That big sigh of relief you may have heard recently? It was some members of the scientific community reacting to news that President Trump was nominating Kelvin Droegemeier to be his first science adviser. Optimists were ready to see a respected scientist take an official role in a White House that’s been somewhere between apathetic and hostile toward science. But professor of science and society Daniel Sarewitz writes that history shows this advisory position is much more political than it is scientific.

Honey bees have faced a range of threats in recent years, from pests and disease to pesticide exposure. Paradoxically, California almonds could pose a problem as well. That’s because even as almond growers depend on bees to pollinate their trees each year, the beekeepers who raise them rely on the lucrative – yet vulnerable – income they get in return to stay afloat, explains economist Brittney Goodrich. To celebrate World Honey Bee Day, she offers a primer on the economics of beekeeping.

And Richard Gunderman, chancellor’s professor of medicine at Indiana University, examines how different cultures deal with people who suffer from dementia, a disease for which more than 16 million people in the U.S. provide care. He writes about an approach to dementia that “seizes on it as an opportunity to draw together around a loved one in need, giving family members not a secret to keep but an opportunity to care.”