Hi:

BIggest trials of this type were many years back in hives in the
midwest.  Trying to decide whether to wrap, not wrap, etc.  Lots of hives,
lots of temp probes, so many that one sees pictures of meters showing the
current draw.  Some decisions were made, but to the best that I could find
out, the investigator had no real means of  dealing with the data --
hundreds of thermometers, but had to average the output.

This isn't a trivial issue -- its one that took us some time, even
considering modern day computers, A/D setups, etc.  Five years ago, it was
time consuming, today its a snap.

Robert Madsen, the Science Instructor at Dull Knife Community College (its
a Native American Tribal college in eastern MT) has been coming to Missoula
with a group of students for the last 5 years, working on temp regulation
in hives outfitted with temperature probes (one per every inch of space).

Its two months per summer, so its taking a bit of time -- but the 3-d
movies of temp changes are something to see.  Anyway, he was hopeful that
last summer would answer some critical questions, provide enough
information to write a good article.

Bottom line, much of what we thought was happening inside bee hives
ISN'T.  That's why its taking so long -- better information changed the
paradigm, which in turn generated a  lot more questions that had to be
answered.

Jerry

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