the ideas of the other people in the class. Some of the ideas that other groups came up with were allowing the bees to store honey in their legs that they could spread over themselves to clean themselves, giving the bees the ability to convert pesticides into a poison that could then be used when they sting other organisms, and a new class of bee that was dedicated to caring for the bees in the hive. The groups used all sorts of materials and equipment to create their models (3D printing, laser cutting, woodshop modeling), and I thought the most interesting part of the presentations was how the groups translated their ideas into an actual model since a lot of the changes were internal modifications. I was impressed by the creativity that was showcased in making all of the models and the thought that went into the changes made.
Because this was the "ideal" bee project, the changes that were not all realistic and able to be implemented in the present. While the ability to change any part of the bee did allow us to be very creative, the next step of this class is to produce solutions for colony collapse disorder that are realistic and can be implemented in the present.
The first idea that we came up with was to give our bees thicker skin so that the Varroa mite would have a more difficult time reaching the bee's blood supply. It is by sucking the blood of bees that Varroa mites make bees sick. The idea was that the skin would not only be thicker, but also harder to break the surface of in general. The added thickness of the skin would consist of dead skin since it would not be connected to any of the blood supply, so the thought was that there would not be too much weight added to the extra layers as opposed to if the new skin cells were living and connected to a blood supply; however, we did not do too much research into the added weight.
The second idea that we had was to give our bee more fur. When we looked at an image of a bee's fur taken with a scanning electron microscope, there was a bit of distance between each of the individual strands of fur. Our idea was that having denser fur would give the bee more surface area to collect pollen with as well as keep the bee warmer during the winter. At Greenacres, we learned that bees form a large bee ball to keep warm where the bees essentially all group together to share warmth. When a bee on the outside of the ball becomes cold, he or she goes deeper inside the ball where it is warmer. The addition of more fur will act as insulation and allow the bee to keep warmer during the cold months and it would also allow bees to come out when temperatures are cooler such as early evening when the temperature begins to drop. In addition, the fur would also provide a bit more protection from the Varroa mite.
The third and final idea we came up with was to give our bee longer legs with a hook at the end. The hook at the end of their legs would allow bees to grab Varroa mites off of the backs of other bees and even themselves while the added length would give the bees a larger range that they can reach. The wider range the bees can reach and the hooks would also contribute to better hygiene all around for the bees which would help them stay healthy.
We started the project by creating a low-fidelity prototype out of recycled materials. We ended up using various plastic containers for the shape of the body. There was canvas material which we used for the thicker skin as well as Velcro to represent fur. For the legs, we used wires that we wrapped in string that was meant to represent more fur on the legs, and for the wings, we covered cardboard cut out in the shape of wings in tape.
When it came time to plan how we were going to make our actual prototype, we first planned on 3D printing the body and then somehow covering it in fur, but we really struggled with how we could also show thick skin and fur on a 3D printed model. Wood and laser cutting also did not seem like very good ideas for the same reason. We eventually came up with the idea to create a stuffed animal-like model to represent our bee since most of our changes involved textures. A body was sewn using canvas material since canvas is thicker than normal fabric and more durable. The canvas material thereby represented the thick skin we wanted for our bee. I was responsible for stuffing and hand-sewing the individual body pieces closed. It was my first time hand-sewing, and it made me realize that it takes a lot of patience and skill to hand-sew. I think it took me twice as long to stuff and sew the pieces closed than it did to sew the pieces together. We then hot glued the three pieces of the body together to form the whole body.
For the fur, we found furry black fabric that we cut into strips and hot glued onto the body in stripes. The idea would be that the whole body of the bee would be covered in the fur, but for the model, we wanted to show the canvas since it represented the thick skin aspect of our bee.
For the legs, we took two metal wires and wrapped them together with pipe cleaners so they would be connected. The use of two metal wires was to make sure the legs were strong and could support the weight of the model when we stand it on the legs. We wrapped the legs in the furry material since the legs are also a major place where pollen can stick to the bee. We added small hooks made out of pipe cleaners to the end of each leg that the bees could use to grab the Varroa mites off one another. The pipe cleaner hooks actually blended quite well into the furry legs we had created. The legs were then hot glued onto the body. One unexpected feature of our model that came from hot gluing the legs onto the body was that the legs were able to be moved around and adjusted.
