Good vibrations could save vanishing bees

IT IS a mystery that has had scientists stumped. But now experts in Scotland believe they have discovered why bees have been abandoning their hives and vanishing.

Scientists at the Roslin-based firm Global Bioenergetics think disturbance to bees from mobile phones, radio signals, wi-fi and microwaves is disrupting them with devastating results.

They think increased airwaves could be interfering with their ability to do the bee dance, which they use to tell other bees where to find pollen.

Stress caused to the bees by the radiation could be damaging their immune systems, leaving them prone to increasing levels of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides sprayed on crops.

The scientists are trying out a new device, called a Bioemitter, that transmits electromagnetic waves to provide a stable environment and reduce stress for the bees in their hives, boosting their immune system.

Global Bioenergetics is about to start trials with bee farmer Brian Poole, from Scottish-Honey.

Fiona Murray, a political and environmental adviser for Global Bioenergetics, said: "The Bioemitter creates a field in the hive. It inputs a highly specified frequency. In comparison frequencies from things like mobile phones are random.

The specific frequency shields out the frequency of the mobile phones, microwaves and everything else from the hives, to create a more stable environment in the hive.

We can also put in frequencies that are beneficial, to boost the bees' own immune system.

They are still going to be exposed when they are flying about to the radiation and the sprays that are going on to the field, but the aim is to get their own system to be able to cope with it better."

Previous trials have shown the Bioemitter can also get rid of the devastating varroa mite, which sucks blood from bees and leaves them susceptible to infection.

It has similarly been shown to destroy red mites, which infest chickens.

We are creating a field that these parasites can't live in," said Ms Murray. "They can't cope with the vibration of the signal."

The same technique has been used to eliminate salmonella from one farmer's pig shed in Yorkshire, and the company thinks it has huge potential.

Now it is trying to secure funding to carry out trials on bees using the device.

Environmentalists say the decline in bee populations threatens ecosystems.

Some experts say at least a third of the food we eat is affected by the bee population. Thousands have disappeared in Scotland and there are reports of entire hives vanishing across Europe and the US. Ms Murray said: "Bees are so representative of the whole ecosystem. Einstein said we have only got five years to live without the bees. I believe this is evidence that everything we have done to our environment is coming to a head."