In a message dated 96-08-30 16:49:18 EDT, you write:
 
<< A friend of mine works on a public television show involving science
issues
 that is directed to kids.  (Newton's Apple the show is called.)  She called
 me today for advice on writing a small 25-word-or-less "fascinating fact"
 about honeybees.
 
 I proposed a few ideas such as the way/ways bees communicate, the number of
 flowers that they visit, weights of nectar loads, the effect of diet in
 determining development of queens/workers, etc.  However, they still want
 other ideas - things that can be put across clearly and succinctly.
 
 My request to this group:  What do you think are facts about honeybees that
 would be most fascinating to a kid between 8 and 15 years old?
  >>
 
    We get the kids to count the seeds in the apples to see how well they are
pollinated.  Generally -  less than 3 seeds -- never make it to market,   4-5
seeds, small, starchy and often lopsided,   6-10 increasing size and flavor.
 Many folks think the bee visits the flower, and the fruit forms.  But the
bee must visit the flower repeatedly, until there are enough grains of
pollen, evenly distributed on the stigma, to get most of the seeds
pollinated.
 
    We've also done comparisons with watermelons, rating the taste of ones
with 50% white seeds, 25% white seeds, and 10% white seeds.  They'll go for
the taste of the well-pollinated melons, all other things being equal.  A
melon with 50% white (unpollinated) seeds will never fully ripen. Kids seem
to enjoy this.  Of course spitting the seeds is part of the fun, too.
 
    Cuke pollination can also be observed by the shape of the fruit.  Areas
that did not get the seeds pollinated do not develop.
 
 
 
    A bee's lifespan is mosly determined by its wings, which are good for
about 500 miles. In the summer, it may only live three weeks, once it starts
flying.  In the winter, it won't fly much, and could live four months.
 
    The sugar in honey is the energy of stored sunshine, made into sugar by
plants.  It is the basic food of almost all life on earth.  It provides our
bodies with energy.  It also powers the mighty wing muscles of the bee, and
heats the hive during the winter.  A bee burns her own weight in sugar in
about 2 1/2 hours of steady flying.
 
 Why do bees hum?  They don't know the words.
 
Come by the web page for more ideas.  My wife is working on pollination stuff
just for kids and teachers. The pics are not in yet, but the text is near the
final version.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC
29554
 
Practical Pollination Home Page            Dave & Janice Green
http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html