For the final touches, we used pipe cleaners to create the wings, eyes, and antennae for our bee. We did not focus much on changing the wings since the idea would be that the changes we made would not change the weight of the bee too much, though we did not do any real research into that aspect; if we had more time, I would have liked to have done this research and see if the changes we made would change the weight to the point where flight would be impacted, and if so, adjust our model so that we represented the change we would need to make for wings that could support a heavier body. We also used a metal charm in the shape of a screwdriver as a stinger for our bee.
All of the materials we used for our ideal bee model allowed us to showcase the textural changes we made. This project showcased the importance of choosing materials that best represent what you want in your model and how material selection can play an important role in how you go about creating a model. In addition, we ended up using quite a few different materials in our model (canvas, stuffing, wires, fake fur, pipe cleaners, metal charm). This project allowed us to combine materials that do not always go together (fabric and metal) and create a final prototype that I think represented what we wanted really well.
The process of creating a low-fidelity prototype also allowed us to create a baseline for us for what we wanted to include in our model. Obviously, for the final model, we were able to make major improvements from the low-fidelity prototype, but that initial model allowed us to quickly take our thoughts and implement them into a rough model.
This was my first experience going from a rough prototype based on initial ideas and then implementing those ideas and creating a final model that would be presented to others. It was really neat to see how our ideas were able to really come to life in our final model as well as the ideas of the other people in the class. Some of the ideas that other groups came up with were allowing the bees to store honey in their legs that they could spread over themselves to clean themselves, giving the bees the ability to convert pesticides into a poison that could then be used when they sting other organisms, and a new class of bee that was dedicated to caring for the bees in the hive. The groups used all sorts of materials and equipment to create their models (3D printing, laser cutting, woodshop modeling), and I thought the most interesting part of the presentations was how the groups translated their ideas into an actual model since a lot of the changes were internal modifications. I was impressed by the creativity that was showcased in making all of the models and the thought that went into the changes made.
Because this was the "ideal" bee project, the changes that were not all realistic and able to be implemented in the present. While the ability to change any part of the bee did allow us to be very creative, the next step of this class is to produce solutions for colony collapse disorder that are realistic and can be implemented in the present.
Final Project: The Beehouse
For the final project, we were given the task to come up with a viable solution to the wicked problem of CCD. I was placed in a group with Jim Ohler (4th year chemical engineering student) and Abby Shoyat (3rd year photojournalism student). Currently, there is a stigma against having bees in a person's backyard. For our final project, we wanted to combine education with a positive experience that would make a person more receptive to having and even wanting bees in his or her own backyard. The inspiration for our project came from a birdhouse kit that families buy and build to put in their backyard. We came up with a miniature beehive that looks like a birdhouse that families can assemble together and put it in their backyards. Because of its resemblance to a birdhouse, we decided to call it a "beehouse".
We wanted the kit to include information about bees that families can read to understand why they should want bees in their backyards in the form of a book. A lot of the kits that are on the market right now include some form of a book that provides information about the topic of the kit. The idea of the book is that it would include pictures and small bits of information about the bees and their importance as well as the actual instructions on how to assemble the beehouse. Because Abby is a photojournalism student whose focus is on communication, she took on the task of writing and illustrating the pages that would go in the book. She tried to target the language of the book to a younger audience since this is a family-friendly kit.
In terms of the design of the beehouse itself, we wanted it to have the same outward shape of a normal birdhouse, but two of the sides would have openings near the bottom for bees to enter and exit like a normal beehive. Inside of the beehive, we added two features to make the beehouse bee-friendly. The first feature is frames for the bees to make their honeycombs. Honeycomb foundations for the frames are not necessary, but we decided that we wanted our frames to have them because we thought that an everyday person buying the kit would like to see the honeycomb pattern associated with bees when assembling the beehouse. Because the beehouse would be so much smaller than a normal beehive and thus not be able to hold extra honey outside of what the bees would need to survive, we did not want people to collect honey from the hive. The design, therefore, did not have to include a mechanism that would allow people to access the frames once they were placed into the beehouse; an added benefit of having the frames inaccessible is that people would not have to invest more money into safety equipment and people would be prevented from attempting to collect the honey with no equipment at all and harming themselves in the process.
