Bees and Honey are Good for You!

I have just read two very interesting articles in The Economist about bees and honey. Both articles were published in the Science and Technology section, but the wit of the editors seemed to have gone down the toilette as they did not see the more interesting article that should have emerged by blending the two articles. Unfortunately, you need to have a subscription to The Economist to read their articles online, but I'll summarize.

The first article, Dying Bees, discusses the Colony Collapse Disorder , when the inhabitants of bee hives suddenly disappear, that is taking place in North America, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Scientists have cast doubt that cell phones are causing the bee colonies to die. They suggest that statistically insignificant data surrounding a study looking at electromagnetic radiation was misinterpreted. Back to the drawing board. Now scientists are looking at the practice of beekeepers such as the constant upheaval and movement around the country in seek of the best rate for *their* pollination services which is causing stress on the hives. Scientists are also research the bee genome along with the overall social networking of bees. The search continues...

The second article, The Medicinal Use of Honey, discusses the benefits of honey in combating superinfections, drug resistant trains of pathogens. Apparently honey was commonly used as medicine long before the discovery of antibiotics and is still used in Australia and New Zealand. Presently there is a massive study at Bonn University Children's Clinic in Germany comparing the effectiveness of a honey based treatment, such as those created by Medihoney, with antibiotics when treating wounds. The preliminary research all points in the direction of honey being a strong contender to antibiotics.

Now back to the editors at The Economist: an opportunity was clearly missed. The level of economic analysis could have been much richer. Perhaps they'll tidy up their reporting on bees and take note of Einstein's alleged insight into bees:

"if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

p.s. As I was writing this post in the hot and sunny confines of my apartment a bee found it's way through the security gates on my window. For the first time in my life, I was thrilled to see a bee!