Using CO2 to Fight Varroa Mites with Aakash Manaswi (398)

Using CO2 to Fight Varroa Mites with Aakash Manaswi (398)

Zac Watson
I'm Zac Watson. I'm from Alabama. Welcome to Beekeeping Today Podcast. Welcome to Beekeeping Today Podcast presented by Betterbee, your source for beekeeping news, information, and entertainment. I'm Jeff Ott.

Becky Masterman
And I'm Becky Masterman.

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Jeff Ott
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You can find it all at www. beekeepingtoday. com.

Thank you, Zac Watson from Alabama for that great opening from the floor of the North American Honey Bee Expo back in January.

Becky Masterman
Fantastic. Alabama. They're already on our map, aren't they?

Jeff Ott
They are. They're on our Family of podcast with Dr. Jim Tew. He's from Alabama.

Becky Masterman
Oh, that's true.

Jeff Ott
Yeah. Alabama's a good state. Well represented here on Beekeeping Today podcast. Becky, we have a new question that just came in.

Becky Masterman
We do. And I love this question. This is a I'm going to read the whole thing.

It's a long question. But this is from Brian Nolan. And Brian writes This is I mean it starts out great.

Jeff Ott
It ends great too, by the way.

Becky Masterman
Well it does, but it is it's a great question. We're gonna give this question some attention. Brian says, I live exactly twelve miles from the middle of nowhere.

I've been using ChatGPT to discuss my hives. I'm a new beekeeper. I've been keeping bees for two years now.

I read books, I listen to your podcasts, and I chat with ChatGPT about my bees. I have a swarm that I installed about a month ago that I believe is either queenless or the queen has slowed down because of the heat here. Currently 90 to 100 degree days.

I have a package arriving from Strong Microbials today to feed my hives during the dearth. I'm also feeding one-to-one syrup. All of this I've learned from your show and ChatGPT.

My question is, have you used AI to discuss your bees? I find its answers are spot on, its suggestions are great, and recently it has offered to help look at photos I take of frames. It may be a new pathway for new beekeepers to learn about beekeeping.

Sorry, book writers. Hey, is he talking to us? Wait, is he not gonna read our book?

Maybe we shouldn't answer this.

Jeff Ott
Well we'll have to feed it to ChatGPT.

Becky Masterman
I love this question. Well I'm just gonna say it because I write monthly for Bee Culture and what, like two weeks ago I just turned in an article where I interviewed ChatGPT for my article because I am super curious about AI as a tool for beekeepers and what it looks like. So I decided to go straight to the source and it turned out to be like a two thousand word article that's going to be published in what it was turned in July, August, September.

So it'll be in the September Bee Culture issue. So Brian, you're gonna have to read that, but I have other things to say too. Let's turn this over to you first.

Jeff Ott
There's a lot of discussions in a lot of the online forums and moderated boards and everything else about using AI. whether it be chat or Gemini or Claude or any of the others. My belief with everything with AI is that Use it as a reference, but not as a sole determination of all your decision making, at least at this point. I mean I think we're at a point where we can turn over everything to ChatGPT or AI, but I think it does have a lot to offer and especially for those beekeepers who are isolated and without other resources.

Becky Masterman
In this world, the thing that I know the most about I think is beekeeping. So it would be the thing I would go to ChatGPT the least amount of times in order to like actually ask a question. But I've found a lot of great information from AI when I have questions about things that I don't know about.

So because of that, I actually started asking chat some questions about beekeeping that I actually knew the answer to. Or sharing pictures of things that I knew what I was looking at. And some of that goes into the article.

But what I will say is that I've had ChatGPT apologize to me so many times when I was testing it and I would say, wait, are you sure that's the answer? And what about this? And then the bot will come the chat bot will come back and say, Oh, I'm so sorry.

I actually maybe was too confident in that answer. And so I do think it's a great tool. I just think there's a fine line between when it gets really confident and maybe will answer something definitively when it actually doesn't know the answer.

I also found I was asking it to print a transcript of our interview word for word. it edited the questions it got wrong and it corrected them. So I had to go back in the feed and I had to pull out the questions that it answered incorrectly because I wanted the incorrect answers in the article because that was part of the part of the conversation that I was having with chat.

