Buzz

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

BBC Radio 4 Extra

BBC Radio 4 LW

Elliot Levey

Thor Hanson

Polly Coles

Clive Brill

Buzz by Dr Thor Hanson: Episode 3

Drama

Factual: Science & Nature

Buzz by Dr Thor Hanson

Episode 3

BBC Radio 4 - Buzz by Dr Thor Hanson, Episode 3

The lengths to which plants go to attract and exploit the bee population can be bizarre.

The lengths some plants go to attract and exploit the bee population are often bizarre and complex. Read by Elliot Levey.

Plants and animals can have special relationships. 

The lengths to which some plants go to attract and exploit the bee population are often bizarre and complex.

Bees are like oxygen - ubiquitous, essential and, for the most part, unseen. While we might overlook them, they lie at the heart of relationships that bind the human and natural worlds. Dr Thor Hanson continues on the journey that began 125 million years ago, when a wasp first dared to feed pollen to its young.

From honeybees and bumbles to lesser-known diggers, miners, leafcutters, and masons, bees have long been central to our harvests, our mythologies, and our very existence. They have given us sweetness and light, the beauty of flowers and as much as a third of the foodstuffs we eat. And, alarmingly, they are at risk of disappearing.

Read by Elliot Levey

Abridged by Polly Coles

Producer: Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2018.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Buzz by Dr Thor Hanson

Episode 3

Contributors

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4