Sunday, April 15, 2007

Missing Bees

Bumble, Call Home!


It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. [Bees]

I am more alarmed, by a factor of 1000, over the sudden disappearance of our bee population than I am of Global warming.  We have friends who raised bees, and theirs too suddenly disappeared.   But, cellphones?  We must remember that "some scientists" haven't yet called Al Gore an utter moron, so what are we to think about this lot? 

The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

`That alone argues against the Goreon speculation that cell signals are disorienting the bees, keeping them from finding the way home.  My suggestion that this didn't happen when Republicans controlled congress seems to have more validity.  I'm just saying.

6 comments:

B....... said...

I worked the bees around Yuma (Az) in the late 60's. It was a sweet job (heh!), and as the boss said – "Honey’s money". We would set out "supers" along clover (hay) fields and in the citrus groves. I'm pretty sure that people with (or without) cell phones wouldn't be standing around those supers for very long. And no, GoreZown Snake Oil isn’t involved here. This is a serious problem and Albert ( "man would have only four years of life left") ain't far off.

Anonymous said...

“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble,… “the law is a ass—a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experience—by experience.”

Anonymous said...

I know it sounds like New Age hokum on the face of it, but yes, cell phones (and relay towers) could be the cause. The problem is so significant that we have to take any possible cause seriously.

Nobody has yet provided an explanation for CCD. Unlike global warming, this phenomenon is real. I would not rule out any possibilities until this problem has been sorted out.

How did Sherlock Holmes put it? "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

It was only recently that scientists discovered some birds navigate by using magnetite crystals in their heads. The navigation of bees is even less understood. It is entirely possible that electromagnetic fields could be the cause.

Anonymous said...

It's entirely possible that me picking my nose at red lights is the cause of the dead bees. Or gamma rays from Uranus. Or... How about a hypothesis that is actually based on informed science rather than wild speculation? A scientific hypothesis then backed up by scientific tests that will prove or disprove the hypothesis? Ooooh, I know! I know! The fact that the primary campaign season has started six months too early is the reason! No, it's Bush and Cheney. No, it's Global Warming. No, it's overpopulation. No, its... cell phones. No, it's cheap microwaves, made in China and bought at Wal-Mart, that leak energy.

Also, apparently die-offs occur at times in the industry and they've never had an explanation before and many beekeepers don't themselves think this is anything out of the ordinary. Finally, most of the crops we eat are NOT pollinated by bees. Not that we shouldn't take this seriously, but let's slow down on the alarmism.

This epidemic started in the US and spread across states and has how spread to Britain. This doesn't really seem to jibe with die-offs associated wtih cell phone towers or mobile phones, does it, really?

That article ends with a series of alarming attacks against cell phones and reveals an agenda. Note that the scientists quoted in the article only state "I am convinced of the POSSIBILITY that this is the cause" and other extremely less-than-confident statements.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

I agree it's very serious, but
how does the cell phone theory square with honey predators leaving abandoned hives alone? Seems to me the bear, or whatever, instead senses some bad biology.

Anonymous said...

This identical thing with honey bees has occurred 3 times before. In 1916, 1930`s and now. It has nothing to do with cellphones. One clue from an expert is the practice of shutting bees up in their hives and truck transporting them long distances. Bees will not "go potty" inside the hive and may be harmed by the inability to raise their hand and get permission to make a headcall from teech bee?

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