Saturday, October 9, 2010

Honeybee killer found

I remember the mystery of the disappearing bees being pretty big news some years ago.  There was somewhat of a scare associated with it.  We need the bees because the bees pollinate many crops we eat and plants that we utilize.  If the bees ever went extinct it would cause a global crisis.


Like most events in the news, the disappearing bees phenomenon was big for some time, but then seemed to lose the interest of people until no one cared about it anymore.

Well after spending some time scouring the internet, the missing bees phenomenon was rekindled.  Why?  Because the culprit was found!  Turns out there's more than one killer killing the bees.

Maryland military scientists working with bee experts in Montana have found the culprits to be a fungus and a virus.  Teaming up, the fungus and virus kill the bees by working in the bee's digestive tracts.   Though they still aren't certain how germs kill bees they believe it has something to do with nutrition.

Looks like that global crisis won't happening after all.  Oh well, at least we have global warming to fall back on and if that doesn't pan out, we still have the eschaton to look forward to.

Original article:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/honeybee-killer-found/eureka/

40 comments:

  1. I remember reading about this when I was younger...

    At the time I was concerned about it--but the rest of the world didn't seem to care, so, like you mentioned above, my interest seemed to fizzle as well.

    Glad to have some closure on the story, though.

    ...stupid fungus.

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  2. BEEEES!!!

    They stings us somethin' terrible. :(

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  3. On the one hand, it's difficult to feel sorry for BEEEEEES. On the other hand, I do enjoy honey and the whole pollination thing can be nice as well.

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  4. Labels : Science indeed my friend.

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  5. Fungus scares the hell out of me...ever since Planet Earth showed that one kind that would grow out of ants' heads, making them kill themselves.

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  6. jesus christ what has happened to the world

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  7. this is a good follow up post to the previous one

    I have a new post on GTL Everyday too :)

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  8. Thanks for the comments on my blog :)

    I have new bubbles on Enhanced by MS Paint!

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  9. I wonder if the anti-technology people will shut up now. I know people were blaming cell phones for a while.

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  10. In other news, Arkansas still convinced Satanists--not fungus--are killing bees.

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  11. I fuckin' hate Bees, I'm glad they're dying. I don't eat honey anyways!!

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  12. Keep up the good work bro, very interesting post!

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  13. "Like most events in the news, the disappearing bees phenomenon was big for some time, but then seemed to lose the interest of people until no one cared about it anymore." Given all the events that occur each week, I completely missed this one.

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  14. how are we going to get honey then???

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  15. This is terrible. To hell with bees.

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  16. interesting article! Thanks for visiting.

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  17. :( Not the beeeees. One stung me the other day. I wonder if I started this by saying I hope you all die :O!

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  18. This is a shame. Here in Louisiana, the honey bee is not only our state insect, but a vital part of our local economy. This could definitely use some attention.
    http://theliquorguy.blogspot.com/

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  19. ahah, I was just thinking about this the other day

    good read

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  20. this is relevant to just what I was thinking about

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  21. that was very informative. thanks

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  22. If I can't have anymore honey with my toast in the morning, I will be PISSED.

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  23. Honey is great in so many things just imagine if it was gone :(

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  24. Read "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton. global warming is made out as pretty bogus, even though the book is fiction.

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  25. but the bees cant die i need my honeys

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