The first 21 days of a bee’s life are captured in this inspiring video by photographer Anand Varma. Bees pollinate 1/3 of the world’s food crop but are being threatened by the Varroa destructor mite; Varma was hired to document the process. While scientists have succeeded in breeding a mite-resistant bee, it lacks other desirable traits such as gentleness and the ability to store honey. More details are explained in the Ted Talk below. (More info: varmaphoto h/t: thisiscolossal)

A TED Talk explaining the video: