All across America, beekeepers have noticed that their bees have just gone missing. It's been a huge mystery, and a huge problem, as all kinds of plants -- agricultural and otherwise -- need bees for pollination.

There is currently no recognizable underlying cause for CCD. The main symptom is finding no or a low number of adult honey bees present with no dead honey bees in the hive. Often there is still honey in the hive and immature bees (brood) are present.

The USDA is trying to coordinate research into this bizarre and troubling phenomenon. I'm not a fan of large government, but it seems to me this is an example of when government can provide a useful function by polling and coordinating resources.