High school student Oliwia Myczkowska, 18, from the southeastern Polish city of Katowice and her grandfather, Professor Marian Surowiec, 76, came up with the ultrasonic emitter named the ‘Varroa Stopper’ as a way of eliminating Varroa destructor mites without using harmful chemicals.
According to the University of Florida, the Varroa destructor is “the world's most devastating pest of Western honeybees.
“Varroa are ectoparasites that feed on the fat body tissue of immature and adult honeybees,” which can lead to death.
The project was born out of the granddad and granddaughter's shared passion for environmental protection and a personal encounter with the Varroa parasite in their family’s beehive.
Posting on their website, Myczkowska said: “The history of the emitter began in 2019, when we encountered the Varroa destructor parasite in our apiary in Katowice.
“Wanting to cure the bees, we wanted to reach for the right product. Unfortunately, it turned out that the only available products on the market were chemicals with numerous defects.
“They are harmful to the health of bees, beekeepers and consumers of bee products, they are expensive and packaged in single-use plastic.”
Professor Surowiec, who works at the University of Silesia and brought decades of scientific expertise in physics to the project, added: “It was then that we decided to focus on seeing if we could use this technique to combat Varroa.
“We constructed a simple device—the first prototype of an ultrasonic emitter. We immediately began research to select the right frequencies.
“After many trials and pilots, our ecological Varroa Stopper emitter was created.”
The pair have now sold over 500 devices and are currently looking to commercialize it.
