This is very much worth reading, not because it directly applies to bees,
but because it applies to all life.

http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/12/12/scientists-discover-double-meaning
-in-genetic-code/
http://tinyurl.com/o9sxz6v

No, it is not transcription factors, that's old hat.

These new codings for the same old DNA are exactly the sort of thing that
you only find if you fund work that is open-ended and investigator
self-directed.  It may well become the basis for solving many problems we
face in the area of disease.

In other news, US Federal spending on research and development has declined
by 16.3% since 2010, the fastest drop in a three-year period since the end
of the "space race" in the 1970s.  Only about 2% of the cuts are because of
the "sequester".

Long ago I had to justify a budget for "basic research" to VPs who thought
that "R&D" was a waste of time and money if it was not creating
ready-to-sell products for next year.  "R&D is what we are doing when we
DON'T know what will result", I said, over and over.  

This is the sort of thing you get for your "basic research" R&D dollar -
knowledge that may very well change how we live, how long we live, and how
much of a good time we have while doing so.



	

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