Bees are dying. We don’t know exactly why, but our future depends on finding out

Colony collapse disorder (CCD), a name coined in 2006, describes a honeybee colony that has lost the vast majority of its worker bees, with only a queen, nurse bees and immature bees remaining. If CCD continues, it could be more than solely an animal ethics issue, but might be disastrous for us too: bees are workers who provide us with hundreds of billions of dollars in labour. We rely on honeybees for the fertilisation of some of our most vital crops. The Death of Bees Explained is an unsettling look at the factors that scientists believe might lead to CCD, and the gloomy future humanity could face if we can’t curb the damage soon.