The Bee Mystery

Posted on | July 31, 2007 | Comments Off on The Bee Mystery

The Limits of Human KnowledgeOver the past few months, beekeepers in 36 U.S. states have been wondering what’s happened to their bees. Some have lost over 90% of their workers, who fly off and never return. Now researcher Ian Lipkin of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health believes he has the answer. In yet to be published work, his genetic studies of affected bees reveals an invader – a virus. Experts believe the source of this viral bee plague is imported bees. This is not the first time bee problems have arrived on our shores. There have been 14 other massive bee downsizings in the past 100 years. What will happen next? Experts say one of three things: Resistant bees will emerge. Drugs will be applied to control the outbreak. Or it will “burn itself out.” The beekeepers, the fruit farmers (reliant on pollination from the bees), and I expect the bees themselves would prefer the most rapid remedy. I’ll leave those decisions to the entomologists. What interests me are two things: First, How delicate is the balance of life on our planet. And, two, how much remains to be discovered.