January 19, 2010 • 25 mins
In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, Josh and Chuck examine the various factors that have caused honeybee populations to decline -- and what you can do to help the honeybees.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the Reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know
from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Bryant. This
(00:20):
Stuff you Should Know? Oh and hey Jerry, Sorry, Jerry.
Jerry is the unsung hero heroin Yes, a little horse
for a little monkey? Why it's an old Mr Science
Theater three thousand long? Oh you through there? I thought
she had a little horse and a little monkey or
something under her. Wo be like, Jerry, what do you
tell me? A little horse and a little bit a
(00:41):
pony and a macaque with her? So? Uh yeah, that's
how we're starting this one. Why not? Okay, all right, Chuck,
I have a pretty decent intro this time. Well let's
hear it then. Have you ever heard of the lost
Colony of roan Oak? I have, but I would like
you too. You fill us in? Thank you. So back
(01:02):
in the I think seventeenth century the early seventeenth century,
Roanoke was one of the very first colonies, if not
the first American colony right um in what is now
North Carolina, Virginia, right, um. And it was thriving for
a little while. They had a nice little four and
they used to fight with the Native Americans and you know,
(01:24):
pretty normal early American colonial stuff. Right. So, like I said,
everything is going happily along. And then about two years
after the colony is established, an expedition bringing supplies comes
along and they find the thing totally abandoned, no sign
of life. I don't believe there is any dead bodies
(01:46):
or bones, um. And the only trace of anything was
the word crow a town carved into one of the
posts that made up the fort. You're kidding, And I
think there were some There was there was a local
tribe called the crow Towan, but they were nowhere to
(02:06):
be found. Isn't it very creepy? This whole colony law
just vanished. I thought you can say wolverines was spray
painted on the front of it. But the they think
now that they may have been absorbed by another tribe,
the Lumbi, which actually um were completely alien to whites
until I think the early eighteenth century, very late, like
(02:31):
several decades after the colony at Roanoke vanish, right, um.
And when the Whites didn't counter and they said Hey, um,
why does some of you look kind of white? And
why are you building two story thatch houses like we
have in England? Right? You know, how do you know
how to read the Bible? Right? Um? With this ball? Exactly?
(02:53):
They think so they think that the Lumbie tribe absorbed
the colonists at Rohanu. Wow, but that is among the
very few lost colonies of human history. I'll tell you
another species that has tons of lost colonies. Bees, dude,
best set up ever? Really, yeah, of course, really really good. Yes, Josh,
(03:16):
we are here today to talk about colony collapse disorder
because bees are disappearing at an alarming rate, much like
the people of the rowan Oute colony. Right, and Chuck,
I think that probably most of the people who listen
to our podcast said, why do I care that bees
are disappearing? I hate bees? They sting me and they
they chase me in my dreams. You know, you know
(03:39):
why I do? Why you want me to tell them?
Because bees are vital to almost any kind of vegetation
you can eat. And not only that. Let's say you're like,
I don't need vegetables I eat and meat? Did you know? Here?
Let me let me give you a little scenario that
was posed in this article take the almond population. Let's
for example, my new favorite nut, as you know, is
(04:01):
the almond chucks. Crazy about all they're so good for you. Um.
Beekeepers basically go to California every year with about forty
billion honey bees too, uh, pollinate the almond crop every February.
Every February, and over those few weeks of the world's
almond crop is pollinated and about a billion dollars in
(04:24):
exports are generated. So you might think, okay, well, I
don't eat almonds either, tough guy. Those almonds the almond
holes are sold as cattle feed. Part of the cattle feed.
They're also crushed as shells for bedding for livestock, and
the dust, almond dust is collected as an additive to
the top soil, so that hamburger has almond juice running
(04:47):
through it, which has bee juice running through it. Yeah,
and that's just almonds. Yeah. I think a total of
fifteen billion dollars worth of agricultural products are pollinated by
commercial honey bees every year, every year, and we s
that bees are disappearing. Um, mostly it's honey bees that
are disappearing. Under the colony claps disorder, right, chuck, Yeah, specifically,
(05:09):
that's what we're worried about. So it is important obviously
honey bees are kept happy and healthy and um that
they not mysteriously vanished without a trace. Yeah, it's not
just about honey, folks. Let's although honey is delicious, it
is delicious and nutrition. Let's talk about what colony claps
disorder is, chuckers, Okay, uh, I think they. I think
(05:30):
Jessica Toothman said in this article that attrition rates in
a bee colony is normal because bees do have wings
and they will fly away, and about is an average
of what you're looking for. I think it's like an
average maximum average maxim because I mean, when you let
the bees out go pollinate, some are just gonna be like,
I like this colony or I think I'm going to
(05:50):
um go hit the road with Neil Cassidy or something. Right.
You know, they don't always come back, that's true. Uh,
And so starting as early as two thousand two, but
really in two thousand six is when it really really peaked,
or not peaked, but when it really showed its ugly face.
