Saving bees
But beekeepers are wary since the cause of colony collapse is unknown. Worker bees in a colony abruptly disappear, leaving the queen and remaining bees with no ability to survive. The phenomenon began in 2006, when some beekeepers reported unusually high losses of 30 to 90 percent of their hives, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But researchers might be getting closer to a connection between colony collapse and the varroa mite. A 2007 study found Israeli acute paralysis virus in 96 percent of bee samples with colony collapse, and the varroa mite could be transmitting the disease, according to the USDA. The virus was not found in non-colony-collapse samples, USDA researchers noted. Scientists say while there is a strong correlation between the Israeli virus and colony collapse, they aren't ruling out that a complex of factors might be involved. And the 21st century is not the first time colony collapse-like phenomena have occurred. Several other honeybee disappearances occurred in the 1880s, the 1920s and the 1960s, according to the USDA. But the best action homeowners can take is not to use pesticides and especially not to use them at midday when the bees are most likely foraging for nectar, according to the Xerces Society, an invertebrate-conservation group. The organization recommends planting good nectar sources such as bee balm, anise hyssop, asters, basil, English lavender, rosemary and zinnias. Native plants are best for native bees. Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express. Posting an item on Town Square is simple and requires no registration! Just complete this form and hit "submit" and your topic will appear online.
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Are Cell Phones Killing Bees - News
Despite some news reports, cell phones and cell towers have not been implicated in throwing off bee homing systems, according to Stephan Kimmel, the author of a German study on the topic that discounted that claim. But researchers might be getting
It's a kind of perfect professionalism, as though Sir Thomas Malory came up with a courtly romance of government bureaucracy, with knights carrying cell phones and maidens doing a fair share of the saving, once they've been convinced to do so.
He points out people choose to use cell phones, while they're being given no choice in having smart meters installed on their homes. Being a health-conscious mother of three, these 'unknowns' are gravely concerning to Jang, "I've read and watched
Are Cell Phones Killing The Bees? [Updated] | Fast Company
Do you enjoy eating? Then you may not be too happy if bee populations plunge. That's because out of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees--and according to the UN, local drops in the bee population are being reported by beekeepers all over the planet . And the whole thing may be our fault: A new paper ( PDF ) from Swiss researcher Daniel Favre claims that part of the problem is our obsession with cell phones.
According to Favre, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, phone signals may confuse honeybees so much that they become fatally disoriented. Favre and his team performed 83 experiments that recorded honeybees' reaction to nearby cell phones in off, standby, and call-making mode. The result: Honeybee noise increases by 10 times when a phone call is made or received. Normally, an increase in noise, or "worker piping," is used as a signal for bees to leave their hives. But in this case, it just makes them confused. Favre explains:
Worker piping in a bee colony is not frequent, and when it occurs in a colony, that is not in a swarming process, no more than two bees are simultaneously active (Pratt et al. 1996). The induction of honeybee worker piping by the electromagnetic fields of mobile phones might have dramatic consequences in terms of colony losses due to unexpected swarming.A similar report in 2007 showed that bees won't come back to their hives when cell phones are placed nearby--another hint that handsets disrupt bee orientation. There isn't too much we can do about this without dismantling our cell phone culture, and that's never going to happen. In any case, neither of these studies conclusively prove that cell phones are behind all the recent bee deaths.
Bayer's clothiandin, a pesticide used to pre-treat corn seeds, is also thought to be killing honeybees. And the UN suspects that several other factors are all working together to kill bees, including air pollution (this can disorient bees), virulent fungal pathogens that are spread via trade, and climate change (altered rainfall patterns can change plants' flowering times, which in turn affects nectar supplies). It's possible, in other words, that modern society in general is to blame for the death of the bees. So unless we shut down all of our factories and power plants, nix international trade, stop using pesticides, and turn off our cell phones, we may need to find some other pollination solution--or some more cell-phone and climate change-friendly bees.
Cell phones signals really are killing the bees, study shows 
Cell phones signals really are killing the bees, study shows 
Cell phones signals really are killing the bees, study shows
Cell phones signals really are killing the bees, study shows 
Cell phones signals really are killing the bees, study shows Are Cell Phones Killing Bees - Bookshelf
A spring without bees, how colony collapse disorder has endangered our food supply
The idea that cell phones could be killing the bees and bringing about the end of civilization as we know it is just too good a conversation starter to pass ...A World Without Bees
He is also one of those most wedded to the theory that mobile phones are the ... cellphones and the masts that dot towns and cities are killing the bees. ...Environmental Literacy in Science and Society, From Knowledge to Decisions
“Are GM [genetically modified] crops killing bees?” (Latsch, 2007).“Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to ...Keeping the bees, why all bees are at risk and what we can do to save them
The main symptom of CCD is the mass disappearance of bees during the winter. ... "Mobile Phones Are Killing Bees — Mankind Will Be Extinct in Four Years! ...Encyclopedia of life science
Pesticides sprayed onto flowers directly can be picked up by bees on ... Cell phones can be safely excluded from the list of potential causes of CCD. ...Day-to-day Report Directory
Are Cell Phones Killing off Bees? - AOL Small Business
Are Cell Phones Killing off Bees? - AOL Small Business | New research shows a possible link between cell-phone radiation and a loss in honey production among bees ...
It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees | Inhabitat ...
Scientists may have found the cause of the world's sudden dwindling population of bees- and cell phones are to blame. Research conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland has ...
Are cell phones killing bees? - Worldnews.com
In the United States alone, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of bees is estimated to have declined by 30%. While some of the ...
Are Cell Phones Killing Bees and Threatening Our Food Supply ...
Add cell phone radiation to that list, say researchers in India. ... The worker bees all but stopped producing honey. And there was a "dramatic decline in the ...
Panic of the Day: Cell Phones Kill Bees | Watts Up With That?
"Cell Phones kill bees." From the article: Some scientists suggest that our love of the ... They say the cell phone emissions cause the bees internal navigation systems to go ...