So while I'm a hundred percent amazed with this tool, part of the problem is that you can catch its limitations much more easily when you're you're very knowledgeable about a subject. And if you're not, it might be a little bit trickier. And chat also did admit that it's not as good at scanning pictures as it could be.

And I think that it's going to improve. But I did find that it's it's not a perfect tool, but boy is it a great tool. And there are other uses for it.

I'm just going to say this. that I asked it for some resources to look up some funding ideas for a beekeeper who wanted to expand their business and it found grants that were active, grants accepting applications. And Katie Lee has said this.

She works for SARE, which is a granting organization through the USDA and they want people who are writing these grants to actually use AI to help them with some of the ideas bringing t ideas together and doing some of the help with the writing so that they everybody kind of has an equal playing field when it comes to applying for some of these grants. So there are definite uses for the tools.

Jeff Ott
I 100% agree with you in using of the chat or any of the AI tools that it's almost like talking to any other beekeeper, you have to take what they tell you with a little grain of salt.

Becky Masterman
Okay.

Jeff Ott
Based on their knowledge and background understanding. If you challenge them like you'd challenge another beekeeper, ultimately I will know AI works well. on beekeeping questions when it comes back and tells me, well, Jeff, it depends. And then I know that I've reached Beekeeping Nirvana in the AI world.

Becky Masterman
Because that is the true answer to any beekeeping question is that it depends. That's great. No, but it is it is interesting.

And I before I wrote that article, I'd been thinking about it for a number of months, and I will tell you that there's not a lot out there written about AI and beekeeping. There's a little bit of information, but it's something that I think that beekeepers maybe are doing and not talking about. And I think it's just good to talk about because you can improve the tool by using it and also kind of understanding it makes you write your question very clearly too because if you're not clear then you're going to get the question you asked answered, not the question you needed to have answered.

Jeff Ott
So And you can always follow up and ask, where are you getting this information? What are you basing this on? And then not only just wait for an answer to show up.

But then follow through with looking at that reference and seeing what that reference said because the interpretation of AI of that reference may be off or maybe wrong. And it's just like Talking to another beekeeper. Where'd you get that information?

Well I heard it from so and so. Or that's the way I've always done it. It's a tool And like every tool, be wary in how you use it, and it can be a useful tool for you.

Becky Masterman
And I want to know where Brian lives, so when He gives you his address to get his free hive tool. You gotta tell me what twelve miles from the middle of nowhere actually is.

Jeff Ott
Is that a postal service address, Brian, really? Really?

Becky Masterman
So if you just send that tool to twelve miles from the middle of nowhere.

Jeff Ott
Thank you, Brian, for that wonderful question. It leads to a lot of discussion and one whose answer will change as time goes on, I'm sure.

Becky Masterman
We should have asked Chad to answer for us.

Jeff Ott
That's true. Well Becky, coming up, the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair is the world's largest international STEM research competition for high school students, bringing together some of the brightest young scientific minds from around the globe. One of this year's standout projects tackled one of Beekeeping's biggest challenges, Varroa Mites.

We're very familiar with that. After the break, we will meet award-winning student researcher Aakash Manaswi. To learn more.

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Jeff Ott
Hey everybody, welcome back Sitting around this great big virtual beekeeping today podcast table, sitting down in Orlando, Florida, we have Aakash Manaswi and in

Becky Masterman
I'm in St. Paul, Minnesota, Jeff.

Jeff Ott
Do you hear you haven't changed?

Becky Masterman
My name is Becky Masterman. I'm a co-host of the podcast.

Jeff Ott
And I'm sitting in Olympia, Washington. This is a rough day, folks. Aakash, thank you for joining us.

We were telling the listeners before you joined us that your brother was on last year. We're having you on. This is becoming quite a family thing.

Next year, do you have a younger brother that we can interview next year? I do. Sister, maybe?

Okay. Well thank you. Aakash, please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got interested in bees, and then we'll start talking about your project.

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, so I'm a tenth grader from Orlando, Florida, and kind of my whole story about bees really takes me back around seven years ago. I visited a beekeeper's apiary. I was just a third grade elementary school student, so you can bet I was confused, had dozens of questions.