The bees started leaving and not coming back. At it,
(06:10):
and we suspect dying at a rate of anywhere from
thirty that's huge. And do you remember you said a
minute ago that every February about forty billion bees. That's
in just one million hives. So if of a hive
is dying off or it is a lot of bees,
the just one hive, which we should probably specify, is
(06:33):
virtually interchangeable with the word colony. Hi, haven't call any
same thing. Yeah, you know what's creepy? What is sometimes
when they when they come back and they see the
all the vs the bees are gone. Sometimes you'll just
see the queen and larvae and a few younger bees
and that's it. And they're like, where's everybody gone? And
maybe crow uh, what's over it again? Croat? Maybe crowatons
(06:54):
like scrawled into the bee hive in honey. Yeah. Um,
so yeah, that's colony cleps disorder most of the most
of the time, it's the workers are just gone vanished,
or at least of them, right, um. And what I
guess another kind of interesting and almost unsettling aspect is
that when a when a bee hive gets abandoned and
(07:15):
all its left is like the queen and some larvae
and and especially when there's tons of honey in it, moths, um,
other kinds of bees, wasps, any other insect with the
taste for sweet, sweet honey, beetle vades it immediately. Not
so with colonies that have been hit by colony collapse disorder. Yeah,
(07:35):
they wait a few days, right, Yeah they do. That's creepy.
It's real creepy. That'd be like leaving some steak out
in the hot sun in July and they're being like
no flies or animals buzzing around right until like the
following Thursday. That's really creepy. Yeah, and it definitely gives
you an idea that something serious is up, right, So
we have mystery, mystery, mystery, tons of bees dying or vanishing. Um.
(07:57):
And like you said, check, this really stepped up. Been
two thousand and six, seven and eight, right, and it's
still going on. From what I understand, this is not
the first time that this happened though, Yeah, you said
it was the worst case ever. Was when it's not
the worst. I think this is the worst case ever.
But before it's been pretty bad. Uh uh. In Pennsylvania,
(08:17):
um beekeepers reported fifty three percent of their hives just
knocked out. Spanish gone um or dead. Uh. We have
um mysterious bee hive abandonments uh dating back to the
eighteen eighties, the early twentieth century. Um. And in nineteen
oh three in Utah, Uh, two thousand colonies were mysteriously lost. Yeah,
(08:43):
just gone. So this isn't if you'll notice it's Utah,
Pennsylvania here or there. You know, with colony collapse disorder,
it's spread around. There's there's there's evidence of it in Australia,
in Europe, in the US. Yeah. Actually Australia said they've
been doing Okay, okay, well there's evidence of it in
not Australia, but the US I apologize. Australia did say
(09:07):
they had reported. But things seem to be back on
track in Australia, So you were right? Should I say
it again? Now you just smack me? All right? So
chuck the apiarists? You like that? Very nice? This is
another word for beekeeper are getting a little bit concerned.
It's widespread, the numbers are high. It's mysterious. What possibly
(09:28):
is going on here? Well they're not quite sure, Josh.
That's why it's a little distressing. I know this mystery
of the vanishing. They do have some ideas, and after
reading this article and a few other UH supplementary articles,
my belief is that it's a combination of factors. It's
probably not one thing. Yeah, And actually the U s
D A Steering committee on Colony collapse disorder, it's a mouthful.
(09:51):
They just released their first UM, I guess white paper
on colony collapse disorder this past July, and they concluded
the same thing. I real that there's a bunch of
different factors at work. UM. There were some ideas thrown out,
like some unknown organism or pathogen was acting them. They
said probably not. There's a study done in Germany UM
(10:12):
as to whether or not cell phone and cell phone
towers were putting off radiation that was screwing with the
bees homing abilities and this. Uh. These Germans did that
study and they said no, not happening. And apparently the
opposite was picked up by the news cycle to the
point where the guy who conducted the study wrote the
A p. A letter saying we found no link between
(10:36):
colony collapse disorder and cell phones. Anybody who says or
writes anything else is a liar. But they were linking
that and journalists were linking that. Journalists loved it. Link stuff. Yeah,
correlative not causative. Let's talk about a couple of these things, Josh, alright,
Let's talk about the Israeli acute paralysis virus. This seems
(10:56):
to be the most important factor. If there's several factors
involved in colony claps disorder, this seems like right at
the top. I would agree, Uh, just from reading about
it. It It is a virus discovered by Israeli scientists in
two thousand two, and it causes trembling, paralysis and death
and bees, which is it just makes me really sad
to think about a trembling paralyzed and then dying. Be
(11:19):
What's cool, um, is that they these researchers in the
study in two thousand seven, UM, I guess introduced I
A p V into some hives and then kept some
other ones separate, um, so that they wouldn't become infective.
Because honey bees are very social and they frequently interact
with bees from other colonies. Um. But they infected them
(11:40):
in this greenhouse, creepy, and then as the bees were dying,
the researchers noted that the healthy bees were dragging the
dead ones to the outskirts of the greenhouse as far
away from the high as they could, quarantining these dead bees.
It is that seems to me to be a real
red flag here. You know what else that when they
(12:01):
um studied some there was another study in two thousand
and seven that looked at already infected um colony collapse
disorder hives and then non CCD hives, and they found
that in nineties six point one percent of the infected
hives I A p V was present, but it wasn't
in any of the non c c D hives. So
(12:23):
it's definitely a huge factor that seems like it, but
not case closed because there are some other factors that
may weigh in as well. Pesticides is a big one, specifically,
Chuck the neo nicotinoid. Nice people knew that. It took
twenty minutes for us to spit that out, they laugh. Uh,
they are neurotoxins, Josh. And they are pesticides and they're
(12:44):
used to protect crops against pests, which honey bees as well. Yeah,
and um, I think the Germans, once again, the beekeepers
in Germany are blaming this for massive die off rates, right,
the same Germans who said that the cell phones had
nothing to do with it, so much so that some
countries are starting to ban this type of pesticide um
(13:08):
even though I don't think there's been any causal link established,
it's the correlations enough that, right, you know, do you
want to hear the saddest factor? For me? It's sad,
But at the same time, I imagined some be in
like a crumpled fedor carrying a briefcase returning to the hive,
you know, Joe versus the b the bee hive. I
love that movie me too. Uh, stress, Josh, is what
(13:30):
we're talking about. And these poor little bees because of
beekeeper stretching out the pollination season, basically giving bees less
time to recuperate before carrying them around to another crop.
