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S T E M I N C U R R E N T E V E N T S

CCD occurs when nearly all the adult bees in a colony—except the queen—die out. No one knows why CCD happens, although some speculate it has to do with the bee’s environment or tiny parasites that kill the bees from the inside out. Whatever the cause, one thing is certain: If the honeybee becomes extinct,most of the world’s pollinated plants will also vanish. Armed with this sober knowledge, researchers at Harvard Uni- versity andNortheasternUniversity inMassachusetts undertook a project to save the food supply by building robotic bees that might one day pollinate fields of crops. Known as RoboBees, the autonomous flying micro-bots have yet to take flight in any se- rious way. However, the tiny machines offer farmers the ability to turn agriculture on its ear.

Using electronic sensors and cameras instead of antennae and eyes, each diminutive RoboBee will one day buzz across fields of

This is RoboBee, shown in comparison to a small bolt. Yes, the tiny flying machine is that small. But it might someday be used to help farmers.