Jerry J Bromenshenk wrote:

> Bottom line, its not a tradeoff of mites versus bombs.  DARPA funds
> research aimed at national security and the protection of lives - not
> basic bee research.  DARPA is the actual originator of the Internet and
> the Stealth bomber.  They fund high risk research that may have big
> payoffs.  They also fund for very short periods of time -- 3 years is
> about the length of a typical DARPA research project.  That's about like
> saying, start from scratch and <bold>solve</bold> the mite problem in
> under 3 years. =20
>
> Last time the press latched on to this topic, it was in the early
> conceptual stages.  Its now showing real promise.  In the meantime, I
> think you will begin to see payoffs to beekeeping itself.

An excellent response. This is not an either/or thing.

Research is just that. It might not lead to what is sought but find
something entirely new. And often, in areas like defense and space, the
fallout is greater to the private sector than either defense or space.
There have been a limited number of articles or shows about DARPA, but
what I have seen is that it is cutting edge research that often opens
new areas that were never invisioned in the origional research.

The return on investment by DARPA is fairly good for the kind of things
they put money into. Happy to see that Jerry is getting some of it.

Plus, as an interested party in the well being of the United States as
well as bees, I appreciate the money that is spent by DARPA.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Me