UMass Amherst study of bee health finds no natural medicine in once-promising compound

UMass Amherst study of bee health finds no natural medicine in once-promising compound 08/31/2017 05:51 PM EDT Ph.D. student Evan Palmer-Young and advisor evolutionary ecologist Lynn Adler had reported in 2015 that a parasitic infection of bumble bees, Crithidia bombi, was reduced when the bees fed on anabasine, a natural alkaloid, in sugar water. They had hoped their finding was evidence that bees may use "nature's medicine cabinet" to rid themselves of the intestinal parasite. But they report in the current issue of PLOS ONE that result was not repeated. Full story at http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/umass-amherst-study-bee-health-finds-no Source University of Massachusetts at Amherst This is an NSF News From the Field item.   Follow NSF:  This email was sent using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: National Science Foundation Update · 4201 Wilson Boulevard · Arlington, VA 22230 · 703-292-5111