Research -- and a lot of theory -- about what's decimating bee populations.

Recently we wrote about Colony Collapse Disorder, the syndrome in which bees desert their hives and disappear. About half the bees have left apiaries in North America and Europe, and after they go, they don't turn up someplace else. They're just gone. No one knows where or why.

In some of the coverage about this, you may encounter a quote attributed to Albert Einstein to the effect that if bees disappear, humankind will have four years of life left. But there's no evidence that Albert Einstein had any opinions about bees, their disappearance and environmental degradation; the quote seems to have been invented in 1994 and attributed to Einstein.

Regardless of Einstein's views about apiculture, bees are vital -- their pollination has a direct impact on about a third of the food we eat. And then there are the ecological and biodiversity issues that their pollination affects.

A story in today's New York Times looks at the latest research on the causes and remedies for Colony Collapse Disorder, as well as including a survey of theories about it (our favorite is the "bee rapture" scenario where they're buzzing off to heaven).

We hope that the research identifies a cause, leading in turn to a solution. But whatever happens, this is another reminder about interconnectedness, human impact on the planet and the simultaneously immutable and completely random rule of unintended consequences.