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For primary or nonrechargeable batteries, the overall energy density will be limited by any discharge or open-circuit corrosion that occurs during storage. For batteries based on aluminum and air, this longstanding problem has prevented their widespread use and has been challenging to overcome. Hopkins et al. used commercially available components to construct aluminum-air batteries. During standby periods, the electrolyte in the batteries was replaced with oil to protect the electrodes from corrosion, thus preventing energy loss. Science , this issue p. 658 Displacement of an electrolyte with oil increases battery energy density and shelf stability. Primary aluminum–air batteries boast high theoretical energy densities, but negative electrode corrosion irreversibly limits their shelf life. Most corrosion mitigation methods are insufficient or compromise power and energy density. We suppressed open-circuit corrosion by displacing electrolyte from the electrode surface with a nonconducting oil during battery standby. High power and energy density are enabled by displacing the oil with electrolyte for battery discharge. The underwater-oleophobic wetting properties of the designed cell surfaces allow for reversible oil displacement. We demonstrate this method in an aluminum–air cell that achieves a 420% increase in usable energy density and 99.99% reduction in corrosion, which lowers self-discharge to a rate of 0.02% a month and enables system energy densities of 700 watt-hours per liter and 900 watt-hours per kilogram.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are critical to the pollination of many important crops in the United States, and one crop that demands large numbers of colonies early each year is almonds. To provide adequate numbers of colonies for almond pollination, many beekeepers move colonies of bees to high-density holding yards in California in late fall, where the bees can fly and forage, but little natural pollen and nectar is available. In recent years, high colony losses have occurred in some operations following this management strategy, and alternative approaches, including indoor storage of colonies, have become more commonly used. The current study evaluated colonies kept indoors (refrigerated and/or controlled atmosphere) for the winter compared with those kept outdoors in either Washington or California. Colonies were evaluated for strength (frames of bees), brood area, lipid composition of worker bees, colony weight and survival, parasitic mites (Varroa mites, tracheal mites), and pathogens (Nosema spp.). No differences were found in colony weight, survival, parasitic mite levels, or pathogen prevalence among the treatments. Colonies stored indoors and outdoors in WA had significantly more frames of bees and less brood present after the storage period than colonies stored outdoors in CA. Lipid composition of honey bees stored indoors was significantly higher than colonies stored outdoors in WA or CA. The implications of these findings for overall colony health and improved pollination activity are discussed.

Honey bees and other pollinators are critical for food production and nutritional security but face multiple survival challenges. The effect of climate change on honey bee colony losses is only recently being explored. While correlations between higher winter temperatures and greater colony losses have been noted, the impacts of warmer autumn and winter temperatures on colony population dynamics and age structure as an underlying cause of reduced colony survival have not been examined. Focusing on the Pacific Northwest US, our objectives were to (a) quantify the effect of warmer autumns and winters on honey bee foraging activity, the age structure of the overwintering cluster, and spring colony losses, and (b) evaluate indoor cold storage as a management strategy to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. We perform simulations using the VARROAPOP population dynamics model driven by future climate projections to address these objectives. Results indicate that expanding geographic areas will have warmer autumns and winters extending honey bee flight times. Our simulations support the hypothesis that late-season flight alters the overwintering colony age structure, skews the population towards older bees, and leads to greater risks of colony failure in the spring. Management intervention by moving colonies to cold storage facilities for overwintering has the potential to reduce honey bee colony losses. However, critical gaps remain in how to optimize winter management strategies to improve the survival of overwintering colonies in different locations and conditions. It is imperative that we bridge the gaps to sustain honey bees and the beekeeping industry and ensure food and nutritional security.

Entomopathogenic fungi show great promise as pesticides in terms of their relatively high target specificity, low non-target toxicity, and low residual effects in agricultural fields and the environment. However, they also frequently have characteristics that limit their use, especially concerning tolerances to temperature, ultraviolet radiation, or other abiotic factors. The devastating ectoparasite of honey bees, Varroa destructor, is susceptible to entomopathogenic fungi, but the relatively warm temperatures inside honey bee hives have prevented these fungi from becoming effective control measures. Using a combination of traditional selection and directed evolution techniques developed for this system, new strains of Metarhizium brunneum were created that survived, germinated, and grew better at bee hive temperatures (35 °C). Field tests with full-sized honey bee colonies confirmed that the new strain JH1078 is more virulent against Varroa mites and controls the pest comparable to current treatments. These results indicate that entomopathogenic fungi are evolutionarily labile and capable of playing a larger role in modern pest management practices.

Indoor storage of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) during winter months has been practiced for decades to protect colonies from the adverse effects of long, harsh winter months. Beekeepers have recently employed indoor storage to reduce labor, feeding costs, theft, and woodenware degradation. Despite the growing number of colonies stored indoors, national survey results still reveal high losses. Varroa mites (Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman) are the most critical threat to colony winter survival and health of colonies because they contribute to the transmission of viruses and colony mortality. To investigate the effect of high CO2 on varroa mites during the indoor storage of honey bees, 8-frame single deep colonies were stored in two separate environmental chambers at 4°C each. One environmental chamber was set at 8.5% CO2 (high CO2), while the other was set at low CO2 (0.12%). Dead and falling mites were collected and counted from the bottom of individual colonies weekly during the experiment. There was a significant difference in mite mortality of colonies with high CO2 compared to colonies held at low CO2. These results indicated that high CO2 could increase mite mortality during the period of indoor storage, potentially improving honey bee health coming out of the winter months. Our research offers a critical addition to beekeepers' tools for managing varroa mite populations.

