Lancets

Study reveals how a detached honey bee stinger keeps pumping venom

Researchers used high-speed videography and stereomicroscopy to film honey bee stingers removed from live worker bees and partially inserted into artificial gel, capturing the pumping mechanism frame by frame. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that two sliding lancets and a widening stylet work together like a double-piston pump, allowing the stinger to keep penetrating tissue and injecting venom even after it detaches from the bee.