In February 2025, scientists at the University of California, Riverside introduced a game-changing device called the Electronic Bee-Veterinarian (EBV) — a smart, affordable sensor system designed to monitor the health of honeybee colonies in real time. These tiny sensors track temperature fluctuations inside the hive, which are key indicators of bee health and stress. The system then calculates a “health factor” (ranging from 0 to 1) that warns beekeepers if a hive is at risk of collapse. Unlike traditional methods that rely on visual inspections, this technology provides early alerts—days in advance—when colonies show signs of danger from threats like pesticides, diseases, food shortages, or extreme weather.
This innovation comes at a critical time: in the winter of 2023–24 alone, over 55% of honeybee colonies in the U.S. were lost, with predictions suggesting losses could reach up to 70% in 2025. Since bees are responsible for pollinating about one-third of the world’s food supply, their decline poses a major threat to global food security. What makes the EBV system especially impactful is its accessibility—it costs less than $50 per hive using commercially available parts, making it viable even for small-scale beekeepers. By turning raw temperature data into actionable insights, this sensor system has the potential to transform hive management and play a vital role in safeguarding pollinators—and the ecosystems and food systems that depend on them. More