But one of the questions that really stood out to me was when he opened up his hives, I noticed that a lot of them weren't as busy as I was thinking. I was thinking it would be golden full of honey, just like in Winnie the Pooh But what I saw was just a hive that didn't really have much buzzing. So when I asked him why, he told me it was because he was struggling to fight against this parasite known as the Varroa mite So I asked him more about it and he told me it was this huge problem that was affecting the keepers around the world and I really started to get interested in the mite from there.

I started doing more research into it. And I found out that these beekeepers only have a few effective ways to treat for these mites, but some of the issues with these mite with these treatments for the mites or that they're pesticides, so they do have a lot of side effects associated with them, or they're organic treatments that sometimes don't work in certain temperatures. So that's really where I started getting into bees.

Jeff Ott
Do you have any beehives of your own there at your house?

Aakash Manaswi
No, I unfortunately don't, so I really wanted to, but the HOA doesn't allow us to have to. But I do love to go to local beekeepers' apiaries, help out and just work over there.

Becky Masterman
Wow. Do you have a regular group of people that you go and help? Because if not, you can maybe do a call out right now. I'm sure a lot of people would love your help.

Aakash Manaswi
There's mainly three beekeepers who I've been visiting over the years and working with. But I recently have joined this organization. It's called The Hives for Heroes. It's basically like a veteran organization and they connect veterans, beekeepers, so they can start getting into beekeeping themselves and it's something I'm really passionate about that organization.

Jeff Ott
So you started working with beekeepers or way back when and noticed that the beekeeper was talking about the problem with Varroa mites. I mean you're tenth grader. When I was in tenth grade I was probably playing guitars and riding bicycles. Well that's what I'm doing now. But it's it's but you're sitting there thinking, well bees and how can I solve a problem with bees? Tell me, how did you get there

Aakash Manaswi
I really thought that like no matter the age, no matter who I am, what my credentials are, I could maybe try and help out. Like I thought this was like a big issue and it was affecting a lot of people, it was affecting our food supply So no matter how young I am, maybe there's something I could do to help out. that's really what was going on in my mind.

Becky Masterman
Were you in tenth grade or were you in ninth grade before you when you started this project?

Aakash Manaswi
No, so I actually started this project going into the eighth grade So this is going into April. Yeah, so I've been doing this project for quite a while now.

Becky Masterman
Oh my goodness. Okay. You're making us all look bad, but that's okay. Everybody think back to ninth grade science projects.

Jeff Ott
Your brother had some exposure to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, and that's what the project ultimately led to. Did you start with that in mind, or did you start just exploring on your own and then say, hey, I could enter this into the Regeneron competition.

Aakash Manaswi
I really started just from this idea itself. I didn't ever think that this project would lead to going to ISEF. at the International Science Fair. I really had no idea. I'm extremely grateful for that opportunity, but I really just started this as something that is like a tool that I could develop to help beekeepers fight back against these mites.

Jeff Ott
Let's talk about what you've been working on. What is your project?

Aakash Manaswi
My project itself, it's basically like a lid and it goes on top of beehives to release CO2 as treatment against the Varroa mite Now the way this really works is it really goes on top of the beehive themselves and there's nine tubes and each of these tubes is designed to lay on all of the different frames in the beehive And these tubes all have holes poked through them. So they're so this lid that I developed, it's basically connected to a tank of CO2.

And the CO2 is sourced from that tank, so it goes through this entire lid and it releases and sinks to the bottom of the hive from the lid I developed because CO2 is heavier than air.

And the way this works really is it knocks these mites off of the body of the bees through a scientific process known as hypercapnia. And this is the acidification of the insect blood. So these mites, they're getting knocked off of the body of the bees, and this treatment dosage that I developed doesn't harm the bees itself, but it does harm the mites.

Jeff Ott
My first question is how do you meter the amount of CO2 that is released?

Aakash Manaswi
There's like a CO2 regulator. It's attached to the tank of CO2 itself and it sets the flow at two liters per minute So this regulates the amount of CO2 that actually comes out of the tank. And the concentration of CO2 in the tank is 30% carbon dioxide.

And that's the best dosage that I found in the lab. So for some background, this was a three-year-long study, as I mentioned. And my first year of research what I did was I ran a lab trial where I exposed bees and mites to 10 varying concentrations of CO2 And I found the best dosage was 30%.