They're overworked and they're stressed out, and it could be,
you know, disrupting their immune systems and killing them off. Sad, sad, sad.
And then the last factor in the article that was
(13:52):
mentioned as impossible culprit was the verroa might what's the
deal with these suckers? They actually transmit I A p
V two okay, um bees, Well, there you have it.
Through little jerks, little jerky mites. So the like we said,
fifteen billion dollars worth of agricultural crops products in the
US alone. We're pollinated by commercial honey bees. So you
(14:15):
can imagine that the U. S. D A Is a
little worried about colony claps disorder. Right. Yeah, they're actually
looking to alternative methods of pollinating, like synthetic methods of
pollinating plants because of this, uh naked guys running through
the fields. That's one and the other bees are trying
to put other bees to work, Like which one was it,
the blue orchard bee? Yeah, they're seeing if that works. Uh,
(14:38):
And then of course they're also trying to do what
they can to take care of the honey bees and
restore their population. Um, but it's not just the U. S.
T A That has a hand in honey bee repopulation. No, no, no,
it's you and I too, Chuck, You and I and Hoggendoz.
Oh yeah, well, we're gonna give you some tips here
(14:59):
in a minute on what you can do as an individual.
But I did want to point out that Delicious Haggandas
ice Cream has has nearly fifty of their all natural
ice creams it sounds like I'm reading an ad because
it's from their website. Nearly fifty of them use honey
bees in some way, shape or form to get their
(15:19):
ultimate ingredient. So they've got a little deal going where
they ultimate ingredients. Well there's fifty of them. Okay, well
now sorry. Uh. They have created a special flavor called
Vanilla Honeybee and they call it a delicious tribute to
these essential creatures. And of course when you buy this
this kind or any of them that have the ingredients
that come from the honey bees help they donate some money. Cool,
(15:41):
which is pretty cool. And you can donate just straight
to a cause via the cause via the Hagganda site,
or you can be nice to your local apiarists and
maybe having a bad day and that could just help, right, sure,
that would help. UM. So we have we have some
tips for you, Josh, you want to go over some
of these. My favorite is um contact your member of
(16:02):
parliament and tell them to start funding bee research. For
you to contact your member of parliament throw their wig
at me the number one on the list of and
this is clearly England, but imagine you can do the
same things here. This has become a beekeeper. That's a
good one. Sure, cool job. The more hives the better,
unless they're infected, and then the opposite is true. Yeah.
(16:24):
Another thing you can do is protect swarms. If you
see a swarm of honey bees, don't go out there
with the can of raid or your can of hairnet
and a lighter. Yeah, that's that's even the worse idea.
You You should contact um, a local authority, and supposedly
they will contact a beekeeper that will come and round
them up. You want to make sure that they're going
(16:45):
to contact the beekeeper. Actually there's people who do swarm
removals and just kill all the bees. Yeah, you want
to make sure that they're going to be taken to
a hive by a beekeeper and then the guy comes
out with this can of raid and the lighter some
local redneck. Uh. Plant your garden with bee friendly plants.
This is the biggest one that you can actually make
an impact here at home. So we're talking single flowering
(17:07):
plants and vegetables, and they recommend the Aliam family meant
beans except for French beans, and flowering herbs and bees
especially like daisy shape flowers, so sunflowers, sunflowers, are big,
are really big for helping to uh, helping the honey
bees out. And if you have your hands in your
pockets right now and you're feeling nothing but lint, and
you're like, I really love to help the bees, but
(17:29):
I can't afford any sunflower seeds. Man, I'm not like rich.
You can actually contact a group called the Great Sunflower
Project and they'll send you some seeds. Uh. In return,
all they ask is that you spend h thirty minutes
twice a month. If you can't swing that, then you
need to take stock of your life, um thirty minutes
(17:50):
twice a month in the garden. Uh, noting arrival times,
departure times, and uh whether or not you even see
any bees on your sunflowers and sending sending in the information. Yeah, exactly,
because if you don't see any bees, that's really important
to tell them as well. Right. And don't use pesticides
mid date chuck. Oh is that a big one. Yeah, Well,
that's when bees are most likely to be out foraging.
(18:10):
So if you're gonna spray any kind of pesticide, don't
do it in the middle of the day. It's bad news. Right.
They also say, if you're going to use pesticides or
pest control to use insects specific pesticides, So don't buy
kill all and don't buy kills honey bees. Yeah, exactly
a few other gardening tips for you. I know you're
(18:32):
quite the gardener. Uh. They say, if you have space
to use ten or more bee plants in a group,
you can group them together. That's a good thing. Sure
makes pollination easier. Sure, and if not, you know, do
what you can plan as many as you can. Uh.
They also require water when they're foraging in your garden,
so you know, put out a little bird bath and
if you don't have a bird bath, maybe just a
(18:52):
dish of water in your garden. I didn't know that,
did you. I did not. It's a good one. And
they also um burrow in the ground, so they say
not to completely mulch your entire garden, to leave some
bare areas maybe where you don't see it, or maybe
put a little mound of sand and the bees can
home down in there. So another little tip you can use.
And native plants are always good if you're a gardener,
(19:15):
plant native plants to your state because bees eat them up.
And aside from gardening, you can also buy local honey.
You know. I used to know an apiarist and related
him once for the Henry County Times when I edited it,
and um, he sold local honey. I got stung by
a bee, by the way, while I was interviewing him,
really hurt man um and uh. Like three years later,
(19:38):
I was at someone's house, a friend's house, and they
just happen to have honey from this guy's farm. I
couldn't believe it. Yeah, if your city is like um, Atlanta,
then they're all manner of farmers markets. That story sounded
so much more interesting in my head before I spit
it out. I thought it was interesting. Things can't tell
by the way edges breeze right over. Uh. If at
(20:00):
as like your town, you probably have all kind of
farmers markets, local markets, and I guarantee you there will
be somebody with honey. It does. And they say, if
you're into um immunology, uh, and you believe that you
can immunize yourself from uh local allergies using honey, which
is yet to be proven, but it makes a lot
of sense. You want to buy honey that's um created
(20:21):
within fifteen miles of your your house and buying the
local is always a good idea all across the board.
And I got one more unless you have one more? No,
I'm done, okay, because I want to finish with this
and it's so good. Uh. Under the heading be friendly,
some tips on you know, if you have bees in
your area, don't swat them, don't flap your hands around.
(20:43):
Just stay calm and move slowly away into the shade,
they say, and bees will lose interest. They also don't
have as much interest if you smell like alcohol or leather,
and they regard regard dark clothing as a threat. So
put on some dark leather pants, get drunk, and hang
(21:03):
out in your garden. Apparently I will never get stung
by a being. Wow, I'd like to see that. If
you want to learn more about this mysterious colony collapse disorder,
you can read just k Toothman's fascinating article how colony
collapse disorder works. I imagine if you type in collapse
disorder or colony collapse or colony collapse disorder into the
(21:25):
handy search bar at how stuff work dot Com, it
will yield said article. Uh. In the meantime, let's do
some listener mail, Josh. These are two from two kids.
And you know, we like the kid emails because they're
always nice and super friendly and cute and not like
a cynical old rotten adults. So the first one is
(21:46):
from Betto, which I love. That name, Betto is what
is that Italian Portuguese? I would think it's Italian. Okay,
hey guys, my name is Betto pronounced b et Dash. Oh.
I know you're laughing, it's a laugh. I have listened
to every single one of your podcasts since the eighth grade,
and I am now a sophomore in high school. Now.
(22:07):
Doesn't that really put it in perspective? Yeah? I feel old.
All of a sudden people are actively We're seeing these
people grow up. This is it brings a tear to
my eye. You know, when we get a graduation imitation
from Sarah the eleven year old fan, then it's time
to hang it up, all right, he says. Beto says,
I have to wake up every morning at six am
to catch the bus at seven so I can go
(22:28):
to a school thirty minutes away from my house. It's
about an hour bus ride, that's how that works. And
all I can do is listen to my iPod every day,
I download two or more and prepare for my day,
and you have two. You two have become quite possibly
my two favorite heroes besides Matt Bellamy, who I had
to look that up. Who isn't He's the lead singer
of Muse. So where heroes along with this muse dude?
(22:50):
Because every morning I'm sitting on that crowded bus with
loud people and I can listen to you two talk
about a random subject, including ones that sound boring at first,
but thanks to you, I learned something and get a
few us along the way. You're the coolest guys I know,
kind of since I don't actually know you, he says,
and I hope that you guys never quit doing this.
Your number one fan for real? Betto, well, oh no,
(23:12):
he he follows. He follows up for you specifically. He says, Josh,
You're amazing and I have a man crush on you.
But I have a girlfriend, so you know, ha ha,
she doesn't know, that's what he says. Wow, I know,
did Betto just come onto me? I think? So? Alright?
Betto actually says he would be an all shock if
(23:33):
you read this on the air, but I doubt you will,
so I'm kind of I think Betto just used for
verse psychologist. So this Betto kid is sharp, just got
punked by a tenth grader. Al Right, here's another quickie
from Nick and Alfaretta. Nick is eight seventeen and Alfaretta, Georgia,
and he has written us before, but he had a
personal tie to Edward of Woodstock from the Mercenaries podcast.
(23:58):
He was his great great great et cetera grandfather. How
about that? Well pretty cool, huh. He says, I know
this because well that's what he put. He didn't know
how many greats it was. And he knows this because
they have a family tree and he was right near
the beginning of it. And after he was Edward of Woodstock,
he became Edward Prince of Wales. Oh yeah, and then
(24:19):
and that's what he says at least, and he goes
in details a little bit of Edward of Woodstocks life
and just says that thanks for mentioning, and he's related
to him. Very cool right here in Georgia, yeah, and
al Florida. It's right up the road, a piece, right
up the road. Well, thank you Betto and Nick. We
appreciate both of you guys for writing in, and we
love all of you who right in, and by love
(24:39):
I mean really appreciate and are fond of. If you
want us to love you, you can send us an
email to Stuff Podcasts at how stuff works dot com.