The second feature of the beehouse is small, shallow cups (we ended up using Gatorade caps for the prototype) on an upper level in which people can place sugar water to attract wild honey bees into the beehouse and then periodically refill to provide a source of additional nutrients for the bees in case they are unable to gather enough nectar from plants. The cups would be above the frames in in the "attic" area of the beehouse. The idea was that the cups would be separated from the frames with each feature being its own sort of "floor" within the beehouse, accessible to the bees from within through a small opening between the two "floors". In order to refill the cups, the roof needed to be able to be opened. We came up with the idea to include hinges on the roof which would allow people to easily open and close the roof to access the cups. The separation of the cups and the frames would keep people away from the honey combs where most of the bees would be. If a person was still wary about being near the hive, the opening of the roof would also provide enough space that the person could use a watering can with a long spout to put some more distance between him or her and the hive when refilling the cups.
Jim and I split up the assembly of the beehouse. Jim had done some woodworking in the ideal bee project, so he took on the task of creating the wood components of the beehouse. We wanted to 3D print the frames since we were wanting to include honeycomb foundations, and because I had some SolidWorks training, I took on that project. Jim first made the outside parts of the beehouse (floor, walls, and roof) in order to know how big it was inside. I then made a frame with a honeycomb foundation based on the dimensions of the inside. The process of creating the frames in SolidWorks was a new experience for me. I learned how to use SolidWorks in CAD, a class I took in the spring semester before this class. When we were creating models in that class, we were given the final model beforehand with exact dimensions and the process of how to go about creating it. When creating the frame, I did not have exact dimensions for each component nor did I have an exact process to create it. I used the dimensions of the inside of the beehouse for the outline of the frame, but I had to use my best estimate on thicknesses and the size of the hexagons of the honeycombs. I tried to base these dimensions on a similar scale to frames and foundations that are sold online. In terms of the actual process of making the frame and foundation, I was able to use my existing SolidWorks knowledge to make the frame itself, but I had look up different tutorials online to figure out how to make the honeycomb pattern for the foundation.
After I finished making the frame and foundation, I converted my SolidWorks file to an STL file and 3D printed the frames in the Maker Space. I had never 3D printed anything before, so I relied a lot on Mel (the person in charge of the Maker Space) to help me with the process. The number one thing I learned about 3D printing is that 3D prints require a lot of support. The first attempt at 3D printing did not go well because Mel initially thought that because the model was fairly flat, no supports would needed. Long story short, we discovered that the frame did need supports to print properly. I really enjoyed seeing my design being made by the printers once we got the support issue sorted out, though I was only able to see the beginning part of its creation since the file took 12.5 hours to print. However, if this project was to become an actual business where the frames would need to be mass produced, I do not think that they should be 3D printed. I think having a mold would be a lot better in terms of cost and time. The supports that had to be made ended up being waste that was thrown away. The supports were 20-30% of the material that was used in making each frame which increases the cost. By using molds, the waste of the supports would be eliminated and it would take a minutes rather than 12.5 hours to make a each frame.
I ended up printing four copies of the frame for the prototype. Part of the reason for four frames was the time limit and cost at the Maker Space (two frames were ~$17). Making the frames was a good experience for me since a lot of BME students end up using SolidWorks or similar programs to design medical devices, and 3D printing has become a big thing in medical device design and manufacturing. I have included the STL file of my frame and foundation below.
We wanted the kit to include information about bees that families can read to understand why they should want bees in their backyards in the form of a book. A lot of the kits that are on the market right now include some form of a book that provides information about the topic of the kit. The idea of the book is that it would include pictures and small bits of information about the bees and their importance as well as the actual instructions on how to assemble the beehouse. Because Abby is a photojournalism student whose focus is on communication, she took on the task of writing and illustrating the pages that would go in the book. She tried to target the language of the book to a younger audience since this is a family-friendly kit.
