As a new exhibition opens in Liverpool exploring the survival of bees Start the Week takes stock of the life and times of this extraordinary insect. The artist Wolfgang Buttress uses a fusion of art, science and technology to create a sensory experience of the sights and sounds of bees. Bees: A Story of Survival is on at the World Museum, Liverpool until May 2025.
They’ve been around for over 120 million years and Lars Chittka, Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at Queen Mary University of London, says the thousands of different bee species have evolved a huge diversity of lifestyles and are some of the most intelligent animals on Earth. They not only use a symbolic language, can count, use tools and learn by observation, but are now believed to have an emotional hinterland.
For millennia, bees have held a special significance in human culture. Claire Preston, Professor of Renaissance Literature at QMUL, traces the symbolism of bees through historical and literary records, from ancient political analogies to today’s discussions about hive minds.
While there are increasing fears about the future of bees as they battle exposure to pesticides, diseases and habitat destruction, Alison Benjamin is one of a growing number of people trying to raise awareness. She is the co-founder of Urban Bees and wants to shift the focus away from farmed hives of honey bees which are growing in popularity in cities, to the protection and survival of wild and solitary bees.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Island Mentality
Virtue and Vice
Alan Bennett
Microbes, Genes and Human Endeavour
Soldiering on: the British Army, Lenin and Putin
Radical Liverpool
Political Drama: Robert Harris and Margaret Hodge
Love, Loss and Scandal
Food: From Bread Riots to Obesity
A Theory of Everything?
New Artistic Director of the ENO, Daniel Kramer
Genes: Our medical inheritance
Hay Festival: Spooks, war and genocide
Lost and Found: Ancient Egypt to Modern Art
World on the Move
Technology in Education
Cross-dressing and masculinity with Grayson Perry
Anish Kapoor on Light and Dark
Reporting War and Conflict
Loneliness and Inner Voices
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Global News Podcast
The Infinite Monkey Cage
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins