Bee die-off a sign of the apocalypse

This week's always-wonderful "Harper's Weekly Review," lists some of the possible reasons for the alarming global honey bee die-off. (Creative Commons-licensed photo of bee by aussiegall)

200705011322Researchers
investigating the collapse of honeybee colonies in
Europe and the Americas identified several possible
reasons for the catastrophe: poor diet; radiation from
mobile phones that disturbs bees' sense of navigation so
they cannot fly home; increased solar radiation due to
the thinning of the ozone layer; bee AIDS; stress from
cross-country travel in trucks; falling queen fertility;
the microsporidian fungus Nosema ceranae; or imidacloprid,
a pesticide sold under the brand name Gaucho and banned
by France in 1999 for spreading "mad bee disease."
Investors were advised to put their money in gold and corn
futures to profit off the recession that may result from
the disruption of the food chain caused by the vanishing
bees. Grapes, which self-pollinate, and olives, which are
pollinated by the wind, will not be affected by the bees'
disappearance; Christians pointed out that the Book of
Revelation predicts that a famine sparing grapes and olives
will precede the apocalypse.

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Reader comment:

Peter Dearman says:

This is a lengthy in-depth news feature I just wrote on the vanishing bee crisis. It contains over 30 linked footnotes to news reports, opinions and such.