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Cure for honey bee coloney collapse?

Pepsei

Pepsei

Lifer
For the first time, scientists have isolated the parasite Nosema ceranae (Microsporidia) from professional apiaries suffering from honey bee colony depopulation syndrome. They then went on to treat the infection with complete success.
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link

yay! if this is true, the ice cream business is saved!!!
 
More people die from beestings than shark attacks. We all know that sharks were invented by Satan to destroy men who dared venture near water; honeybees are obviously an additional part of Satan's fiendish plot to kill us all and consume our souls. A plague of murderous insects no larger than a dime, they lure us with honey before using their venom (or Satan juice, as it is referred to in the only science I need) to deprive us of further suffering in this lifetime, toiling in the name of the Lord. I say any scientist who tries to avert the honeybee collapse is defying the will of God, and must be punished justly; affix the offenders to a large rock covered in bees and feed them to sharks. And then kill the sharks. Cause they're evil.

Honey's pretty tasty though.
 
I've thought about taking up bee keeping, but I never got past getting a few books. Maybe that'll be my retirement hobby :^)
 
How is the bee population dying? I always figured there was TONS out there. Is it because of pollution and crap like pesticides?

To think, when I was a kid I used to get a thrill out of destroying their nests and them. I don't get how I managed to never get stung.
 
Yeah I heard about this from a SCIAM podcast a little while ago. Pretty interesting stuff and hopefully it will help stem the loss of bee colonies.

KT
 
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
How is the bee population dying? I always figured there was TONS out there. Is it because of pollution and crap like pesticides?

To think, when I was a kid I used to get a thrill out of destroying their nests and them. I don't get how I managed to never get stung.
Click to expand...

There's a mystery fungus that's wiping out huge populations of them. Last I heard, scientists aren't sure of the cause. It'll be big problems if honey bees go the way of the dodo. Their skills are essential to agriculture.
 
Originally posted by: lxskllr
I've thought about taking up bee keeping, but I never got past getting a few books. Maybe that'll be my retirement hobby :^)
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Somewhat related, have you seen the movie Ulee's Gold? Beekeeping is the underlying story.

It's not a great movie by any means, it's a human story, no special effects. It has a happy ending and for some reason it's one of my favorites.
 
Originally posted by: boomerang

Somewhat related, have you seen the movie Ulee's Gold? Beekeeping is the underlying story.

It's not a great movie by any means, it's a human story, no special effects. It has a happy ending and for some reason it's one of my favorites.
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No, I haven't. I don't watch too many movies, but I'll look that one up. I like a good story more than pure action. It satisfies more over the long haul :^)

 
There is a bee keeper not too far from me that has complained that he has had trouble with his colonies. He said something about having to destroy a colony because the queen was replaced. The man almost had tears in his eyes when he was talking about it. Guess bee keepers get attached.

Love raw honey though, especially with the comb intact. Great stuff !
 
I remember watching a Nova (or was it Nature) program on the colony collapse syndrome and the decline in population of honey bees. It's pretty serious stuff, and there could be very serious negative ramifications to the general ecology of the Earth if they went extinct.
 
Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Yeah I heard about this from a SCIAM podcast a little while ago. Pretty interesting stuff and hopefully it will help stem the loss of bee colonies.

KT
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What happened to the theory that it was EM related messing with their navigation? If the cause has truly been found, and even better if it can be treated successfully then this is indeed VERY good news.

But also remember that there are TONS of other pollinators out there besides the honey bee. They just happen to be really, really good at it.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07


But also remember that there are TONS of other pollinators out there besides the honey bee. They just happen to be really, really good at it.
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Yea, I want to see more flys around. They're much better than bees :^P
 
Originally posted by: lxskllr
Originally posted by: spidey07


But also remember that there are TONS of other pollinators out there besides the honey bee. They just happen to be really, really good at it.
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Yea, I want to see more flys around. They're much better than bees :^P
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I wouldn't mind seeing more butterflies.

At least those won't sting your feet if you accidentally step on one.
 
Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
More people die from beestings than shark attacks. We all know that sharks were invented by Satan to destroy men who dared venture near water; honeybees are obviously an additional part of Satan's fiendish plot to kill us all and consume our souls. A plague of murderous insects no larger than a dime, they lure us with honey before using their venom (or Satan juice, as it is referred to in the only science I need) to deprive us of further suffering in this lifetime, toiling in the name of the Lord. I say any scientist who tries to avert the honeybee collapse is defying the will of God, and must be punished justly; affix the offenders to a large rock covered in bees and feed them to sharks. And then kill the sharks. Cause they're evil.

Honey's pretty tasty though.
Click to expand...

How do you feel about fruit and vegetables? How about flowers and meat? Because if the bees die off you won't have any of that because it will be ridiculously expensive because man will have to do the work of bees. You'll be eating green protein crackers made from recycled flesh. Oh, and much of the animal population of this planet will become extinct.

BTW-Shark tastes pretty good actually. 😉
 
Originally posted by: lxskllr
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
How is the bee population dying? I always figured there was TONS out there. Is it because of pollution and crap like pesticides?

To think, when I was a kid I used to get a thrill out of destroying their nests and them. I don't get how I managed to never get stung.
Click to expand...

There's a mystery fungus that's wiping out huge populations of them. Last I heard, scientists aren't sure of the cause. It'll be big problems if honey bees go the way of the dodo. Their skills are essential to agriculture.
Click to expand...
Didn't Einstein say that if the bees went away it would be the end of man?
Yeah, I'd call that a pretty big problem.

 
I remember reading a pretty good sci-fi book a while back about bees (and some other insects) going extinct.
The theory was that there apparently also was a big insect extinction before the last couple of big global extinctions.
The book theorized that insects had something of a genetic time bomb (like bamboo) so they almost go extinct every 65 million years.
Cool theory.

BTW - did you know that New Zealand is the only place that is not reliant on bees? It does (did?) not have any plants reliant on pollination by bees (or other insects).
 
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