Millions of bees have died this year: "Worst bee loss in recorded history"
The U.S. beekeeping industry is in crisis over the shocking and unexplained deaths of hundreds of millions of bees over the last eight months.
It's an unfolding disaster for the industry. Blake Shook, one of the nation's top beekeepers, has found tens of thousands of dead insects at his businesses. He said that he's never seen losses like this.
"The data is showing us this is the worst bee loss in recorded history," Shook told CBS Saturday Morning.
Researchers are struggling to understand what's causing the deaths.
Juliana Rangel, an entomologist at Texas A&M University, has been studying bee hives in her lab. There are a few potential explanations, she said, including changing habitats and weather patterns. But there's no certain answer, she said.
Bees play a critical role in U.S. food production. In addition to making honey, they pollinate 75% of the fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in the U.S. That's $15 billion worth of crops. Shook said the current losses are unsustainable.
"If this is a multi-year thing, it'll change the way we consume food in the United States," Shook said. "If we lose 80% of our bees every year, the industry cannot survive, which means we cannot pollinate at the scale that we need to produce food in the United States."
One example is almonds. With honeybees pollinating them, almond trees produce two to three thousand pounds of almonds per acre, Shook said. Without that pollination, almond trees produce only 200 pounds of nuts per acre.
"There is no almond crop without honeybees," Shook said.
One of Shook's businesses focuses on rebuilding dead hives. He's receiving an alarming number of those hives, he said, from commercial operations across the country. Beekeeping groups say 25% of those commercial operations may be put out of business by year's end because of the losses.
"I got a call from a friend who had 20,000 beehives at the start of the winter, and he's at less than 1,000. He said 'This is it, I'm done.' I've had far too many of those calls in the last few weeks," Shook said. "It's not just a beekeeper issue. This is a national food security issue."
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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
With the Musk-Trump divide, what is the future of DOGE?
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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
How faulty DOGE AI tool impacted VA contracts
The code, using outdated and inexpensive AI models, produced results with glaring mistakes. For instance, it hallucinated the size of contracts, frequently misreading them and inflating their value. It concluded more than a thousand were each worth $34 million, when in fact some were for as little as $35,000. The DOGE AI tool flagged more than 2,000 contracts for 'munching.' It's unclear how many have been or are on track to be canceled — the Trump administration's decisions on VA contracts have largely been a black box. The VA uses contractors for many reasons, including to support hospitals, research and other services aimed at caring for ailing veterans. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up VA officials have said they've killed nearly 600 contracts overall. Congressional Democrats have been pressing VA leaders for specific details of what's been canceled without success. Advertisement We identified at least two dozen on the DOGE list that have been canceled so far. Among the canceled contracts was one to maintain a gene sequencing device used to develop better cancer treatments. Another was for blood sample analysis in support of a VA research project. Another was to provide additional tools to measure and improve the care nurses provide. Advertisement ProPublica obtained the code and the contracts it flagged from a source and shared them with a half dozen AI and procurement experts. All said the script was flawed. Many criticized the concept of using AI to guide budgetary cuts at the VA, with one calling it 'deeply problematic.' 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In late March, Lavingia published a version of the 'munchable' script According That openness may have eventually led to Lavingia's dismissal. Lavingia confirmed he was VA officials have declined to say whether they will continue to use the 'munchable' tool moving forward. But the administration may deploy AI to help the agency replace employees. Documents previously obtained by ProPublica show DOGE officials proposed in March consolidating the benefits claims department by relying more on AI. And the government's contractors are paying attention. After Lavingia posted his code, he said he heard from people trying to understand how to keep the money flowing. 'I got a couple DMs from VA contractors who had questions when they saw this code,' he said. 'They were trying to make sure that their contracts don't get cut. Or learn why they got cut. 'At the end of the day, humans are the ones terminating the contracts, but it is helpful for them to see how DOGE or Trump or the agency heads are thinking about what contracts they are going to munch. Transparency is a good thing.'
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White House security staff warned Musk's Starlink is a security risk
Elon Musk's team at the U.S. DOGE Service and allies in the Trump administration ignored White House communications experts worried about potential security breaches when they installed Musk's Starlink internet service in the complex this year, three people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, said those who were managing White House communications systems were not informed in advance when DOGE representatives went to the roof of the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building in February to install a terminal connecting users in the complex to Starlink satellites, which are owned by Musk's private SpaceX rocket company.
