Investigating a Possible Shielding Behavior of the European Honey Bee's Cuticle at THz Frequencies

The current work is focused on a first analysis of high-frequency radiation penetration into a European honey bee (Apis mellifera) using an efficient 2D model of the insect's major part's cross-section, the abdomen. Material properties of the bee's involved body parts – i.e. cuticula, wings, and inner parts – are measured and modelled as corresponding dielectric functions. Afterwards, and based on the established material properties, a possible shielding effect of the cuticle layer e.g. at the abdomen of the bee is numerically analyzed. Our results indicate that the cuticle layer indeed reduces the radiation exposure of the bee's inner organs in particular in the frequency range of 1-130 GHz. However, it is observed that despite this shielding, the electromagnetic (EM) exposure within the bee's abdomen at 95 GHz is enhanced, where the inner organs such the heart and the stomach may perceive remarkable values of the electric field. The study clearly reveals that a homogeneous model, which assigns a uniform effective permittivity to the bee's body, does not really capture this interaction's complexities. Hence, virtual EM microdosimetry at bees are in a stark need for a heterogeneous as well as anatomically precise 3D full-wave bee model (digital twin).