For more on this and thousands of other topics, is
that how stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works,
(25:00):
check out our blogs on the House of works dot
com home page. Brought to you by the reinvented two
thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you
Brought to you by the Reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know
from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Bryant. This
(00:20):
Stuff you Should Know? Oh and hey Jerry, Sorry, Jerry.
Jerry is the unsung hero heroin Yes, a little horse
for a little monkey? Why it's an old Mr Science
Theater three thousand long? Oh you through there? I thought
she had a little horse and a little monkey or
something under her. Wo be like, Jerry, what do you
tell me? A little horse and a little bit a
(00:41):
pony and a macaque with her? So? Uh yeah, that's
how we're starting this one. Why not? Okay, all right, Chuck,
I have a pretty decent intro this time. Well let's
hear it then. Have you ever heard of the lost
Colony of roan Oak? I have, but I would like
you too. You fill us in? Thank you. So back
(01:02):
in the I think seventeenth century the early seventeenth century,
Roanoke was one of the very first colonies, if not
the first American colony right um in what is now
North Carolina, Virginia, right, um. And it was thriving for
a little while. They had a nice little four and
they used to fight with the Native Americans and you know,
(01:24):
pretty normal early American colonial stuff. Right. So, like I said,
everything is going happily along. And then about two years
after the colony is established, an expedition bringing supplies comes
along and they find the thing totally abandoned, no sign
of life. I don't believe there is any dead bodies
(01:46):
or bones, um. And the only trace of anything was
the word crow a town carved into one of the
posts that made up the fort. You're kidding, And I
think there were some There was there was a local
tribe called the crow Towan, but they were nowhere to
(02:06):
be found. Isn't it very creepy? This whole colony law
just vanished. I thought you can say wolverines was spray
painted on the front of it. But the they think
now that they may have been absorbed by another tribe,
the Lumbi, which actually um were completely alien to whites
until I think the early eighteenth century, very late, like
(02:31):
several decades after the colony at Roanoke vanish, right, um.
And when the Whites didn't counter and they said Hey, um,
why does some of you look kind of white? And
why are you building two story thatch houses like we
have in England? Right? You know, how do you know
how to read the Bible? Right? Um? With this ball? Exactly?
(02:53):
They think so they think that the Lumbie tribe absorbed
the colonists at Rohanu. Wow, but that is among the
very few lost colonies of human history. I'll tell you
another species that has tons of lost colonies. Bees, dude,
best set up ever? Really, yeah, of course, really really good. Yes, Josh,
(03:16):
we are here today to talk about colony collapse disorder
because bees are disappearing at an alarming rate, much like
the people of the rowan Oute colony. Right, and Chuck,
I think that probably most of the people who listen
to our podcast said, why do I care that bees
are disappearing? I hate bees? They sting me and they
they chase me in my dreams. You know, you know
(03:39):
why I do? Why you want me to tell them?
Because bees are vital to almost any kind of vegetation
you can eat. And not only that. Let's say you're like,
I don't need vegetables I eat and meat? Did you know? Here?
Let me let me give you a little scenario that
was posed in this article take the almond population. Let's
for example, my new favorite nut, as you know, is
(04:01):
the almond chucks. Crazy about all they're so good for you. Um.
Beekeepers basically go to California every year with about forty
billion honey bees too, uh, pollinate the almond crop every February.
Every February, and over those few weeks of the world's
almond crop is pollinated and about a billion dollars in
(04:24):
exports are generated. So you might think, okay, well, I
don't eat almonds either, tough guy. Those almonds the almond
holes are sold as cattle feed. Part of the cattle feed.
They're also crushed as shells for bedding for livestock, and
the dust, almond dust is collected as an additive to
the top soil, so that hamburger has almond juice running
(04:47):
through it, which has bee juice running through it. Yeah,
and that's just almonds. Yeah. I think a total of
fifteen billion dollars worth of agricultural products are pollinated by
commercial honey bees every year, every year, and we s
that bees are disappearing. Um, mostly it's honey bees that
are disappearing. Under the colony claps disorder, right, chuck, Yeah, specifically,
(05:09):
that's what we're worried about. So it is important obviously
honey bees are kept happy and healthy and um that
they not mysteriously vanished without a trace. Yeah, it's not
just about honey, folks. Let's although honey is delicious, it
is delicious and nutrition. Let's talk about what colony claps
disorder is, chuckers, Okay, uh, I think they. I think
(05:30):
Jessica Toothman said in this article that attrition rates in
a bee colony is normal because bees do have wings
and they will fly away, and about is an average
of what you're looking for. I think it's like an
average maximum average maxim because I mean, when you let
the bees out go pollinate, some are just gonna be like,
I like this colony or I think I'm going to
(05:50):
um go hit the road with Neil Cassidy or something. Right.
You know, they don't always come back, that's true. Uh,
And so starting as early as two thousand two, but
really in two thousand six is when it really really peaked,
or not peaked, but when it really showed its ugly face.
