Scientists and Soldiers Solve a Bee Mystery:
"Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered “colony collapse.” Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.
Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two.
A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One. .....
Scientists in the project emphasize that their conclusions are not the final word. The pattern, they say, seems clear, but more research is needed to determine, for example, how further outbreaks might be prevented, and how much environmental factors like heat, cold or drought might play a role.
They said that combination attacks in nature, like the virus and fungus involved in bee deaths, are quite common, and that one answer in protecting bee colonies might be to focus on the fungus — controllable with antifungal agents — especially when the virus is detected.
Still unsolved is what makes the bees fly off into the wild yonder at the point of death. One theory, Dr. Bromenshenk said, is that the viral-fungal combination disrupts memory or navigating skills and the bees simply get lost. Another possibility, he said, is a kind of insect insanity."
The lesson is that it is hard painstaking work still in progress. Before we get too carried away by science matters NY Times has also an article corruption Rampant Fraud Threat to China’s Brisk Ascent. Abi has several more links in Is Scientific Misconduct Rampant in China? and also posts about corrupt academic practices in India and elsewhere Plagiarizing from Wikipedia?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Nice Article thanks for sharing the post.
Web development company
Post a Comment