Café Scientifique with Dr Marla Spivak, "Our Disappearing Bees" Recorded at the Bryant Lake Bowl on 04-15-14. "Over the years, honey bees have faced a series of devastating problems, including a witches' brew of diseases, parasites and pesticides that together contribute to the mass honey bee die-off known as colony collapse disorder. Now, a relatively new class of insecticides that affect the central nervous system of insects is pushing the pollinator crisis to the edge, while researchers like Marla Spivak race to discover the causes and consequences of our disappearing bees. Dr. Spivak is an entomologist and professor at the University of Minnesota, whose interest in bees began when she worked for a commercial beekeeper from New Mexico in 1975. She later completed her B.A. in Biology from Humboldt State University in northern California, and her PhD from the University of Kansas, under Dr. Orley "Chip" Taylor, in 1989. She spent two years in Costa Rica conducting her thesis research on the identification and ecology of Africanized and European honey bees. From 1989-1992 she was a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Insect Science at the University of Arizona. She began as Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota in 1993. Influenced by Martha Gilliam and Steve Taber from the USDA Bee lab in Tucson, she became interested in hygienic behavior of honey bees. This interest has expanded into studies of "social immunity", including the benefits of propolis to the immune system of honey bees, and to the health and diversity of all bee pollinators. Dr. Spivak received the prestigious "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2010."