So it had the highest bee survival while also having a very strong mite knockdown. So it's kind of like the best of both worlds. Then in my second year I designed the first iteration of this lid prototype.

And then in my third year, I ran a field trial Comparing this prototype to the pesticide alternatives. And also I looked at a bunch of bee health markers like the bee lifespan and also some cellular effects like the bee immunity, the digestive health, and also reproductive health.

Becky Masterman
I have to ask, whose lab did you work with when you did these trials?

Aakash Manaswi
I worked with three main labs in this entire process. So I had a mentor at 3M. And this was part of the 3M Young Sciences Challenge. So I was basically paired with a mentor from 3M and then also I worked with another mentor from the USDA. And then I also worked at the University of Florida's Bee Lab

Jeff Ott
Can you say who you worked with USDA?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, I worked with Dr. Charles Stahl. And that was in my first year of research. He unfortunately retired, but he's truly been like so helpful in this process.

Becky Masterman
And who did you work with in Florida?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, I worked with a grad student, her name is Marie Yenschak, and I also worked with Dr. Jack, Dr.

Jeff Ott
Cameron Jack. Great. I'm sitting here Part of my brain is listening to you and saying, Yeah, okay, that makes sense, that makes sense And then the other part of me is saying, At the time you were, you know, eighth, ninth, and tenth grade. That's pretty intensive science studies that you're doing and with the field trials and lab trials and determine the concentrations. What did your friends think as you said, No, I can't play ball tonight, I'm gotta go to the lab and check on my mites the mite drop

Aakash Manaswi
At first they thought I was crazy doing all this stuff. They're like, dude, what are you doing? But now they and really supportive, like, I don't know.

They're just really understanding about it as well. they're huge helps as well. I don't think I'd be able to do anything without the support of my friends and family either.

Becky Masterman
Did you put a sticky board in when you is that the one of the main uses or main ways you actually measured the effect of the treatment?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah. In my lab or my field trial, I mean, I mainly looked at the sugar shake method. So I would sugar shake these hives for treatment.

and after treatment at a bunch of different intervals, which was three days after treatment and one to all the way to ten weeks after treatment, specifically for my third year of research. But something that I also developed was a version of the sticky trap It basically goes underneath of the hive and the beekeepers can use like their camera app and basically they can use an AI model I developed. It's called a YOLOv8 model And what this does is it counts the amount of Varroa mites on the sticky trap so that they have like a threshold for how well their hives are doing in terms of mite count.

Becky Masterman
Okay. No, I'm I'm speechless about okay. So you developed an app, basically. Is this is this something that beekeepers couldn't download and use?

Aakash Manaswi
I'm still in the process of publishing it. Like a AI itself is developed. I'm just trying to get to the point where I can make this available for beekeepers to use on the iOS app. But hopefully that will be available in the next month or so.

Becky Masterman
That'll be a help to a number of people who in research who have to count those mites on the sticky boards.

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, it's really tedious. I remember in the field, like it took me so many hours just like standing there counting All these different mites. And they're so tiny too, so it's really hard to even see them.

Becky Masterman
I think some people use a dissecting scope because you've got all those other particles too. So to just to pull out your

Jeff Ott
You have the CO2 drop. What's the bell curve of the of the drop in the first day, the first three days, five days? How long is the effect of the CO2 treatment?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, so the way the CO2 treatment works is it basically like disrupts the reproductive cycle of the mites as w as well. So something that I noticed is that most of the mite populations died off very quickly around one to three days. that's when most of their populations died. And they stayed very stagnant because these mites they reproduce roughly every four to six weeks. So like they didn't have enough time to fully reproduce and if these hives are treated every four weeks, then this is targeting these mites at the reproductive cycles, so the mite populations stay low over the long run.

Becky Masterman
So but this wouldn't penetrate the cell cappings. So it would just be the mites that are actually on the bees?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, it would be the phoretic mites.

Becky Masterman
What did you come up with as far as a treatment regimen? in order to be most effective?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah. This would be done every four weeks. Its treatment cycle would be four weeks.

So basically the way this would work is this lid it kind of is just placed on top of the beehives So these beekeepers, they can go hive to hive. They can have one treatment for their apiary. And really what they do is they just take off all the lids of their hives.

