Bees.

I love bees. I think they are amazing! They are socially complex, nicely armed, and fun to watch.

Here are some fun facts about bees, taken from Nova Online.
Bees pollinate 95 different crops which translates to $10 million a year for the U.S. economy.
Bees cannot see the color red, but they do see ultraviolet colors.
The queen decides the sex of the young.
Bees fly at about 15 mph.

Scientists believe that the history of the honeybee begins in Africa. In the Science Daily article, "Out of Africa: Scientists Uncover the History of the Honeybee," researchers deduce that the "killer" bee and the honey bee have the same origins.

Have you heard of Colony Collapse Disorder? It's a pretty dangerous situation that's going on in the bee world. Colonies seem to just die. This disorder, on the rise since 2006, can cause a beekeeper to lose anywhere from 50-90% of his or her colony. The University of Florida Extension has a nice, understandable, short paper on Colony Collapse Disorder. You can also find out more about this in places like the Public Library of Science Biology Journals. NPR has an archived interview from back in 2006 when the disorder was starting to escalate. Bee Decline Threatens Farm Economy is a quick  interview with a professor from UC-Davis.

What else is it with bee? They inspire people. Take a look at the online gallery Bees in Art. It describes itself as "the world's first gallery devoted to bees". Perhaps the bees will inspire you too.

Fun Facts and Bibliographies to the Rescue!

Facts too often suffer from being boring. Allow me to present some place where facts, can be, and actually are, fun!

The Library of Congress Science Reference Services put together Everyday Mysteries . You can type things in the search box and find out things like:
Who Invented the TV dinner? (yummy photos!)
Can zebras be domesticated? (I don't want to ruin this one, but some of you may be disappointed.)

Other good places to hunt out facts are resources listed in bibliographies. The Library of Congress Science Reference Services has many fine research guides that have such bibliographies. Perhaps you think, "Oh, bibliography...boring." Not so! Check out some of these:
Picnics
The Science of Smell
African American Women in the Military and at War
Beer and Brewing

See? Facts can be quite entertaining!

It's science in a podcast

I enjoy listening to science-y podcasts. It's a good way for me to be an armchair biologist and keep up with the latest, weirdest, science-related news.

My current favorite is on How Stuff Works.com. It's the Stuff from the Science Lab Podcast. The podcasts have titles like "Death by Volcano", "Velociraptor Awareness Day", and "Book Sniffers and You".  They're funny and educational all at the same time. You also don't need a mega-science background to understand what these podcasts are about.  Check it out!

Science, at your fingertips

Let's say you have a need to know about SARS in China. And you don't have access to a fancy scholarly database. Now let's say you are a researcher who wants to disseminate your work published but also vetted and made open to the public. Although very different, the people in these two scenarios could have their needs met at the same place- The Public Library of Science (PLoS). It's an open-source, peer-reviewed gem that can help you find out about SARS in China, pink eye, and the sounds elephants make when bees get too close for their comfort. The collection included journals such as PLoS Pathogens, PLoS Computational Biology, and my personal favorite, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.