Battle of the Ledes II: Whither the Bees?

The unexplained disappearance of U.S. honeybee colonies has mystified scientists, frightened farmers and set journalists abuzz. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

It's high time, then, for the second Wired Science Battle of the Ledes. Who among our nation's science scribes has proved to be more than a drone?

Third place goes to the Christian Science Monitor, one of the first organizations to cover the mystery:

Beekeeper James Doan first began finding empty hives last fall. Entire bee colonies seemed to have up and vanished, leaving their honey behind. Noting the unusually wet fall in Hamlin, N.Y., he blamed the weather. Unable to forage in the rain, the bees probably starved, he reasoned.

Coming in second is The Economist:

IT IS a mystery that would tax the minds of the world's greatest detectives. Across America beekeepers are finding hives abandoned. What appear to be normal, healthy adults suddenly disappear within two days, leaving their queen, their food stores and the young. In the past, a mass exodus would leave the hive to be ransacked by honeybees from neighbouring colonies. This time, not only is the retreat more common, but nearby bees seem strangely reluctant to enter the abandoned hives. There are no dead bodies, but scientists who have studied the corpses of the occasional remaining live adult report that they are ravaged by disease.

For eery atmospherics, it's hard to beat the strange reluctance of nearby bees to pillage deserted hives, but a few odd notes hold this lede back. Don't detectives search for murderers and cheating spouses, not missing bees? And how can an "occasional remaining live adult" be a corpse?

For dispensing with the live corpses while capturing the story's essential creepiness, the honeypot goes to the humble Lansing State Journal in Lansing, Michigan:

Mary Ording knew which beehives were dead even before she opened them Sunday.

A newbie apiarist might have seen the occasional bee flying in and out of the hives and thought: "Ah, life."

The Aurelius Township beekeeper knew better.

These were robber bees, pilfering dead hives for scraps of honey.

Image: Matteo X