This is a research project I conducted in association with California Bee Company on their bee hives. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon in which entire colonies of bees die. Despite a decrease in media attention over the last decade, this is still a highly prevalent problem threatening the core of our agriculture industry. It is not dramatic to say that if bees go away, most of us will die of famine- not to mention the general ecological impact. I was working with ultrasound at the time and learned that in the past, ultrasound had been used to treat one of the postulated causes of CCD in California, Varroa Destructor Mites. These mites latch on the the body of bees, and they are unable to remove them.

Past methods using ultrasound on bees used highly diffusely propagating transducers with single frequency sine waves. They were largely unsuccessful, leading to several expired patents and an abandonment of the practice. This research focussed on the effects of non-invasive concentrated ultrasound, both modulated and unmodulated by other frequency components. The results were mixed, and more experimentation with placement, power, and duration of the ultrasonic transducers is warranted.