BELTSVILLE, Md., May 2, 2007
Myths Abound About U.S. Bee Disappearance
So Far Nobody Can Explain The Disappearance Of One Quarter Of The Population, But Theories Abound
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For many entomologists, the bee crisis is a wake-up call. By relying on a single species for pollination, U.S. agriculture has put itself in a precarious position, they say. (AP)
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Quiz Are You Food Savvy? Have you consumed myths about diet and nutrition? Take these quizzes to find out.
No, wait, it is Earth's magnetic field, another caller told the University of Illinois professor.
And when Berenbaum went on the Internet, she found a parody news site that quoted her as blaming rapper Kevin Federline, Britney Spears' ex-husband, and his concerts for the disappearance of the bees. Berenbaum loved it.
The sudden disappearance of one-quarter of America's honeybees has brought out some strange ideas and downright myths.
“I just can't get any work done,” Berenbaum said. “I'm overwhelmed by e-mails. I can't keep up.”
A couple of bee myths are big on the Internet.
A small German scientific study looking at a specific type of cordless phones and the homing systems of bees exploded over the Internet and late night television shows. It morphed into erroneous reports blaming cell phones for the honeybee die-off, which scientists are calling Colony Collapse Disorder.
The scientist who wrote the paper, Stefan Kimmel, e-mailed The Associated Press to say that there is “no link between our tiny little study and the CCD-phenomenon ... anything else said or written is a lie.” And U.S. Department of Agriculture top bee researcher Jeff Pettis laughs at the idea, because whenever he goes out to investigate dead bees, he cannot get a signal on his cell phone because the hives are in such remote areas.
Also on the Internet is a quote attributed to Albert Einstein on how humans would die off in four years if not for honeybees. It is wrong on two counts.
First, Einstein probably never said it, according to Alice Calaprice, author of “The Quotable Einstein” and five other books on the physicist.
“I've never come across it in anything Einstein has written,” Calaprice said. “It could be that someone had made it up and put Einstein's name on it.”
Second, it is incorrect scientifically, Pettis said. There would be food left for humans because some food is wind-pollinated.
For his part, Pettis jokes that the bees are out creating crop circles “and it's working them to death.”
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 33 CommentsPosted by brucesmall at 05:55 PM : May 03, 2007
Any natural pesticides, ect evloved over time along with the bee's evolution. Thus, only the bees that werent effected survived. Or are you a religious man that dosent believe evolution ever happend.......haha figures
Just nature's way of thinning the herd that is not genetically diverse enough.
According to National Geographic, anyway.
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Maybe the dingoes ate your beebees.
Posted by hawksprings at 11:21 AM : May 03, 2007
HAWKSPRINGS.......now that's funny sh.t
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"Nature Bats Last"
If the bees don't pollenate - we don't get food. We don't get food - we die.
We've been beating the H3LL out of the planet for centuries now. It's little wonder she's trying new and inventive ways to protect herself.
in english:
"Good bye, and thanks for all the pollen."
;-)
It was originally gonna deal with iraq and the U.S. but strayed away. If it stays slow here I should be able to come with another one on that.
But first.
MAYBE... The male worker bees were fed up with low wages and disrespect they got while working as compared to the woman bee who made all the money and had the following of most the population. So they fley to big momma queen bush's "whitehive" to protest and big momma pre-emptively attacked them in fear they would try kill her.
grr work again had to chuck out some kind of ending!!!
THE REASON FOR THEIR DISAPPEARANCE IS BECAUSE OF GENETICALLY ALTERED PLANTS
THAT WERE ALTERED TO PUT INSECTICIDE INTO THE PLANT SO FARMERS WOULD NOT HAVE TO SPRAY POISON.
THE INSECTICIDE WAS IN THE POLLEN AS WELL....
AND WHEN THE BEES COLLECTED THE POLLEN...THEY WERE POISONED .....INSTEAD OF THE BAD BUGS THE SCIENTISTS INTENDED TO KILL......
WAY TO GO ...SMARTY-PANTS-SENTISTS!!!!!!!
I forgot to add that this no longer perpetuated the species so they are now dying off. But that is just a logical deduction from the original post
Or the "war on drugs" bees found that most of the population was buzzing around the ganja and coocoa plants a little to much. Soo, in order to ensure the young population wouldn't be corrupted they send all the bad bees to bee jail to think about what they have done. As soon as they learn beehave they will be released.
I will try to think of more ideas haha
well as modifying so many types of plants, common sense would tell us it would kill the bees. Guess we'll have to arm everyone with soft brushes
and have everyone go out into the gardens and do the pollinization. Guess we'll need more immigrants to come to America, as most of us think we are too nice to do such menial tasks.
Just nature's way of thinning the herd that is not genetically diverse enough.
According to National Geographic, anyway.
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I'm surprised that some democrat hasn't blamed George Bush yet, ha ha
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Just nature's way of thinning the herd that is not genetically diverse enough.
According to National Geographic, anyway.
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I'm surprised that some democrat hasn't blamed George Bush yet, ha ha
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See all 33 Comments