Bug Squad

This week (June 22-28) is National Pollinator Week, and what better time to celebrate the honey bee than now? The White House Victory Garden, planted the first day of spring on part of the South Lawn, now has thousands of new residents: honey bees (Apis mellifera).

Quick! How many legs does a honey bee have? If you said "three pairs" or "six legs," you'd bee right. But have you ever noticed the honey bee in flight? The worker bee packs pollen in her pollen baskets or corbiculae, located on the midsegments of her outer hind legs.

President Obama caught a little flak when he smacked a fly during a recent press interview in the White House. During the interview, a pesky fly buzzed around his head and then landed on his hand. Big mistake. The commander-in-chief nailed him. The bug stopped there. "I got the sucker," he said.

John Emery is a spider man. Oh, hes not a super hero who clings to city skyscrapers and chases villains and rescues damsels in distress. Hes the IT manager for Sue Mills, a company which sells school uniforms. But he's truly a spider man.

UC Davis bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr., Honey Bee Research Facility, is the kind of person who would give you the shirt off her back. Really. And that's exactly what she did when several visitors recently toured the Laidlaw facility.