Scientists are going to be very much in demand in helping resolve many of the problems of this world and this country.
Guns and bombs are not going to resolve them, so we should be encouraging educators and intelligent thinkers, instead of criticizing them.
As I wrote last week, the so-called "killer" bees are spreading rapidly and negatively impacting the normal mild-mannered honeybees.
The problem started when a man in South America imported a bunch of African queen bees that were from a very productive but aggressive variety.
He hoped to use them in developing a new hybrid bee to make South America the biggest honey producer in the world.
He had the African queen bees confined in 47 hives so they could not escape while he experimented with the project.
By mistake, a new assistant removed the confinement barrier from all 26 hives, and all 26 queens escaped into the forests of South America.
The rest is history.
The man conducting the experiment had thought he could breed out the aggressiveness of the African bees by crossing them with the nice-tempered European bees.
It turned out that "good" bees evolved into highly defensive "bad" bees because the normal honeybee takes 21 days to hatch while the killer bees take only 20 days to come out of their comb cells.
In other words, the queens are more likely to be selected from the killer bee cells. They in turn produce killer bees.
They have now spread into Florida and California and have stung hundreds of people, sometimes resulting in death.
The killer bees react to noise and disruption from as far away as 50 feet or more, while the regular honeybees are much less protective and reactive.
Bees are necessary for pollinating most of our food, so we cannot afford to just kill all bees en masse.
Scientists must find a way to eliminate the killer bee genes.
It should be pointed out that one cannot tell the "good" bee from the "bad" bee by appearance; they are identical, so resolving the problem is going to be very difficult.
Bee handlers and ordinary people are going to have to learn to avoid disturbing bees in the meantime.
Stay away from unusually located hives, such as under barbecue grills or in walls or attics, and keep the phone number of an experienced beekeeper handy.
Ask your doctor about emergency or preventive measures. By all means, do not disturb a mass of swarming bees!
-- Louis Houston is a resident of Siloam Springs. His book "The Grape-Toned Studebaker" is available locally and from Amazon.com. Send any questions or comments to [email protected] or call 524-6926. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 07/23/2014