The bees started leaving and not coming back. At it,
(06:10):
and we suspect dying at a rate of anywhere from
thirty that's huge. And do you remember you said a
minute ago that every February about forty billion bees. That's
in just one million hives. So if of a hive
is dying off or it is a lot of bees,
the just one hive, which we should probably specify, is
(06:33):
virtually interchangeable with the word colony. Hi, haven't call any
same thing. Yeah, you know what's creepy? What is sometimes
when they when they come back and they see the
all the vs the bees are gone. Sometimes you'll just
see the queen and larvae and a few younger bees
and that's it. And they're like, where's everybody gone? And
maybe crow uh, what's over it again? Croat? Maybe crowatons
(06:54):
like scrawled into the bee hive in honey. Yeah. Um,
so yeah, that's colony cleps disorder most of the most
of the time, it's the workers are just gone vanished,
or at least of them, right, um. And what I
guess another kind of interesting and almost unsettling aspect is
that when a when a bee hive gets abandoned and
(07:15):
all its left is like the queen and some larvae
and and especially when there's tons of honey in it, moths, um,
other kinds of bees, wasps, any other insect with the
taste for sweet, sweet honey, beetle vades it immediately. Not
so with colonies that have been hit by colony collapse disorder. Yeah,
(07:35):
they wait a few days, right, Yeah they do. That's creepy.
It's real creepy. That'd be like leaving some steak out
in the hot sun in July and they're being like
no flies or animals buzzing around right until like the
following Thursday. That's really creepy. Yeah, and it definitely gives
you an idea that something serious is up, right, So
we have mystery, mystery, mystery, tons of bees dying or vanishing. Um.
(07:57):
And like you said, check, this really stepped up. Been
two thousand and six, seven and eight, right, and it's
still going on. From what I understand, this is not
the first time that this happened though, Yeah, you said
it was the worst case ever. Was when it's not
the worst. I think this is the worst case ever.
But before it's been pretty bad. Uh uh. In Pennsylvania,
(08:17):
um beekeepers reported fifty three percent of their hives just
knocked out. Spanish gone um or dead. Uh. We have
um mysterious bee hive abandonments uh dating back to the
eighteen eighties, the early twentieth century. Um. And in nineteen
oh three in Utah, Uh, two thousand colonies were mysteriously lost. Yeah,
(08:43):
just gone. So this isn't if you'll notice it's Utah,
Pennsylvania here or there. You know, with colony collapse disorder,
it's spread around. There's there's there's evidence of it in Australia,
in Europe, in the US. Yeah. Actually Australia said they've
been doing Okay, okay, well there's evidence of it in
not Australia, but the US I apologize. Australia did say
(09:07):
they had reported. But things seem to be back on
track in Australia, So you were right? Should I say
it again? Now you just smack me? All right? So
chuck the apiarists? You like that? Very nice? This is
another word for beekeeper are getting a little bit concerned.
It's widespread, the numbers are high. It's mysterious. What possibly
(09:28):
is going on here? Well they're not quite sure, Josh.
That's why it's a little distressing. I know this mystery
of the vanishing. They do have some ideas, and after
reading this article and a few other UH supplementary articles,
my belief is that it's a combination of factors. It's
probably not one thing. Yeah, And actually the U s
D A Steering committee on Colony collapse disorder, it's a mouthful.
(09:51):
They just released their first UM, I guess white paper
on colony collapse disorder this past July, and they concluded
the same thing. I real that there's a bunch of
different factors at work. UM. There were some ideas thrown out,
like some unknown organism or pathogen was acting them. They
said probably not. There's a study done in Germany UM
(10:12):
as to whether or not cell phone and cell phone
towers were putting off radiation that was screwing with the
bees homing abilities and this. Uh. These Germans did that
study and they said no, not happening. And apparently the
opposite was picked up by the news cycle to the
point where the guy who conducted the study wrote the
A p. A letter saying we found no link between
(10:36):
colony collapse disorder and cell phones. Anybody who says or
writes anything else is a liar. But they were linking
that and journalists were linking that. Journalists loved it. Link stuff. Yeah,
correlative not causative. Let's talk about a couple of these things, Josh, alright,
Let's talk about the Israeli acute paralysis virus. This seems
(10:56):
to be the most important factor. If there's several factors
involved in colony claps disorder, this seems like right at
the top. I would agree, Uh, just from reading about
it. It It is a virus discovered by Israeli scientists in
two thousand two, and it causes trembling, paralysis and death
and bees, which is it just makes me really sad
to think about a trembling paralyzed and then dying. Be
(11:19):
What's cool, um, is that they these researchers in the
study in two thousand seven, UM, I guess introduced I
A p V into some hives and then kept some
other ones separate, um, so that they wouldn't become infective.
Because honey bees are very social and they frequently interact
with bees from other colonies. Um. But they infected them
(11:40):
in this greenhouse, creepy, and then as the bees were dying,
the researchers noted that the healthy bees were dragging the
dead ones to the outskirts of the greenhouse as far
away from the high as they could, quarantining these dead bees.
It is that seems to me to be a real
red flag here. You know what else that when they
(12:01):
um studied some there was another study in two thousand
and seven that looked at already infected um colony collapse
disorder hives and then non CCD hives, and they found
that in nineties six point one percent of the infected
hives I A p V was present, but it wasn't
in any of the non c c D hives. So
(12:23):
it's definitely a huge factor that seems like it, but
not case closed because there are some other factors that
may weigh in as well. Pesticides is a big one, specifically,
Chuck the neo nicotinoid. Nice people knew that. It took
twenty minutes for us to spit that out, they laugh. Uh,
they are neurotoxins, Josh. And they are pesticides and they're
(12:44):
used to protect crops against pests, which honey bees as well. Yeah,
and um, I think the Germans, once again, the beekeepers
in Germany are blaming this for massive die off rates, right,
the same Germans who said that the cell phones had
nothing to do with it, so much so that some
countries are starting to ban this type of pesticide um
(13:08):
even though I don't think there's been any causal link established,
it's the correlations enough that, right, you know, do you
want to hear the saddest factor? For me? It's sad,
But at the same time, I imagined some be in
like a crumpled fedor carrying a briefcase returning to the hive,
you know, Joe versus the b the bee hive. I
love that movie me too. Uh, stress, Josh, is what
(13:30):
we're talking about. And these poor little bees because of
beekeeper stretching out the pollination season, basically giving bees less
time to recuperate before carrying them around to another crop.