They take a CO2 lid I developed. They go hive to hive just treating each of the hives, so starting the flow, stopping the flow, and they treat each hive for around one minute.

Becky Masterman
The equipment has to maybe not have any breaks or holes in it in order to make sure that CO2 stays in the hive as long as it can? Does that matter?

Aakash Manaswi
yeah, so the lid it's very tight, so it fits sh like almost perfectly on top of the hive. I mean these hives themselves are very they have not too great ventilation in terms of how tight the hives are because of these bees. Like they seal off basically the entire hive. So once the CO2 is introduced and it covers the top, the CO2 stays inside of the hive until the it's taken off.

Becky Masterman
You haven't seen my beehives. I've got I've got auger holes for entrances and exits and then there's some corners that don't match up anymore where the bees decided that's an entrance too. So But I understand.

That's that's really that's very interesting. So you can treat multiple colonies very quickly. Is this being done by any organizations or beekeepers as a regular Mitigation for mites right now?

Aakash Manaswi
Yes, that's actually my next step. This overall has just been like the research behind it to see if this could actually work. And the results indicate that this could be an effective tool.

So the next step for me is to do like a pilot. So basically taking this to different beekeepers around the state and maybe more states. And starting there so seeing what their thoughts and feedback are on this specific prototype, if anything could be improved, and if so, how is this varying in their hives as well?

So just to see if this isn't a temperature or just an Orlando thing and maybe if it's statewide or national thing as well.

Becky Masterman
And you've developed this for a two-deep colony, correct? I'd be curious, have you looked into or thought about Tropilaelaps at all? And controlling Tropilaelaps with carbon dioxide?

Aakash Manaswi
I'm really happy you asked that. So I was that's actually something I'm pretty sure. Yeah.

So that's something I've been really interested in as well I don't know, people are saying that Tropilaelaps could be a bigger issue than Varroa themselves because they outcompete these Varroa in terms of like reproduction. So that's definitely something I'm interested in. The only issue is I don't know if the CO2 specifically would work for Tropilaelaps.

And the reason why is because the Tropilaelaps they kind of act inside of the sealed wax chambers And the CO2 can't penetrate that barrier. Almost no treatment on the in the industry itself can actually, size for oxalic acid. So that's something I've been really looking into.

And that's also another research project I'm exploring right now. So I'm really happy you asked that. That's something that I'm really interested in.

Becky Masterman
They're out of those cells a lot less than Varroa, unfortunately.

Jeff Ott
And I don't think you get any kind of Anybody give you approval to bring Tropilaelaps in to test it, but it would be No, but that means you get to go to Thailand.

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, I was yeah, I was thinking about that as well.

Becky Masterman
But it's interesting because they're they are they're smaller than Varroa mites. So at least you know that the dose they could be more susceptible, yeah.

Jeff Ott
Hey, let's take this opportunity for a quick break and we'll be right back and we'll talk to Aakash more about his research and what we can expect in the future.

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Becky Masterman
Welcome back everybody. I am curious. It sounds like with three years in and lots of data, this sounds like one, you could be publishing the work pretty soon And two, you should have just gotten a master's degree with all of this research. Is this being prepared for publication?

Aakash Manaswi
So I definitely want to publish this work like the first and second year's work as well. and kind of just get this out there. Another big goal that I have in mind is patenting this work and releasing it for beekeepers to use as soon as they can and for as cheap as possible because Well like again, this is a huge issue that all these beekeepers are facing. They don't have like fantastic treatments for right now. So I think if this were to get out there as soon as possible, that could be a big help.

Jeff Ott
Back to the use of the hive top. So you leave it on for one minute and it's a 30% concentration. How expensive is CO2 and where do you get that? And how big of a tank is that? Are we talking like scuba tanks full?

Aakash Manaswi
You can go to a local welding shop. They sell this concentration inside of like gas tanks. So specifically, like I personally got a 200-pound tank of CO two.

for his research and this 200 pound tank cost I think it was around two hundred dollars but this tank it contains enough treatment for around fifteen thousand five hundred treatments So it's really inexpensive. you can get it in huge bulk, or you can even get like a 20-pound tank. That's again, that's still enough for a few thousand treatments.

