It is not just humans who can be vaccinated. Researchers from the University of Helsinki in Finland are developing a vaccine for bees.

The goal is to fight diseases and help increase this insect population which has decreased significantly in the last few years. The vaccine does not use syringes. It uses a type of sweet liquid that attracts bees. When the queen-bee ingests the liquid, bacteria that are in it are transported to the egg (the animal’s reproductive part).

This way, the next bees that are born develop mechanisms to fight that bacteria. Because the queen bee is responsible for procreating all the members of the beehive, the entire population will be protected from certain diseases that affect the survival of these insects.

“Of course, honeybees have many other problems as well: pesticides, habitat loss and so on, but diseases come hand in hand with these life-quality problems. If we can help honeybees be healthier and if we can save even a small part of the bee population with this invention, I think we have done our good deed and saved the world a little bit,” says researcher Dalial Freitak.

WHY DO BEES MATTER?

Without bees, we would not have most of the fruits and vegetables that we consume today. That is because they are responsible for pollination, the process that transports pollen from one plant to the other. It is estimated that 85% of wild plant species rely on this process to grow.

QUESTIONS

1. Why was researcher Dalial Freitak’s speech inserted in the text?
a. To explain why researchers developed the vaccine
b. So Freitak can explain her work step-by-step
c. Using interviewees’ speech in all news articles is mandatory
d. To attract the reader’s attention

2. Do you have any other ideas that could help save bees? What are they?

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