[ExI] bees again

[spike]

OK so we have now an ongoing experiment where Europe has banned neonics to
see if that can stop the decline of honeybees.  We can now compare Europe
with America to get some actual data, cool.

 

I have been working on an idea; perhaps you can help.  Please skip to the
last paragraph if you are in a hurry.  

 

I have seen way more dying bees this year than any before.  Even ignoring
the presumably anomalous event on 1 January where I saw hundreds of dying
bees in one place at one time, I have seen perhaps three to four times more
dying bees this year than the typical 15 to 20.  My notion has been that we
are seeing a combination of factors, one of which might be the
neonicotinoids.  The neonic theory explains the anomalous event but not the
other observations, where I often see bees clearly distressed but not
perished, out on a nice bee-day, no apparent explanation, no varroa mites on
them.  I have a notion that part of the problem, or a contributing factor,
might be household pesticides, largely aimed at cockroaches.  This gave me
an idea.

 

Bees are beauty queens of the bug world.  Without reading the article, look
at this picture at the top of this article and really look at a bee.  Isn't
she gorgeous?

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/05/13/183704091/what-is-it-about-bees
-and-hexagons?ft=3
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/05/13/183704091/what-is-it-about-bee
s-and-hexagons?ft=3&f=111787346&sc=nl&cc=es-20130519>
&f=111787346&sc=nl&cc=es-20130519

 

The transparent wings, the yellow and black transverse striping, the sexy
hourglass shape, it's just a pretty bug.

 

Contrast the reviled American cockroach:

 

http://www.google.com/search?q=american+cockroach+palmetto+bug
<http://www.google.com/search?q=american+cockroach+palmetto+bug&hl=en&tbm=is
ch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Ft2YUcaxOujUiwKosIGADg&ved=0CEgQsAQ&biw=984&bih
=754>
&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Ft2YUcaxOujUiwKosIGADg&ved=0CEgQsA
Q&biw=984&bih=754

I have looked carefully at these, even dissected them, I have watched
people's reaction to them, everything from revulsion to terror to
uncontrolled panic at seeing these perfectly harmless insects.  They don't
bite, they don't sting, they don't give you any dreaded disease, but they
are so hated that we intentionally introduce known toxins into our own
homes, chemicals with both known and unknown harmful effects to humans,
pets, birds and beneficial insects, to try to slay the bastards, and yet
they survive with a vengeance.

 

I have a theory that household pesticides may be one factor contributing to
the decline of honeybees.  I have seen proles use half a can of Raid,
indoors, after seeing just one roach.  This cannot be good.  Even I, the
oddball who really likes bugs, will admit that the cockroach is an ugly bug.


 

My idea is to try to use genetic engineering to make the cockroach more
attractive.  We do the gene sequencing, see if we can figure out what makes
a bee's wings transparent and what makes for those yellow and black stripes,
then see if we can gene-splice those sequences and create a cockroach that
looks like a huge bee.  Or failing that, see if we can get them to at least
have colorful wings like a butterfly, something other than that ugly
shit-brown they now have.  Then perhaps we can get people to grudgingly
accept them and stop using so much pesticide, which would reduce costs and
perhaps remove a possible factor in honeybee decline.  If we can make sheep
that glow in the dark, we should be able to make prettier cockroaches.

 

Have we any gene-splicing hipsters who can suggest a way to do this?

 

spike

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20130519/cba70a20/attachment.html>