Has the Honeybee Mystery Been Solved?
Not too long ago I wrote about the sad state of honeybees: They’ve been dying. In droves. As I mentioned then, bees play a key role in our ecosystem and the buzz (sorry I couldn’t resist) has always been that if the bees die, so do we.
It’s not surprising then that the army, yes the army, teamed up with entomologists in order to get to the bottom of the bee mystery. Today the New York Times is reporting that they may have made a serious discovery:
A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One.
It’s certainly nice to see the army doing something we can all get behind! Of course, the scientists involved in the study are saying the conclusions aren’t final but that they do seem extremely promising: According to the research, the virus-fungus combo was found in every killed colony they looked at. Now they’re going to investigate ways of preventing it in the first place.
Perhaps the bees, humanity, and honey face wash have all been saved! We’ll keep you posted.
Hopefully they’ll quit ignoring the proof the Italian government found this past year, that banning nicotinoid-impregnated seed completely stopped colony collapse in that country. http://www.youris.com/Environment/Bees/Bees_restored_to_health_in_Italy_after_this_springs_neonicotinoidfree_maize_sowing.kl
I would certainly hope that we “are all behind” Freedom of speech and many other freedoms. The military is not to blame for current events- that is on the politicians. As a former militry wife – I found it offensive to imply that the military is doing something wrong. I would hope that we are behind the military- as they are trying to get home safe.
Side note- I love your book and continue to clean up my products.
Hey Wendy, I was only implying that this is something that everyone can agree on—whereas war will always be controversial—but I meant no offense to the military and their hard work in other areas. :)