The Latest News on Bee Stings

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Hamilton Nolan

08/07/13 11:39AM

Filed to: science

Summer is here, and that means you're probably getting stung by bees. Are you up to date on the very latest medical opinions regarding bee stinger venom delivery? Find out!

The fact-bomb kicker from the Wall Street Journal's servicey bee sting package today:

If the stinger is still in the skin, remove it with tweezers or by scraping it with the edge of a credit card. Doctors used to believe that removing the stinger might squeeze it and cause more venom to be released. But research has found that all the venom is released quickly, in about one second, Dr. Freeman says.

How about that? Another old wive's tale laid to rest. Also, says here that "Bees love sweet drinks and the last thing you want to do is swallow one, so be sure to look before you sip your drink at picnics and barbecues." The more you know.

News tends to slow down in August.

[Photo: Andreas/ Flickr]

G3istbot Hamilton Nolan 08/07/13 09:53PM

Aww yeah, I love telling this story because it's the only time I've ever done remotely cool, but only slightly bee related but not really.

When I was a kid my friends and I used to love hanging out underneath this tree during recess. During the fall time or so those little helicopter seed things would come flying down, and this particular tree would always make a bunch of them fall when ever the wind blew.

So one recess my friends and I were standing there talking underneath this tree when I felt what I thought was one of those helicopter things come near by my hand, and I reached out and grabbed it with my index finger and thumb. The friend I was talking to all of a sudden had a shocked look on his face and I thought 'haha, yeah, cool right? just caught that in mid-air with out looking!", but as I began to crush it in between my fingers I noticed something weird about the texture, different than what it normally was.

I looked - straight up caught a wasp, a god damn wasp mid-air with out even looking and destroyed it. I freaked out a little bit at first, but than I just realized my dreams of becoming a Ninja were finally coming true.