Abstract Global decline in insect pollinators, especially bees, have resulted in extensive research into understanding the various causative factors and formulating mitigative strategies. For commercial beekeepers in the United States, overwintering honey bee colony losses are significant, requiring tactics to overwinter bees in conditions designed to minimize such losses. This is especially important as overwintered honey bees are responsible for colony expansion each spring, and overwintered bees must survive in sufficient numbers to nurse the spring brood and forage until the new ‘replacement’ workers become fully functional. In this study, we examined the physiology of overwintered (diutinus) bees following various overwintering storage conditions. Important physiological markers, i.e., head proteins and abdominal lipid contents were higher in honey bees that overwintered in controlled indoor storage facilities, compared with bees held outdoors through the winter months. Our findings provide new insights into the physiology of honey bees overwintered in indoor and outdoor environments and have implications for improved beekeeping management.

Waves of highly infectious viruses sweeping through global honey bee populations have contributed to recent declines in honey bee health. Bees have been observed foraging on mushroom mycelium, suggesting that they may be deriving medicinal or nutritional value from fungi. Fungi are known to produce a wide array of chemicals with antimicrobial activity, including compounds active against bacteria, other fungi, or viruses. We tested extracts from the mycelium of multiple polypore fungal species known to have antiviral properties. Extracts from amadou ( Fomes ) and reishi ( Ganoderma ) fungi reduced the levels of honey bee deformed wing virus (DWV) and Lake Sinai virus (LSV) in a dose-dependent manner. In field trials, colonies fed Ganoderma resinaceum extract exhibited a 79-fold reduction in DWV and a 45,000-fold reduction in LSV compared to control colonies. These findings indicate honey bees may gain health benefits from fungi and their antimicrobial compounds.

Pulverizing solid-state drives (SSDs) down to particles no larger than 2 mm is required by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) to ensure the highest level of data security, but commercial disintegrators that achieve this standard are large, heavy, costly, and often difficult to access globally. Here, we present a portable, inexpensive, and accessible method of pulverizing SSDs using a household blender and other readily available materials. We verify this approach by pulverizing SSDs with a variety of household blenders for fixed periods of time and sieve the resulting powder to ensure appropriate particle size. Among the 6 household blenders tested, sharp-blade blenders with high peak power (1,380 W) and high blade speed (28,000 RPM) properly disintegrate 2.5-inch SSDs in less than 20 min. This method is useful for pulverizing small numbers of SSDs that contain secret information when on-site conventional disintegrators are not available or practical.

Objective Previous studies have demonstrated the impact of sociodemographic factors on disease development, management, and outcomes in adult and pediatric populations. Given that postoperative management is key in reducing complications following a tracheotomy, we assessed the impact of sociodemographic factors on a patient's discharge disposition. Study Design Cross‐sectional study. Setting Health Care Utilization Project's (HCUP) National Inpatient Survey (NIS). Methods The HCUP NIS was queried for all patients undergoing tracheotomy between 2017 and 2021. All analyses were performed using R Version 4.3.1 survey procedures to account for strata and cluster effects. Results We identified 81,069 admissions during which a tracheotomy was performed and, after appropriate weighting for the HCUP NIS survey design, found that 15.1% of admissions resulted in routine discharge, 4.5% transferred to a short‐term hospital, 52.3% transferred to a skilled nursing facility (SNF)/intermediate care facility (ICF)/other facility, 16.9% discharged with home health care. Admissions routinely discharged had the lowest median (interquartile range) age (48 [23, 61] years), whereas admissions resulting in death or transfer to a SNF/ICF/other facility type had the greatest age (63 [53, 70] years). On both univariable and multivariable analyses, age, race, sex, insurance type, geographic region, and hospital size were associated with discharge disposition. Conclusion Our study highlights that disparities exist among patient populations and were found in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Further attention and resource allocation for the care of patients with a tracheostomy may work toward identifying sources of disparity, which may be modified to improve patient care.

Abstract During winter months, a significant portion of commercial honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies are stored indoors to overwinter in climate-controlled conditions. However, refrigerated bee storage facilities could be a useful tool at other times of the year in an integrated pest management approach to control the infamous Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman. Here, we investigated the efficacy of using refrigerated bee storage in the spring to temporarily disrupt honey bee brood production, followed by treating colonies with miticides that perform best in times of low brood production. Immediately following commercial spring pollination in California almonds, colonies were moved to refrigerated bee storage or an apiary as a control. After 18 d, colonies in refrigerated bee storage were relocated to the apiary, and all colonies were treated with a miticide. Bee samples, frames of bees, and hive weights were recorded at the time of miticide application and 37 d later. While there were no statistically significant differences in hive weight or number of frames of bees, colonies that experienced an induced brood break had significantly lower Varroa loads (mites per 100 bees) than colonies that did not experience a brood break. This study demonstrates a viable large-scale method to increase the efficacy of and decrease the need for reapplication of miticides for Varroa control. Graphical abstract Graphical Abstract