Episodes

In this episode, Kirsten sits down with Dr. Alister Clay, an engineer at Bosch with a fascinating journey into psychology and nature. Alister shares how his personal experiences led him to pursue a degree in psychology and focus on how …

In this episode of 2 Million Blossoms, host Dr. Kirsten Traynor sits down with Dr. Anke Dietzsch from the Institute for Bee Protection at the Julius Kühn Institute, Germany's Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants. Anke discusses her extensive...

In this episode, host Dr. Kirsten Traynor welcomes bee scientist Dr. Mazi Sanda from Cameroon. Dr. Sanda, who currently resides in Germany as part of the PLAN4BEE project, shares his journey into the world of bees, starting from his childhood...

In this episode of 2 Million Blossoms, host Dr. Kirsten Traynor is joined by Dr. Marla Spivak, a renowned bee scientist and MacArthur Genius Award recipient. Together, they delve into the pivotal changes in beekeeping ushered in by the Varroa …

In this captivating episode of 2 Million Blossoms, host Dr. Kirsten Traynor sits down with Dr. David Peck, Director of Research and Education at Betterbee, to explore the intricate world of bees and the persistent challenge posed by varroa mites. …

In this episode of 2 Million Blossoms, host Dr. Kirsten Traynor sits down with Flemming Vejsnæs, a bee biologist and beekeeper from Denmark, to delve into bees and beekeeping in Denmark. Drawing on their long-standing friendship and Flemming's...

Welcome back to the 2 Million Blossoms Podcast! In this special relaunch episode, host Kirsten Traynor sits down with Jeff Ott from the Beekeeping Today Podcast. They delve into Kirsten's recent adventures in Germany and the fascinating honey bee...

Adrian Fisher has been investigating the impacts of fungicides on honey bee health. Fungicides are often considered bee safe, because they don’t outright kill adult bees. But Adrian has found some troubling sub-lethal effects, especially on honey...

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the mind of a bee? How they perceive the world and learn to understand the landscape? On today’s episode, Kirsten talks with noted neurobiologist and bee scientist Lars Chittka from the University …

Today’s episode features Jess Vickruck, a wild bee scientist working in New Brunswick in Canada. In addition to converting the sunny spots in her garden into bee habitat, she studies competition in wild bee communities. She’s studied carpenter...

In this episode, podcast host Kirsten Traynor reflects on what are the characteristics of a great scientist and the mentors, who have helped her succeed in her own career. She discusses some of her early failures, how she questions her …

In this episode, Kirsten talks with Monika Maeckle. Monika runs the Texas Butterfly Ranch, which is more a state-of-mind than a physical place. She is a writer, Master Gardener, pollinator enthusiast and has tagged countless Monarchs that pass through...

Fran Mahoney is crazy about elephants. And to help protect elephants, she’s enlisted the help of over 144 honey bee colonies. In Tanzania, elephants face massive poaching threats. Subsistence farmers often turn in elephants to poachers, because they...

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Elke Genersch a microbiologist from the Institute for Bee Research in Hohen Neuendorf outside Berlin, Germany. She switched from cancer research into honey bee diseases about 20 years ago and has made a …

Dear Listeners: As you may know, I launched my print magazine 2 Million Blossoms with exuberance and crazy enthusiasm. Since I first dreamt up the magazine in 2019, I have produced two years of magazines, four issues in 2020 and …

Have you ever wondered about the bee biodiversity in other countries? In this episode, meet Dr. Michael Orr, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, where he has worked for the last …

In this episode, Kirsten chats with Cindy Moore, owner of Sweet Cindy’s Honey Farm, a commercial beekeeping operation in upstate New York and Florida. She runs bees with her husband on the east coast and they ship out bees to …

Meet botanical artist and scientific illustrator Erin E. Hunter, who splits her time between her own fine art paintings that capture the magic of the natural world and technical illustrations for the academic science journal Annual Reviews. She’s...

Thank you so much for downloading this episode – our 13th. While some people are superstitious about such numbers, we’re here to celebrate this “luckiest” of episodes. It’s hard to know when you start a new journey, where it will …

Tufts University PhD student Nicholas Dorian, who is a frequent contributor to , is always on the search for bees in urban spaces. His research focuses on cellophane bees, but he’s a well-rounded naturalist and ecologist. He helped found the …

Sarah Red-Laird is the founder of The Bee Girl Organization. You might know her from her fabulous and informative posts on social media. Or perhaps you’ve heard of her Kids for Bees program. But this dynamic woman has an endlessly …

Richard Jones, an entomologist and writer who has penned a delightful and ridiculous volume of 100 limericks. A Natural History of Insects in 100 Limericks is illustrated by Richard’s son Calvin and right below the limerick is a wonderful paragraph...

Dr. Mark Winston wrote the definitive book on honey bee biology in 1987 and is a science communicator extraordinaire. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Orion Magazine, and the Globe, and he’s a regular contributor to 2 …

In this episode, Kirsten speaks with award-winning nature photographer Jake Mosher. If you’re a subscriber to the magazine, you’ve seen his stunning landscapes and detailed macro photography in our April and Autumn issues last year. Jake grew up...