‘Death of Bees’ in need of a Holiday!
You know that you’re:
A. A Pratchett FanGirl
B. A silly geek girl
C. Headed straight for HELL
or possibly:
D. ALL OF THE ABOVE!
…when you read the morning news that scientists may have discovered why bees are dying en mass and you think to yourself, “I bet Death of Bees is dead tired!” Bad pun intended. What’s the buzz in Discworld? Is Death upset by the swarm of stings on the bee world? Death likes bees, y’know. It’s been said that Death likes bees because the hive mentality does not fear him, which I’m sure is quite refreshing for the Reaper Man.
After freezing bees, grinding them up, extracting the DNA and using genetic sequencing to identify every organism present, researchers have settled upon a little-known virus discovered three years ago in Israel.
*faints* Whew, glad I’m not a bee!
Sadly, there is no break in store for the dear Death of Bees. Scientists may have found the culprit but they’ve yet to find a cure.
Researchers aren’t sure how the virus got to the United States. They don’t know how to cure it. Nor do they know if it alone can account for colony collapse disorder, which has killed tens of billions of bees since last fall.
Sorry, Death of Bees, no holiday for you this year!
Pratchett, Discworld, Death, Bees
September 9th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
less bees is a bad thing?
you can have the ones from around here, I’ll be happy to be rid of them
September 9th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
So they tell me, but as much as I love honey, I’d rather not be around too many bees!