The research potential of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) comes from its remarkable ability to cope with environmental stress while maintaining highly complex social systems. Thanks to advanced adaptive, detoxification and immune mechanisms, honeybees have become an important model for studying immunity, behaviour, cognition and ecosystem resilience — especially in the face of climate change.

Honeybees also produce substances with a wide range of biological activity, such as honey, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom. Known for their antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, these natural products are widely explored in biomedicine and biotechnology. Beyond the lab, honeybees are essential to agriculture and food security, and their sophisticated communication and collective decision-making continue to inspire researchers.

How can we better protect and support honeybees? Which research directions hold the greatest promise today? And what can this extraordinary species offer to science — and to humanity? These questions lie at the heart of the lecture Science Is Honey.