Bug Squad

Goodbye, 2013. Hello, 2014. If you're a beginning driver--or you remember being a beginning driver--your instructor may have admonished: "Look where you're going; not where you've been." But sometimes, especially at the end of a year, it's good to know where you've been.

Arthur Shapiro is willing to trade a butterfly for a beer. And its all in the name of science.

A journey to the Benicia (Calif.) Capitol State Historic Park, Solano County, on Christmas Day yielded the unexpected: a black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, foraging in jade blossoms.

It's what I've always wanted to see on Christmas Day. On Dec. 25, we rarely see any insects--probably because we aren't looking for them.

Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as "red pollen." Like people, pollen comes in many colors and all are beautiful. All. The floral source determines the color of the pollen. Just as nectar is a carbohydrate source, pollen is a protein source. Honey bees need both to rear the brood.