Beekeeper removes a huge bee colony from a shed with her bare hands and people are awed
For Erika Thompson, it was "just another Tuesday," but for the millions of people watching her work, it was a jaw-dropping (and terrifying) feat of insect-whispering magic.
A viral video shows Thompson, a professional beekeeper and the founder and owner of Austin-based Texas Beeworks, moving an enormous hive from the floorboards of someone's shed to a wooden hive. Her job is to move beehives from where they shouldn't be to where they should be, but seeing her do it with no special safety gear is impressive, if not alarming.
I mean, this combo of skill and fearlessness is something you just have to witness:
"This wasn't an extraordinary removal or an atypical one by any means," Thompson told the BBC. "Bees are often looking for a new place to build a hive, and these backyard sheds give them a really good environment where they're protected from the elements."
At the beginning of the video, we can see Thompson using a smoker to keep the bees calm. When a bee senses danger, it will emit an alarm pheromone that other bees pick up, which can quickly send them all into a panicked, stinging frenzy. Smoke temporarily interferes with bees' sense of smell so they can't detect those alarm pheromones, thereby keeping them calm.
That calm state allows Thompson to pull up the floorboards covered with bees and transfer the combs into the wooden hive. What's remarkable, however, is how she handles the bees barehanded, scooping them up like she's scooping up a thick liquid and then gently shaking them off at their new home.
In her TikTok videos, she's explained that she does wear protective equipment if bees are agitated. But when they are docile like this, the gear makes the work of moving the bees more cumbersome and increases the chance of them becoming alarmed. As long as she remains calm and intentional with her movements, the bees don't seem to mind.
And how about that "queen clip"? Thompson told the BBC that clips like that trap the queen bee during the move while still allowing the worker bees to take care of her. The bee colony will follow the queen's scent, so it's important to make sure she stays put in the new hive.
Thompson told BBC that what we see in the video is simply what she does on a regular basis. "One of the most incredible things about seeing the reaction to my videos has been just everybody's shock and awe at what is really just a normal Tuesday for me."
Honey bees are a vital part of our ecosystem, so calling a beekeeper like Thompson is a far better way to get rid of a bee problem than calling an exterminator. We all rely on bees to pollinate crops—without them, we'd have a much harder time eating. Many people found the video terrifying, as most of us have been stung at some point in our lives and the traumatic memories are real. But Thompson is doing us all a great service with this work. It's clear from seeing her in action that she truly cares about these creatures.
@texasbeeworks How honeybees survive the cold #bees #beekeeper #natureismetal #learnontiktok
The Texas Beeworks TikTok videos have millions of views each, as people marvel at Thompson's ability to handle bees in ways that most of us would consider nightmare scenarios. But changing people's view of bees is a big part of why Thompson shares her work this way.
"Species of all types of bees and insects are incredibly important to the diversity of our ecosystem and to our food system," she told the BBC. "I hope that by showing people the incredible world of honey bees, that hopefully, they can learn something about them and maybe have a new understanding and respect for them."
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.