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Computer-predicted scents keep foraging honey bees away from treated crops

PubMed · 2026-09-23

Researchers trained a computer model to predict which smells honey bees avoid, then screened over 50 million compounds and found more than 130 candidates. The top seven repelled free-flying bees in field tests, which could help keep bees off pesticide-treated crops.

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A machine-learning model predicting bee aversion from chemical structure screened more than 50 million compounds and flagged over 130 repellent candidates.

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Laboratory tests with honey bees showed high predictive success, and data from honey bees and Drosophila fruit flies was used to refine the model.

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The top seven candidates strongly repelled freely foraging honey bees in a field assay.

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