So it's quite inexpensive for use.

Jeff Ott
From the tank you run a tube to a regulator of some sort, or just a valve?

Aakash Manaswi
So it's a regulator and its flow set at two liters per minute. So no more CO2 is leaving than that exact concentration. And then this tube it's connected to the lid and this lid is on top of the beehive.

So once the flow is active, the CO2 sinks to the bottom of the hive. And then this tank you can move it around. So moving around 200 pound tank, it's not too easy.

But if you were to use a 15-20 pound tank, they're quite a lot easier.

Jeff Ott
The 30% is a common concentration that is available?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, so the specific welding shop I went to they did have the 30% concentration. I do think that it would vary according to which shop you go to though.

Jeff Ott
What made you think of CO2 in this treatment study? Why did you choose CO2 over, say, another gas?

Aakash Manaswi
Like the whole reason why CO2 was picked was because of this phenomenon that I mentioned earlier, known as hypercapnia. And this is the acidification of the insect blood. So CO2 is something that can trigger this acidification.

So I really just thought that since these mites, they're so much smaller than the bees themselves. that what if they were to be exposed to CO2 at the exact same time, wouldn't these mites fall off the body of the bees? And also some more like inspiration for this project.

I saw this paper and it actually looked at this CO2 checker that was developed. So basically like a method that was previously available to count the amount of Varroa mites inside of the hive was used via a CO2 checker. So like basically it's similar to the sugar shake method.

A sample of around 300 bees is scooped up into a jar. but and CO2 injection is added to the top and this separates the bees from the mites. So I was curious why that happened and I came across hypercapnia.

And I wondered if this could be scaled to the entire hive itself and if it could be used to treat for varroa as well.

Becky Masterman
Have you done any studies where you make the colony broodless so that the varroa have no place to hide?

Aakash Manaswi
I have not. No. That's something that I definitely want to look into as well. I think that could be really, really cool. Yeah, that would be interesting.

Jeff Ott
Along the same lines I was thinking this would be a perfect treatment for during the broodless period for m most of North America in December, January timeframe when most queens have shut down production.

Becky Masterman
Before anybody gets out their supplies and buys some CO two, you have to make sure we know what it would do to a cluster if it would be disruptive or what that looks like to a tight winter cluster.

Jeff Ott
Explain to us the process then of taking your project and what you developed and getting it into the International Science and Engineering Fair.

Aakash Manaswi
I first entered the International Science and Engineering Fair in my ninth grade. So I participated in a regional state science fair. It's for Orange County where I live in.

It's called the Dr. Nelson Ging Exposition Basically, when you're there, you present your research just like any ordinary science fair, but there's a total of four students who are selected to go to ISEF, the International Science Fair, from that fair every single year. And I was one of those four students. And then I advanced to the State Science Fair as well, the Florida State Science and Engineering Fair.

And there another eight students are picked to go to the International Science and Engineering Fair. So I re-qualified from the state fair. And then at ISEF, that was my first experience there.

and I presented my work to a bunch of different scientists, PhDs, I received a lot of help feedback. So after ninth grade, I re-entered in tenth grade And I entered from the regional science fair, I advanced to ISEF again, and then I presented my work, and that was really the process.

Becky Masterman
Excellent. Where was the where were the International Science Fairs held?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, so in my ninth grade year it was held in Columbus, Ohio, and this year it was in Arizona.

Becky Masterman
Are they on college campuses to give you a taste of what's out there?

Aakash Manaswi
No, they're so they're not like well they're sponsored by colleges but they weren't on the actual college campuses themselves. They were in like the convention centers. It's really cool though to see like just to see new cities So much different than Orlin. So it was awesome.

Becky Masterman
Yeah, you picked a couple of very different ones.

Aakash Manaswi
Do they provide for the travel? The regional science fair that I participate in, it's funded by this organization. It's called the Nelson Science Exposition. basically like it pay for our flights, our hotel, our lodging. it's really amazing.

Jeff Ott
What is the prize or reward that you won for this competition?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, so this year I was awarded first place in the category of animal sciences. And I was also awarded one of the top distinctions. It's called the Peggy Scripps Award for Science Communication So I'm really grateful to have been selected for that and it's just been an amazing opportunity.

