00:00The Superfood That Could Save Bees From Global Collapse
00:03The news is exciting and urgent.
00:07Scientists have developed a superfood that could be the salvation of bees,
00:11which are facing an unprecedented global collapse.
00:15This breakthrough, a true milestone in biology,
00:18could protect these vital pollinators from threats like climate change and habitat loss.
00:23The situation is critical.
00:25In the United States, annual colony losses have ranged between 40% and 50% over the last decade.
00:33In the United Kingdom, some beekeepers reported losing up to 75% of their hives just last winter.
00:40These figures are alarming, as bees are responsible for pollinating 70% of the world's major crops.
00:47Without them, our food security is at risk.
00:50The underlying problem has been their diet.
00:52Bees rely on pollen and nectar for essential nutrients,
00:57especially lipids called steriles, which are crucial for their development.
01:02During the winter, or when flowers are scarce, beekeepers give them a supplemental food.
01:08However, this food, made of protein, flour, sugar, and water, has always lacked these vital nutrients.
01:15It was like a human diet without carbohydrates, amino acids, or vitamins.
01:19To solve this problem, Professor Geraldine Wright of the University of Oxford led a team of scientists for 15 years.
01:28Their goal was to identify the steriles that bees need and find a way to provide them.
01:33They achieved this with a feat of genetic engineering,
01:36using gene editing to create a yeast capable of producing the six specific steriles that bees require.
01:41It's a breakthrough that Professor Wright still celebrates by looking at the photo of the chromatogram on her office wall.
01:49The technique is innovative.
01:52One of the researchers, Jennifer Chanels, described the process as creating a cookie dough.
01:58Using kitchen equipment, she mixed various proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and micronutrients,
02:03including the new yeast, to determine what the bees preferred and what benefited them the most.
02:09The laboratory results were spectacular.
02:13Colonies fed with this new supplement produced up to 15 times more bees that successfully grew to adulthood.
02:20This means healthier, more disease-resistant bees capable of surviving periods of nutritional stress,
02:26such as droughts, which lead to the greatest winter losses.
02:29While preparing for large-scale trials, it is expected that this superfood will be available to beekeepers and farmers within the next two years.
02:38This innovative work, the result of a collaboration between several institutions,
02:44marks a giant step forward in protecting bees and, with them, our food future.
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