Eugene says:

"I think it's well established that you can poison bees in a lab with pesticides. I just don't understand why we keep paying people to do so."

We pay people to get beyond the obvious to figure out the mechanisms....the hows and whys.  In this case, the researchers are trying to figure out what sublethal effects actually are.  This would help, for instance, in being able to accurately describe why some hives crash from Varroa next to other hives that appear to thrive.  Keeping your bees alive is not just about treating Varroa (although for many of you, that is all that seems to matter) it's about ALL the stressors that lower the bees' resistance to pests, in particular, Varroa.  Thus, specifically, it is important to grasp what (list your stressor here) is doing to bees that have sublethal reactions to it.

By the way, I noticed that it is a lot easier to look through tracheal tubes after the bees have been frozen first (read "winter dead-out" here).  I was astonished at the numbers of tracheal mites that are in tubes that aren't otherwise "cloudy", "spotted brown", or "black".  This observation isn't in the manuals, so some might find it interesting.

Christina

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