Honey May Be Bees' Best Medicine for Colony Collapse Disorder

Much of the food that fills your dinner plate can only be produced with the help of a highly managed insect species: the western honey bee. Many farmers actually rent commercial colonies to unleash on their fields when the crops are in bloom. Such pollination services rake in $14 billion a year in the United States. But honey bee populations have plummeted in the last half decade as worker bees have mysteriously flown off and never returned to the hives---a phenomenon now called Colony Collapse Disorder. Scientists are stumped. Some blame malnutrition. Others point fingers at pathogens. Perhaps it's pesticides. New research has identified a particular chemical in pollen that may finally provide an answer. Western honey bees have a taste for a range of nectars, so they are exposed to many different chemicals in and on the plants they pollinate. In addition, commercial hives are often treated with insecticides ...