In terms of the design of the beehouse itself, we wanted it to have the same outward shape of a normal birdhouse, but two of the sides would have openings near the bottom for bees to enter and exit like a normal beehive. Inside of the beehive, we added two features to make the beehouse bee-friendly. The first feature is frames for the bees to make their honeycombs. Honeycomb foundations for the frames are not necessary, but we decided that we wanted our frames to have them because we thought that an everyday person buying the kit would like to see the honeycomb pattern associated with bees when assembling the beehouse. Because the beehouse would be so much smaller than a normal beehive and thus not be able to hold extra honey outside of what the bees would need to survive, we did not want people to collect honey from the hive. The design, therefore, did not have to include a mechanism that would allow people to access the frames once they were placed into the beehouse; an added benefit of having the frames inaccessible is that people would not have to invest more money into safety equipment and people would be prevented from attempting to collect the honey with no equipment at all and harming themselves in the process.
The second feature of the beehouse is small, shallow cups (we ended up using Gatorade caps for the prototype) on an upper level in which people can place sugar water to attract wild honey bees into the beehouse and then periodically refill to provide a source of additional nutrients for the bees in case they are unable to gather enough nectar from plants. The cups would be above the frames in in the "attic" area of the beehouse. The idea was that the cups would be separated from the frames with each feature being its own sort of "floor" within the beehouse, accessible to the bees from within through a small opening between the two "floors". In order to refill the cups, the roof needed to be able to be opened. We came up with the idea to include hinges on the roof which would allow people to easily open and close the roof to access the cups. The separation of the cups and the frames would keep people away from the honey combs where most of the bees would be. If a person was still wary about being near the hive, the opening of the roof would also provide enough space that the person could use a watering can with a long spout to put some more distance between him or her and the hive when refilling the cups.
Jim and I split up the assembly of the beehouse. Jim had done some woodworking in the ideal bee project, so he took on the task of creating the wood components of the beehouse. We wanted to 3D print the frames since we were wanting to include honeycomb foundations, and because I had some SolidWorks training, I took on that project. Jim first made the outside parts of the beehouse (floor, walls, and roof) in order to know how big it was inside. I then made a frame with a honeycomb foundation based on the dimensions of the inside. The process of creating the frames in SolidWorks was a new experience for me. I learned how to use SolidWorks in CAD, a class I took in the spring semester before this class. When we were creating models in that class, we were given the final model beforehand with exact dimensions and the process of how to go about creating it. When creating the frame, I did not have exact dimensions for each component nor did I have an exact process to create it. I used the dimensions of the inside of the beehouse for the outline of the frame, but I had to use my best estimate on thicknesses and the size of the hexagons of the honeycombs. I tried to base these dimensions on a similar scale to frames and foundations that are sold online. In terms of the actual process of making the frame and foundation, I was able to use my existing SolidWorks knowledge to make the frame itself, but I had look up different tutorials online to figure out how to make the honeycomb pattern for the foundation.
After I finished making the frame and foundation, I converted my SolidWorks file to an STL file and 3D printed the frames in the Maker Space. I had never 3D printed anything before, so I relied a lot on Mel (the person in charge of the Maker Space) to help me with the process. The number one thing I learned about 3D printing is that 3D prints require a lot of support. The first attempt at 3D printing did not go well because Mel initially thought that because the model was fairly flat, no supports would needed. Long story short, we discovered that the frame did need supports to print properly. I really enjoyed seeing my design being made by the printers once we got the support issue sorted out, though I was only able to see the beginning part of its creation since the file took 12.5 hours to print. However, if this project was to become an actual business where the frames would need to be mass produced, I do not think that they should be 3D printed. I think having a mold would be a lot better in terms of cost and time. The supports that had to be made ended up being waste that was thrown away. The supports were 20-30% of the material that was used in making each frame which increases the cost. By using molds, the waste of the supports would be eliminated and it would take a minutes rather than 12.5 hours to make a each frame.
I ended up printing four copies of the frame for the prototype. Part of the reason for four frames was the time limit and cost at the Maker Space (two frames were ~$17). Making the frames was a good experience for me since a lot of BME students end up using SolidWorks or similar programs to design medical devices, and 3D printing has become a big thing in medical device design and manufacturing. I have included the STL file of my frame and foundation below.

