Saving the Bees

If you happen to to see a honey bee buzzing around that appears to be wearing a backpack don’t worry, you’re not seeing things and you haven’t been transplanted into a Pixar movie, you just happen to be witnessing scientists’ newest technological attempt to find out where in the world bees are disappearing to. What might look like a backpack is actually a teeny tiny microchip designed to work with equipment installed at the entrance of hives in order to record bees movement. It’s pretty well common knowledge that bee populations have been on a steady decline over the last twenty years. What isn’t known is why. A continuous decline of beehives around the globe could have a serious impact on the agriculture industry. By USDA calculations the bee population is twenty-five percent lower than it was a mere twenty years ago and with seventy-five percent of our food crops relying on bee pollination the interest in monitoring bee relationships and behavior goes way beyond a mere scientific curiosity; it’s about discovering how to help this tiny creature that helps us in such an enormous way.