Wednesday, April 25, 2007

TO BE A BEE OR NOT TO BE



"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
Albert Einstein


All this stupid fighting on our planet might come to an end sooner than we expect.
Our planet's bees have been dropping like flies.
First it was the frogs.
Now it's the bees.
The honey-makers also help pollinate the plants that we eat---that chickens eat---that cows eat...
Well, almost all the creatures on our beautiful planet!
What is killing the bees?
Global Warming?
Electromagnetic radiation?
Rush Limbaugh?
Scientists are trying to find out.
Let's hope that Einstein was wrong.


TORONTO (CP) -
A mysterious malady that is causing honeybees to disappear en masse from their hives in parts of North America and Europe may be linked to radiation from cellphones and other high-tech communications devices, a study by German researchers suggests.
While the theory has created a lot of buzz in the beekeeping world, apiarists say there could be any number of reasons why the bees are deserting their hives and presumably dying off in large numbers, including changing weather patterns and mite or other kinds of infestations.
What they do agree on is that whatever is causing the phenomenon, known as colony collapse disorder (CCD), it is playing havoc with the production of honey and other products from the hive - and threatening the growing of fruit and vegetable crops, which depend on bees for pollination.
The small study, led by Prof. Jochen Kuhn of Landau University, suggests that radiation from widely used cellphones may mess up the bees' homing abilities by interfering with the neurological mechanisms that govern learning and memory. It also appears to disrupt the insects' ability to communicate with each other.

[
From radiation may be killing bees
By Sheryl Ubelacker
Canadian Press
April 21, 2007
]

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