honeycombframe.stl | |
File Size: | 666 kb |
File Type: | stl |
, Jim ended up assembling the prototype together once all the frames were printed. We decided as a group that we wanted to show a cross section of the beehouse for the final presentation, so Jim included a hook and hinge on the walls of the beehouse so that we would be able to show the inside of the beehouse while still being able to see what it would look like fully assembled. Abby painted the beehouse to make it more like what a final product made by a family might look like. Jim and I came up with cost estimations for the different components. We tried to use average market prices for the materials that we could get if the product was mass produced. Based off the cost estimations, we came up with a retail price of $49.99. We also made a brochure that was passed out at the presentation that included some background on the project and the cost breakdown (the cost breakdown and brochure can be seen in the photos).
For the final presentation, the guest critics included a professor from DAAP, a professor from CEAS, and Mel, who revealed to have kept bees before. Jim and I talked about the beehouse itself and Abby showed the five pages of the book that she completed. I was in charge of talking about the specific features of the beehouse. One part I talked about was the wood that the beehouse is made of. We had made the beehouse out of pine since it is among the cheaper woods. The issue with pine is that it does not provide much resistance to the elements or bugs. I did some research into solutions for treating pine and found that one remedy beekeepers use is to treat the wood with a mixture of linseed oil and beeswax. This mixture provides the wood with the weather and insect resistance which pine alone lacks and would allow the beehouse to be able to last outdoors. While we did not treat the wood for the prototype, the wood that would be included in kits would need to be treated.
One of the questions that was posed was how long beehouse was expected to last. When we made the prototype beehouse, we intended for most of it to be put together with glue to limit the amount of screwing and/or drilling a family would need to do to assemble the beehouse. The issue with glue is that it will not last long when exposed to precipitation and the cold so odds are that the beehouse would only last one or two seasons. We were not too concerned with the longevity of the beehouse when designing. The purpose behind the beehouse is that the initial experience of building it would be a fun family activity that would introduce families to the idea of having bees in their backyard which would in turn hopefully encourage them to want bees in their backyard. We did not think too much about how long the beehouse could last in a yard, focusing instead on the assembly of the beehouse which is why we chose glue. If we were to continue this project, we may want to test glue versus screws in terms of longevity of the beehouse, ease of assembly, and whether bees have a preference between the two options.
A suggestion that was given was to somehow make it so that the book would be kept with the beehouse outdoors so that children would be able to go outside and read the book near the beehouse rather than the book be kept on a shelf indoors away from the beehouse. I thought this was a pretty good suggestion. When we were estimating the cost of the book, we used the cost of a nice hardback picture book which was one of the most expensive components of the kit. If we were to make it a laminated-style book that would be able to stay outdoors, that should greatly reduce the cost of the book. We could probably include some sort of shelf built into the base of the beehouse where the book could stay when people are not reading it.
Finally, a couple of people commented that beyond families, the Boy and Girl Scouts would also be a good target market for the kit. I do think that it would be a good idea to also target the product towards them since this product gives people the opportunity to create something that can help solve the issue of CCD. Making a beehouse and learning about the importance of helping bees could be a fun patch-earning activity for these groups and would provide a large, targeted market for the product. Another market that could be good for this product is 4-H Club. The beehouse kit embodies the goal of 4-H by providing education through a hands-on project. Furthermore, bees play an essential role in agriculture as pollinators, which is one of the main focuses of 4-H. Another option besides of selling kits is to make a DIY pin that would go on a Pinterest board that includes the supplies and instructions on how to make a beehouse. If we were to take the Pinterest route, we could try to really promote the idea of making a beehouse to groups such as the Boy and Girl Scouts and 4-H. I know that Tractor Supply donates exclusively to 4-H. If we were to convince 4-H leaders of the benefits of the education and experience of making a beehouse, it could lead to classes about bees which includes making beehouses, using Tractor Supply donations to provide the materials for 4-H members across the country to make beehouses.
Some of the next steps for this project would be to test the beehouse outdoors to see if bees will actually live in it. Spring is coming up so that would be a good time to test it. During the testing phase, we can see what adjustments should be made such as whether we need more frames inside and how easy it is to refill the cups. We would also need to figure out how the beehouse would be placed outdoors. For the prototype, we did not place much focus on how the beehouse would be supported. We ended up placing eye hooks on opposite sides of the beehouse and tying a piece of string to the hooks that would be used to hang the beehouse on a branch. The string we used was not very strong and would not hold up for very long. We could either look for stronger, weather-resistant rope that could be included or somehow make a shelf that would be assembled that would support the beehouse on a tree.
