Study Claims Cellphones Implicated In Bee Loss 542
krou passes along word from Telegraph.co.uk that researchers from Chandigarh's Punjab University claim that they have proven mobile phones could explain Colony Collapse Disorder. "They set up a controlled experiment in Punjab earlier this year comparing the behavior and productivity of bees in two hives — one fitted with two mobile telephones which were powered on for two 15-minute sessions per day for three months. The other had dummy models installed. After three months the researchers recorded a dramatic decline in the size of the hive fitted with the mobile phone, a significant reduction in the number of eggs laid by the queen bee. The bees also stopped producing honey. The queen bee in the 'mobile' hive produced fewer than half of those created by her counterpart in the normal hive. They also found a dramatic decline in the number of worker bees returning to the hive after collecting pollen." We've talked about the honeybee problem before. Today's article quotes a British bee specialist who dismisses talk of cellphone radiation having anything to do with the problem.
Independent studies warranted (Score:5, Funny)
Easy to fix (Score:5, Funny)
No no. (Score:4, Funny)
There were millions of bees. The results are highly significant.
Clearly we are seeing a great contribution to science.
Re:Wait, what? (Score:4, Funny)
Exactly, maybe one queen had poor leadership.
should have used Googles Android (Score:4, Funny)
Re:This is actually a very serieus problem. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Inverse-square law of radiation says no (Score:5, Funny)
I can see it now, they kept trying to text the other hive and when they didn't get a response, the first hive realized that they weren't BFF and got depressed and stopped collecting pollen, making honey and doing the nasty with the queen...
Sheldon
Re:No no. (Score:5, Funny)
I say we ban cell phones from bee-hives immediately - let them use old fashioned land lines instead
Re:No effect on bees (Score:4, Funny)
Not only that, but they also left them... (Score:5, Funny)
... on the loudest setting AND vibrate mode! :)
Just kidding,
Paul B.
Re:should have used Googles Android (Score:4, Funny)
But then they would all be smashed on somebody's windshield..
Don't ask don't tell (Score:5, Funny)
That'd generate the kind of data we're actually looking for wouldn't it?
Definitely not! I like my phone and mobile devices, so any empirical evidence which inconveniences me would have to be rationalised away in any case. I'm pretty confident the study would turn up nothing at all. It's almost axiomatic that what's good for me is good for the world. The research money would better be spent increasing coverage by erecting more transmission towers and the like.
And yeah, Honey is bad for your health.
Re:This is actually a very serieus problem. (Score:2, Funny)
We have ways of making them explain.
Re:Independent studies warranted (Score:5, Funny)
No, if the study proves repeatable, we just need to stop storing our cell phones inside beehives. The inverse square law will take care of the rest.
Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Funny)
As a bee that was part of the "mobile" hive (and I resent the assumption that we were not "mobile" before this unfortunate test), I can attest that the researchers got what they were looking for. Of course we're not going to linger around the hive, nor will the queen lay eggs, as long as they keep calling us with some mobile phone company tag line. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Yeah yeah, how about I sting your lab coated ass?
It's one thing to have a periodic interruption from our "keeper" even though he has a horrible smoking problem. But jeez, phone calls at 3am from a drunk whiner complaining about his love life and apologizing ... is that part of your thesis? Of course the phone's presence will impact us, dumbass.
Oh, and the text messsages: seriously not funny. Just stop.
Re:I wouldn't mind... (Score:4, Funny)
Should I get off your lawn now, grandpa?
Re:I wouldn't mind... (Score:4, Funny)
Should I get off your lawn now, grandpa?
Only after you pollinate some of his flowers.
Re:Independent studies warranted (Score:5, Funny)
But are we going to all give up our cell phones if it turns out that they cause problems with bees?
No. We are going to end up fitting each of them with a little foil coat and hat though...