Jeff Ott
Do you receive a scholarship for that?

Aakash Manaswi
For the first place in my category, I receive a six thousand dollar scholarship. And the Peggy Scripps Award covers another ten thousand scholarship for college.

Jeff Ott
Excellent. Oh wow. Congratulations. That is so impressive.

Becky Masterman
Okay, since you brought up college, do you know what you're going to be studying?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah, so I definitely want to continue doing like this agricultural environmental research. I'm hugely passionate about the work I've been able to do. I definitely 100% want to continue it. So I'm definitely thinking something on the lines of agriculture, environmental engineering, something on the lines of that

Becky Masterman
Are you sticking with honey bees?

Aakash Manaswi
Yes. So I def I definitely think I'm going Yeah. So I think I do think I'm gonna do it more or maybe expand a little from honey bees, but I definitely still wanna continue doing honey bees because I just love it.

Becky Masterman
It's so far so If I remember correctly, your brother was not planning on sticking with honey bees. in college. No, it's not so thank you for sticking with honey.

Jeff Ott
We appreciate it. personal interest in finding a treatment for the ver against the varroa might you have to tell us because I'm sure you're you're involved in other things too besides honey bees and research.

Becky Masterman
What else do you are you doing there in Florida?

Aakash Manaswi
So I recently started a band with three of my friends. So I play the guitar. So I'll be doing that.

One of my friends is going to be doing the drums, another the piano. and then one of them's actually doing electric guitar. So that's gonna be like a huge, huge blast.

I'm really excited about that. And then I'm also doing some research with NASA, specifically the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. So looking This is more of like the environmental research, but looking at like harmful algal blooms on the coast of Florida.

And then some more research as well. So I'm looking into some veterans mental health research. that's something I'm passionate about as well.

Because a lot of the beekeepers who I worked with they were former veterans and they were talking a lot about like how beekeeping helps them specifically with like post war symptoms. I really think that it's that beekeeping is just a helpful tool itself to help veterans as well. That's something that is really close to me.

And I joined the Hives for Heroes. Basically, it's that nonprofit that connects veterans with beekeepers. So I think that it's a really cool mission and I'm excited to get more into that as well.

Becky Masterman
Does he qualify for the NAHBE Next Gen?

Aakash Manaswi
Yeah.

Becky Masterman
Do you know about the North American honey bee Expo?

Aakash Manaswi
I don't think so now.

Becky Masterman
They've got a an a next generation beekeeping group and there's an application. I don't know when those applications are due. But it would be really fun to see you at the next expo. It's in Louisville, Kentucky, which is very different than both Columbus and the state of Arizona, you would be very well received there.

Jeff Ott
And if you do get to the North American Honey Bee Expo, make sure you stop by our booth. We will be there. Aakash, it has been very enlightening talking to you and very rewarding.

I'm really I feel really positive after talking to you about the future of the honey bees and people like you who are out there interested in the bees doing the research now in tenth grade. So that is fantastic. Kudos to you.

Aakash Manaswi
Thank you. It's really been an honor to speak to both of you today. So thank you so much for having me.

Becky Masterman
We so appreciate you visiting with us. Thank you.

Jeff Ott
I am so impressed with Aakash and his brother, but just whether Aakash is doing and it's fantastic.

Becky Masterman
It really is. It's just it's such a fun conversation. And I mean it's it's just nice that you can ask whatever you want because he totally knows what's going on and what's happening with the bees and the biology.

I think he probably maybe was really careful with his answers so that we could understand. But it is. If when you're talking to a high school student and you're able to ask, you know, certain questions and Like there w there wasn't anything that we asked that he had any problem answering, which was I don't know, it's just impressive.

Jeff Ott
I wanna say, before I forget, is that At the time of this recording, Aakash had not finished the iOS app for counting mites on a sticky board, but maybe by the time this episode is released, that app will be out, and if it is I will have and make sure that there is a link for that app in the show notes. So check the show notes if you're interested.

Becky Masterman
And we should actually, if it's not done, we should make sure he lets us know so that we can share it with everybody

Jeff Ott
And that about wraps it up for this episode of Beekeeping Today. Before we go, be sure to follow us and leave us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. or wherever you stream the show.

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