For the final presentation, the guest critics included a professor from DAAP, a professor from CEAS, and Mel, who revealed to have kept bees before. Jim and I talked about the beehouse itself and Abby showed the five pages of the book that she completed. I was in charge of talking about the specific features of the beehouse. One part I talked about was the wood that the beehouse is made of. We had made the beehouse out of pine since it is among the cheaper woods. The issue with pine is that it does not provide much resistance to the elements or bugs. I did some research into solutions for treating pine and found that one remedy beekeepers use is to treat the wood with a mixture of linseed oil and beeswax. This mixture provides the wood with the weather and insect resistance which pine alone lacks and would allow the beehouse to be able to last outdoors. While we did not treat the wood for the prototype, the wood that would be included in kits would need to be treated.
One of the questions that was posed was how long beehouse was expected to last. When we made the prototype beehouse, we intended for most of it to be put together with glue to limit the amount of screwing and/or drilling a family would need to do to assemble the beehouse. The issue with glue is that it will not last long when exposed to precipitation and the cold so odds are that the beehouse would only last one or two seasons. We were not too concerned with the longevity of the beehouse when designing. The purpose behind the beehouse is that the initial experience of building it would be a fun family activity that would introduce families to the idea of having bees in their backyard which would in turn hopefully encourage them to want bees in their backyard. We did not think too much about how long the beehouse could last in a yard, focusing instead on the assembly of the beehouse which is why we chose glue. If we were to continue this project, we may want to test glue versus screws in terms of longevity of the beehouse, ease of assembly, and whether bees have a preference between the two options.
A suggestion that was given was to somehow make it so that the book would be kept with the beehouse outdoors so that children would be able to go outside and read the book near the beehouse rather than the book be kept on a shelf indoors away from the beehouse. I thought this was a pretty good suggestion. When we were estimating the cost of the book, we used the cost of a nice hardback picture book which was one of the most expensive components of the kit. If we were to make it a laminated-style book that would be able to stay outdoors, that should greatly reduce the cost of the book. We could probably include some sort of shelf built into the base of the beehouse where the book could stay when people are not reading it.
Finally, a couple of people commented that beyond families, the Boy and Girl Scouts would also be a good target market for the kit. I do think that it would be a good idea to also target the product towards them since this product gives people the opportunity to create something that can help solve the issue of CCD. Making a beehouse and learning about the importance of helping bees could be a fun patch-earning activity for these groups and would provide a large, targeted market for the product. Another market that could be good for this product is 4-H Club. The beehouse kit embodies the goal of 4-H by providing education through a hands-on project. Furthermore, bees play an essential role in agriculture as pollinators, which is one of the main focuses of 4-H. Another option besides of selling kits is to make a DIY pin that would go on a Pinterest board that includes the supplies and instructions on how to make a beehouse. If we were to take the Pinterest route, we could try to really promote the idea of making a beehouse to groups such as the Boy and Girl Scouts and 4-H. I know that Tractor Supply donates exclusively to 4-H. If we were to convince 4-H leaders of the benefits of the education and experience of making a beehouse, it could lead to classes about bees which includes making beehouses, using Tractor Supply donations to provide the materials for 4-H members across the country to make beehouses.
Some of the next steps for this project would be to test the beehouse outdoors to see if bees will actually live in it. Spring is coming up so that would be a good time to test it. During the testing phase, we can see what adjustments should be made such as whether we need more frames inside and how easy it is to refill the cups. We would also need to figure out how the beehouse would be placed outdoors. For the prototype, we did not place much focus on how the beehouse would be supported. We ended up placing eye hooks on opposite sides of the beehouse and tying a piece of string to the hooks that would be used to hang the beehouse on a branch. The string we used was not very strong and would not hold up for very long. We could either look for stronger, weather-resistant rope that could be included or somehow make a shelf that would be assembled that would support the beehouse on a tree.
Research Proposal Abstract

the_beehouse.docx | |
File Size: | 19 kb |
File Type: | docx |