While actual bees are plotzing all over the planet from pesticides, mites and disease, the buzz has shifted to itty bitty electronic drones. Interest is coming from all quarters. Retailer Walmart just took out a patent on a drone bee, which kind of makes sense when you consider that more than half its profits come from groceries and much of the food supply is tied into pollination. Artificial bees as the fix for our collective failure to save the real ones? There's not a lot of joy in that. Then there are NASA's "Marsbees," swarms of which could soon be heading to the red planet. Imagine the sound of thousands of tiny plastic wing beats at dawn... (Related: "Supply chains at risk as pollinators die out" )
