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The Mystery of the Disappearing Bees
Apr. 24th, 2007 08:10 am♠
BELTSVILLE, Md., April 23 — What is happening to the bees?
More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.
As with any great mystery, a number of theories have been posed, and many seem to researchers to be more science fiction than science. People have blamed genetically modified crops, cellular phone towers and high-voltage transmission lines for the disappearances. Or was it a secret plot by Russia or Osama bin Laden to bring down American agriculture? Or, as some blogs have asserted, the rapture of the bees, in which God recalled them to heaven? Researchers have heard it all.
... Honeybees are arguably the insects that are most important to the human food chain. They are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts.
-- Alexei Barrionuevo for The New York Times
The mystery of the bees has been buzzing in the background of the MSM and the blogosphere for some time, burning with some of that apocalyptic fever (along with global warming, jihad and the Britney breakdown), and this seems like a good opportunity to get something down on it. The article goes over the more scientific investigation that is being conducted.
I hate bees, myself, and have tended to think that the only good bee is a dead bee, but I guess that's an urban boy for you.
xXx
BELTSVILLE, Md., April 23 — What is happening to the bees?
More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.
As with any great mystery, a number of theories have been posed, and many seem to researchers to be more science fiction than science. People have blamed genetically modified crops, cellular phone towers and high-voltage transmission lines for the disappearances. Or was it a secret plot by Russia or Osama bin Laden to bring down American agriculture? Or, as some blogs have asserted, the rapture of the bees, in which God recalled them to heaven? Researchers have heard it all.
... Honeybees are arguably the insects that are most important to the human food chain. They are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts.
-- Alexei Barrionuevo for The New York Times
The mystery of the bees has been buzzing in the background of the MSM and the blogosphere for some time, burning with some of that apocalyptic fever (along with global warming, jihad and the Britney breakdown), and this seems like a good opportunity to get something down on it. The article goes over the more scientific investigation that is being conducted.
I hate bees, myself, and have tended to think that the only good bee is a dead bee, but I guess that's an urban boy for you.
