If bees go, we all know, humans are in trouble. And a lot of bees have been going lately. Huge die-offs. Colony collapse. All over.

The bottom line issue, of course, is that bees pollinate a big chunk of the crops that feed us. In China now it’s gotten so bad they are hand-pollinating blossoms in orchards. Doing by human hand what billions of bees once did. Talk about unsustainable.

New or old breeds of bees may save the day, but the biggest of those are killer bees.

This hour, On Point: the latest on the lives and deaths of bees.

- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Markus Imhoof, Academy-Award-nominated director and screenwriter of the new documentary, “More Than Honey.”

Eric Mussen, extension apiculturist at the University of California Davis.

From Tom's Reading List

USA Today: Scientists Take Swat at Honeybee Loss — "Paul Campanis lost half of his beehives on his 16-acre Nashville farm this winter. Nashville gardener David Davies has seen so little honeybee activity this spring that he's resorted to using a paintbrush to pollinate his tomato and squash plants. The nation's honeybees are dying off in record numbers and researchers, including at the University of Tennessee, are scrambling to figure out why."

Reuters: Honeybee food may contribute to U.S. colony collapse -study — "Bee keepers' use of corn syrup and other honey substitutes as bee feed may be contributing to colony collapse by depriving the insects of compounds that strengthen their immune systems, according to a study released on Monday."

NBC News: 'Killer bees' leave Texas man dead, woman in serious condition — "A Texas man was stung to death after he drove his tractor into a pile of wood that concealed a hive of 40,000 "killer bees," authorities and family members said Sunday. Every inch of exposed skin was covered with stings on the body of Larry Goodwin, 62, of Moody, Texas, family members told NBC station KCEN of Waco."