<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Colony collapse disorder \u2014 the phenomenon of disappearing bees, observed all around the world \u2014 could be partially attributed to cellphone use.\nThe disappearance of bees is a serious issue, since they pollinate many of world's agricultural crops. So far, scientists haven't been able to pinpoint the exact causes of the syndrome, leading to the theory that several issues are reducing the bee population.\nA recent study, conducted by Daniel Favre at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, sheds more light on the issue by showing that cellphone signals are seriously affecting \u2014 or even killing \u2014 bees. To conduct the study, Favre tested honeybees' reactions to nearby cellphones in different modes: off, standby and making a call. \n\"The results of the present pilot study clearly show that the presence of actively communicating mobile phone handsets in the close vicinity of honeybees had a dramatic effect,\" Favre says in his report. \"Honeybees are sensitive to pulsed electromagnetic fields generated by the mobile telephones.\" In other words, the cellphone signals confuse bees to the point where they leave the hive and don't return.\nOf course, once could argue that the cellphones are \u2014 generally speaking \u2014 far away from bee populations, which makes the devices an unlikely cause for their deaths. \n\"Phones are not present in the close vicinity of honeybees in real life,\" Favre concludes in his report. \"This study provides elements for the establishment of further experiments involving such apparatus placed at increasing distances from the bees.\"\nThe entire report in PDF format is available here. \n[via FastCompany]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/05/12/cellphone-bees/>