They're overworked and they're stressed out, and it could be,
you know, disrupting their immune systems and killing them off. Sad, sad, sad.
And then the last factor in the article that was
(13:52):
mentioned as impossible culprit was the verroa might what's the
deal with these suckers? They actually transmit I A p
V two okay, um bees, Well, there you have it.
Through little jerks, little jerky mites. So the like we said,
fifteen billion dollars worth of agricultural crops products in the
US alone. We're pollinated by commercial honey bees. So you
(14:15):
can imagine that the U. S. D A Is a
little worried about colony claps disorder. Right. Yeah, they're actually
looking to alternative methods of pollinating, like synthetic methods of
pollinating plants because of this, uh naked guys running through
the fields. That's one and the other bees are trying
to put other bees to work, Like which one was it,
the blue orchard bee? Yeah, they're seeing if that works. Uh,
(14:38):
And then of course they're also trying to do what
they can to take care of the honey bees and
restore their population. Um, but it's not just the U. S.
T A That has a hand in honey bee repopulation. No, no, no,
it's you and I too, Chuck, You and I and Hoggendoz.
Oh yeah, well, we're gonna give you some tips here
(14:59):
in a minute on what you can do as an individual.
But I did want to point out that Delicious Haggandas
ice Cream has has nearly fifty of their all natural
ice creams it sounds like I'm reading an ad because
it's from their website. Nearly fifty of them use honey
bees in some way, shape or form to get their
(15:19):
ultimate ingredient. So they've got a little deal going where
they ultimate ingredients. Well there's fifty of them. Okay, well
now sorry. Uh. They have created a special flavor called
Vanilla Honeybee and they call it a delicious tribute to
these essential creatures. And of course when you buy this
this kind or any of them that have the ingredients
that come from the honey bees help they donate some money. Cool,
(15:41):
which is pretty cool. And you can donate just straight
to a cause via the cause via the Hagganda site,
or you can be nice to your local apiarists and
maybe having a bad day and that could just help, right, sure,
that would help. UM. So we have we have some
tips for you, Josh, you want to go over some
of these. My favorite is um contact your member of
(16:02):
parliament and tell them to start funding bee research. For
you to contact your member of parliament throw their wig
at me the number one on the list of and
this is clearly England, but imagine you can do the
same things here. This has become a beekeeper. That's a
good one. Sure, cool job. The more hives the better,
unless they're infected, and then the opposite is true. Yeah.
(16:24):
Another thing you can do is protect swarms. If you
see a swarm of honey bees, don't go out there
with the can of raid or your can of hairnet
and a lighter. Yeah, that's that's even the worse idea.
You You should contact um, a local authority, and supposedly
they will contact a beekeeper that will come and round
them up. You want to make sure that they're going
(16:45):
to contact the beekeeper. Actually there's people who do swarm
removals and just kill all the bees. Yeah, you want
to make sure that they're going to be taken to
a hive by a beekeeper and then the guy comes
out with this can of raid and the lighter some
local redneck. Uh. Plant your garden with bee friendly plants.
This is the biggest one that you can actually make
an impact here at home. So we're talking single flowering
(17:07):
plants and vegetables, and they recommend the Aliam family meant
beans except for French beans, and flowering herbs and bees
especially like daisy shape flowers, so sunflowers, sunflowers, are big,
are really big for helping to uh, helping the honey
bees out. And if you have your hands in your
pockets right now and you're feeling nothing but lint, and
you're like, I really love to help the bees, but
(17:29):
I can't afford any sunflower seeds. Man, I'm not like rich.
You can actually contact a group called the Great Sunflower
Project and they'll send you some seeds. Uh. In return,
all they ask is that you spend h thirty minutes
twice a month. If you can't swing that, then you
need to take stock of your life, um thirty minutes
(17:50):
twice a month in the garden. Uh, noting arrival times,
departure times, and uh whether or not you even see
any bees on your sunflowers and sending sending in the information. Yeah, exactly,
because if you don't see any bees, that's really important
to tell them as well. Right. And don't use pesticides
mid date chuck. Oh is that a big one. Yeah, Well,
that's when bees are most likely to be out foraging.
(18:10):
So if you're gonna spray any kind of pesticide, don't
do it in the middle of the day. It's bad news. Right.
They also say, if you're going to use pesticides or
pest control to use insects specific pesticides, So don't buy
kill all and don't buy kills honey bees. Yeah, exactly
a few other gardening tips for you. I know you're
(18:32):
quite the gardener. Uh. They say, if you have space
to use ten or more bee plants in a group,
you can group them together. That's a good thing. Sure
makes pollination easier. Sure, and if not, you know, do
what you can plan as many as you can. Uh.
They also require water when they're foraging in your garden,
so you know, put out a little bird bath and
if you don't have a bird bath, maybe just a
(18:52):
dish of water in your garden. I didn't know that,
did you. I did not. It's a good one. And
they also um burrow in the ground, so they say
not to completely mulch your entire garden, to leave some
bare areas maybe where you don't see it, or maybe
put a little mound of sand and the bees can
home down in there. So another little tip you can use.
