Biowarfare and Dead Bees

Some US army scientists have put their lab equipment, intended to help them identify and defend against biological weapons, to a good use: understanding the cause of the "colony collapse disorder" that is devastating honeybees in North America:

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 . . .

Exactly how that combination kills bees remains uncertain, the scientists said — a subject for the next round of research. But there are solid clues: both the virus and the fungus proliferate in cool, damp weather, and both do their dirty work in the bee gut, suggesting that insect nutrition is somehow compromised.

Now if we could only find a good use for all the other multi-billion dollar research facilities and weapons systems we keep buying.