RAZOR: Saving the bees with high-tech beehives

Without honeybees, human civilization wouldn't survive. 

Around 75 percent of food crops are pollinated by insects - and half of that pollination is done by honeybees. 

But bee colonies are dying at an alarming rate. Nearly 50 percent were lost in the U.S. in 2023. 

RAZOR's Reya El-Salahi meets the scientists who want to save the western honeybee by using high-tech beehives. 

Armed with data sensors and robotics, Dr. Thomas Schmickl and his team at the University of Graz hope to better understand bee health. Schmickl, a biologist and life sciences professor, says less pollination leads to lower crop production and higher food costs - and so losing honeybees could have a direct impact on inflation. 

His colleague, Dr. Martin Stefanec, also explores how the bees react to airflow, temperature and vibrations, aiming to use such stimuli to influence bee behavior in ways that could protect the colony. 

Meanwhile, architect Dr. Asya Ilgun is using fungal networks that feed on 3D-printed skeletons to build 'living beehives'. Ilgun says the fungal components, known as mycelia, could have medicinal benefits for bees, and that the hives they form can easily be integrated with technology to monitor bee health. 

The work done by Schmickl, Stefanec, and Ilgun at the University of Graz is part of the EU-funded Hiveopolis project, which also includes Switzerland's EPFL, the Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, Latvia University of Life Sciences & Technologies and the startup Pollenity.