And native plants are always good if you're a gardener,
(19:15):
plant native plants to your state because bees eat them up.
And aside from gardening, you can also buy local honey.
You know. I used to know an apiarist and related
him once for the Henry County Times when I edited it,
and um, he sold local honey. I got stung by
a bee, by the way, while I was interviewing him,
really hurt man um and uh. Like three years later,
(19:38):
I was at someone's house, a friend's house, and they
just happen to have honey from this guy's farm. I
couldn't believe it. Yeah, if your city is like um, Atlanta,
then they're all manner of farmers markets. That story sounded
so much more interesting in my head before I spit
it out. I thought it was interesting. Things can't tell
by the way edges breeze right over. Uh. If at
(20:00):
as like your town, you probably have all kind of
farmers markets, local markets, and I guarantee you there will
be somebody with honey. It does. And they say, if
you're into um immunology, uh, and you believe that you
can immunize yourself from uh local allergies using honey, which
is yet to be proven, but it makes a lot
of sense. You want to buy honey that's um created
(20:21):
within fifteen miles of your your house and buying the
local is always a good idea all across the board.
And I got one more unless you have one more? No,
I'm done, okay, because I want to finish with this
and it's so good. Uh. Under the heading be friendly,
some tips on you know, if you have bees in
your area, don't swat them, don't flap your hands around.
(20:43):
Just stay calm and move slowly away into the shade,
they say, and bees will lose interest. They also don't
have as much interest if you smell like alcohol or leather,
and they regard regard dark clothing as a threat. So
put on some dark leather pants, get drunk, and hang
(21:03):
out in your garden. Apparently I will never get stung
by a being. Wow, I'd like to see that. If
you want to learn more about this mysterious colony collapse disorder,
you can read just k Toothman's fascinating article how colony
collapse disorder works. I imagine if you type in collapse
disorder or colony collapse or colony collapse disorder into the
(21:25):
handy search bar at how stuff work dot Com, it
will yield said article. Uh. In the meantime, let's do
some listener mail, Josh. These are two from two kids.
And you know, we like the kid emails because they're
always nice and super friendly and cute and not like
a cynical old rotten adults. So the first one is
(21:46):
from Betto, which I love. That name, Betto is what
is that Italian Portuguese? I would think it's Italian. Okay,
hey guys, my name is Betto pronounced b et Dash. Oh.
I know you're laughing, it's a laugh. I have listened
to every single one of your podcasts since the eighth grade,
and I am now a sophomore in high school. Now.
(22:07):
Doesn't that really put it in perspective? Yeah? I feel old.
All of a sudden people are actively We're seeing these
people grow up. This is it brings a tear to
my eye. You know, when we get a graduation imitation
from Sarah the eleven year old fan, then it's time
to hang it up, all right, he says. Beto says,
I have to wake up every morning at six am
to catch the bus at seven so I can go
(22:28):
to a school thirty minutes away from my house. It's
about an hour bus ride, that's how that works. And
all I can do is listen to my iPod every day,
I download two or more and prepare for my day,
and you have two. You two have become quite possibly
my two favorite heroes besides Matt Bellamy, who I had
to look that up. Who isn't He's the lead singer
of Muse. So where heroes along with this muse dude?
(22:50):
Because every morning I'm sitting on that crowded bus with
loud people and I can listen to you two talk
about a random subject, including ones that sound boring at first,
but thanks to you, I learned something and get a
few us along the way. You're the coolest guys I know,
kind of since I don't actually know you, he says,
and I hope that you guys never quit doing this.
Your number one fan for real? Betto, well, oh no,
(23:12):
he he follows. He follows up for you specifically. He says, Josh,
You're amazing and I have a man crush on you.
But I have a girlfriend, so you know, ha ha,
she doesn't know, that's what he says. Wow, I know,
did Betto just come onto me? I think? So? Alright?
Betto actually says he would be an all shock if
(23:33):
you read this on the air, but I doubt you will,
so I'm kind of I think Betto just used for
verse psychologist. So this Betto kid is sharp, just got
punked by a tenth grader. Al Right, here's another quickie
from Nick and Alfaretta. Nick is eight seventeen and Alfaretta, Georgia,
and he has written us before, but he had a
personal tie to Edward of Woodstock from the Mercenaries podcast.
(23:58):
He was his great great great et cetera grandfather. How
about that? Well pretty cool, huh. He says, I know
this because well that's what he put. He didn't know
how many greats it was. And he knows this because
they have a family tree and he was right near
the beginning of it. And after he was Edward of Woodstock,
he became Edward Prince of Wales. Oh yeah, and then
(24:19):
and that's what he says at least, and he goes
in details a little bit of Edward of Woodstocks life
and just says that thanks for mentioning, and he's related
to him. Very cool right here in Georgia, yeah, and
al Florida. It's right up the road, a piece, right
up the road. Well, thank you Betto and Nick. We
appreciate both of you guys for writing in, and we
love all of you who right in, and by love
(24:39):
I mean really appreciate and are fond of. If you
want us to love you, you can send us an
email to Stuff Podcasts at how stuff works dot com.
For more on this and thousands of other topics, is
that how stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works,
(25:00):
check out our blogs on the House of works dot
com home page. Brought to you by the reinvented two
thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you
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