For a while now I’ve been reading about the mysterious wide-scale disappearance of honey bee colonies, a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, which has disturbing implications for a huge range of food crops. (According to Wikipedia, honey bees are responsible for pollinating about a third of all crop species in the U.S.)
Now there’s speculation that CCD may be caused by radiation from mobile phones and other high-tech devices.
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world’s harvests fail …
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees’ navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up …
German research has long shown that bees’ behaviour changes near power lines.
Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a “hint” to a possible cause.
Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: “I am convinced the possibility is real.”
As the article quoted above also notes, Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, “man would have only four years of life left.”
I grew up at a time when everyone was worried about killer bees heading our way. Now it turns out the most dangerous thing bees can do to us … is disappear.
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UPDATE: In the comments, Chris Bell posted a link to this BoingBoing post, which notes that according to the debunkers at Snopes, the Einstein quote is probably bogus. Which makes sense — I have to admit I was a little surprised by it when I read it, which is what made it seem striking.
Colony Collapse Disorder, though: still real, still scary.
Chris Bell // Apr 23, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Hi Dave, I too have been following the disappearing bees, as it were – on the Nature podcast and KCRW Good Food. I was inclined to accept the mobile phone and Einstein memes as part of my world view. But I wonder if you’ve followed this through on Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/04/15/are_cellphones_killi.html.
In particular, it’s worth clicking on the following links in the article, if only for some contrasting points of view:
Update: Regarding the Einstein quote above from the Independent, Mark sez, “No such quote has been found by the folks at Snopes or by anyone else.” http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=127316
Update 2: Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds has rounded up some skeptical responses to this story: http://instapundit.com/archives2/004182.php
The internet is great for getting us thinking, but it’s always important to remember that, for all the best reasons, it can sometimes send us hell-for-leather looking for culprits in the wrong direction. Mr Einstein was smart, but we have no reason to suspect he was any particular authority on bees.
Ocelopotamus // Apr 23, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Thanks, Chris. Very interesting — I’ll look into those links. Well, all but one of them.
I respect you, BoingBoing, and Snopes, but as for Glenn Reynolds — well, if he said it was really hot outside, I’d put on my heaviest coat before I stepped out the door. Few people on the planet have been as consistently wrong about everything for the last few years as Glenn Reynolds — only Andrew Sullivan is in his league, really.
But the other links I’ll definitely check into. ; )
Ocelopotamus // Apr 23, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Okay, I gave in and went and looked at the Glenn Reynolds post, and immediately regretted it. He’s quoting an email from Steven Den Beste, who actually uses the phrase “global warming hysteria,” which shows you the level of discourse over there. These are the people who seriously believed that taking over Iraq would be a cakewalk, and think of George W. Bush as a brilliant but misunderstood genius. I’ll stop now, I’m sure you get the point.
Chris Bell // Apr 24, 2007 at 1:08 am
I absolutely agree with you on global warming denial, Dave. Every other podcast item on Nature is about climate change. It’s time to take notice . But in this case Reynolds is not denying arbitrarily, is he. He’s at least providing contrary PoVs and does, I think, make the valid point that the people to cite on current bee disappearances would be living apiarists and entomologists, not Einstein, who has left the building. And don’t you agree that his question about the National Radio Quiet Zone is a valid one?
I’m probably as concerned about this story as you are, but there’s so much dodgy science out there, I’ve become uncharacteristically conservative about predictions. What else can you do but weigh up the arguments?
And on Mr Bush, I think this pretty much says everything that still needs to be said: Fascist America, in 10 easy steps –
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html
Ocelopotamus // Apr 24, 2007 at 7:11 am
Chris, I hear what you’re saying, and I agree that there’s plenty of room for skepticism about not only the Einstein quotation but whether mobile phones have anything to do with CCD. I’m just not interested in anything that Glenn Reynolds and his right-wing cohort have to say about it. It’s like Atrios keeps saying: these people have been thoroughly discredited and they don’t deserve to be listened to anymore. (Here’s an example of the type of thing I’m talking about. Here’s another one. And definitely, definitely see this one. Those links are just the first few quick ones I found; I could probably do better if I were willing to put more time into it.) It’s frustrating that people who have such a long track record of being so completely wrong are are still looked to as pundits and authorities on any subject.
Mary McCarthy famously said of Lillian Hellman, “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.'” That’s pretty much how I feel about Glenn Reynolds and the right-wing blogosphere he inhabits. He has a track record of being so thoroughly dishonest and deluded that I’m immediately suspicious of anything he says. It’s as if you told me that Rush Limbaugh or Bill O’Reilly had some interesting observations about astronomy or music theory. I’d immediately start looking for the manipulative right-wing agenda behind whatever they were saying.
So the bottom line is, I’d just rather turn my attention toward commentary from sources I find reasonably credible. I hope you don’t feel like I’m attacking you; you know I’m always interested in your perspective. Just not Glenn Reynolds’.
Ocelopotamus // Apr 24, 2007 at 7:15 am
Okay, the fourth link I tried to post above got screwed up. Let me try it again:
… and definitely see this one.
Ocelopotamus // Apr 24, 2007 at 9:20 am
Adding (I’ll shut up soon, I promise): as evidence of my point, look how Reynolds and his ilk immediately tried to link skepticism about the mobile phone-CCD connection (reasonable) to global warming denialism (not reasonable at this point). The jury is still out on what’s causing CCD. The jury is not still out on global climate change.
Aaron // Apr 24, 2007 at 12:45 pm
My favorite quote from Reynolds (so far, which isn’t far) was “I’d be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons.”
Um, I don’t think he really wants us to have those…no, not really…we’re a little too pissed these days! (And frankly, I wouldn’t want such a thing in my house.)
(The guns OR him.)