University of Mary Washington Biology Professor Deborah A. O’Dell discusses her research into how bees use magnetic fields to orientate themselves during an interview scheduled to air on the “With Good Reason” public radio program beginning Saturday, July 3.
O’Dell, an expert on nervous systems and on magnetic orientation in animals, tells "With Good Reason" about her interest in recent studies suggesting that bees living near cell phone towers may become disoriented and produce less honey.
O’Dell’s interview, part of a broadcast called “Hard Cider: Early America’s Drink of Choice,” will air on WCVE 88.9 FM on July 3 at 4:30 p.m. and on WAMU 88.5 FM on Monday, July 5 at 12:30 a.m. The broadcast also can be heard beginning July 3 at withgoodreasonradio.org/2010/07/hard-cider-early-america%e2%80%99s-drink-of-choice.
During the interview, O’Dell discusses recent die-offs in bee colonies, how the die-offs have been blamed on “colony collapse disorder” and the resulting ill effects on farming dependent on crop pollination by honeybees. A former beekeeper, O’Dell is interested in a recent study completed at India’s Punjab University where researchers believe they’ve established that cell phone radiation is a key factor in colony collapse disorder and that cell phone radiation probably interferes with the bee’s navigation senses.
“We’ve known about magnetic orientation since the 1960s, but we still haven’t figured out how animals are affected,” O’Dell says. “Because there are more cell phones and more cell phone towers, I am convinced that the increased electromagnetic radiation has got to affect us somehow.”
O’Dell’s current research interests include cellular events in neural development and learning and the role of inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease. O’Dell, associate professor of biology, teaches courses in neurobiology, developmental biology, anatomy of chordates and biological concepts.
O’Dell received a Ph.D. in cell and development biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a bachelor of science in biology from Ursinus College. She completed her post-doctoral study on the development of the insect nervous system at Cambridge University.
“With Good Reason” is the only statewide public radio program in Virginia. It hosts scholars from Virginia’s public colleges and universities who discuss the latest in research, pressing social issues and the curious and whimsical. “With Good Reason” is produced for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in partnership with public radio stations in Virginia and Washington, D.C.