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There is an environmental mystery afoot,

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and it begins with the seemingly trival detail

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that reveals a disaster of global proportions.

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One day, you notice that the honey

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you slather on your morning toast

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is more expensive.

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Instead of switching to jam,

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you investigate the reason for the price hike.

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What you find is shocking.

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The number of domesticated honey bees in the US

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has been decreasing at an alarming rate.

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This decline appears too big to be explained

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by the usual causes of bee death alone:

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disease, parasites or starvation.

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The typical crime scene

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has almost no adult bees left in the hive,

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except, perhaps, a lonely queen

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and a few other survivors.

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It's full of untouched food stores

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and a brood of unborn larvae,

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suggesting that the adults vacated

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without waiting for them to hatch.

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But what's particularly eerie

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is that there is no tell-tale mass

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of dead or dying bees nearby.

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Either they have forgotten their way back to the hive,

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or they have simply disappeared.

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These mysterious disappearances aren't new.

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Humans have been collecting honey for centuries.

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But it wasn't until European settlers in the 1600s

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introduced the subspecies, Apis Mallifera,

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that we domesticated bees.

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Since the 19th century, bee keepers have

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recorded occasional mass disappearances,

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Giving them enigmatic names like