> So help me out here Jim and Christine.  I'm looking at 
> supportive Data S3.  It appears to me that there are 
> very large hive-to-hive, and larva-to-larva differences 
> in RNA expression, independent of treatment.  
> This gives me pause.

My advice would be to ask the designated contact for the study, and copy
your inquiry to this thread.  Please do post the full reply too, as we'd all
like to hear what the answer might be.

Going forward, I would suggest this as a prerequisite to posting a critique
finding fault with any study, as if the critique is valid, the dodging and
weaving of the cornered researcher will be far more amusing than the mere
speculative indictment of a beekeeper, and if the critique is invalid, we
will all learn something new.  I am suspicious of Bee-L critiques of
published studies that are simple and concise.  As I noted in a prior post
in this thread, I'd expect pre-publication review to address such simple and
compelling questions.

If none of the research team replies, send the inquiry to Emma Thorne
([log in to unmask]).  She was nice enough to send me a pre-print,
and as she is with the college press office, she would be very happy to hear
about your concern over such an obscure paper.

This is how I learn lots of bleeding-edge details, and I am amazed at how
many people will take time out of their day to explain things in detail to a
mere random beekeeper like myself.  As a general rule, I've never read a
paper with a goal of understanding it that answered all questions in
sufficient detail to avoid me writing the authors about at least one
question.

> And thank you Jim for the lesson on statistics, 

That was probability, not statistics. 

> which I gladly defer to you.  

Probably so. 

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