A mushroom extract might save bees from a killer virus

I posted this article partly in response to the recent one about Glyphosate affecting bees’ gut microbes.

One hypothesis about the cause of colony collapse disorder is that a number of environmental factors (possibly including glyphosate use) are combining to weaken the immune systems of bees, as well as increasing the number of disease-carrying parasites they are exposed to.

The studies done by Stamets, while small-scale, show remarkable decreases in virus load, making for healthier bees. This article is both recent and a good write up of the whole tale. You can hear Stamets tell it himself in any number of videos, but he takes about an hour to do it. He does show more in-depth data than what’s in the article.