Honey Bee Population Drops Sharply, and More From CRS
A “sharp decline” in the U.S. population of honey bees is examined in a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.
“This phenomenon first became apparent among commercial migratory beekeepers along the East Coast during the last few months of 2006, and has since been reported nationwide,” the CRS report said.
Various potential causes have been postulated, including parasites, pathogens, chemical contaminants, poor nutrition, and “stress.”
The declining bee population is the subject of a hearing today before the House Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture.
See “Recent Honey Bee Colony Declines,” Congressional Research Service, March 26, 2007.
Despite the best efforts of CRS management to impede public access to CRS products, the following CRS reports were obtained by Secrecy News (all pdf).
“Federal Advisory Committees: A Primer,” updated March 20, 2007.
“Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy and Implementation,” updated March 13, 2007.
“Defense Acquisition: Use of Lead System Integrators (LSIs) — Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress,” March 26, 2007.
In anticipation of future known and unknown health security threats, including new pandemics, biothreats, and climate-related health emergencies, our answers need to be much faster, cheaper, and less disruptive to other operations.
To unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence within the Department of Health and Human Services, an AI Corps should be established, embedding specialized AI experts within each of the department’s 10 agencies.
Investing in interventions behind the walls is not just a matter of improving conditions for incarcerated individuals—it is a public safety and economic imperative. By reducing recidivism through education and family contact, we can improve reentry outcomes and save billions in taxpayer dollars.
The U.S. government should establish a public-private National Exposome Project (NEP) to generate benchmark human exposure levels for the ~80,000 chemicals to which Americans are regularly exposed.