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Secrets of the Hive
Propolis might have life-saving properties

By Sara Specht

Unexplained disappearances, a baffling plague, an irreplaceable society crumbling: these are not the trappings of a musty history textbook or war coverage from across an ocean. They are essential pieces of a modern-day mystery that spans the globe.

This is the story of honeybees, their struggle to survive and the secret they may have to saving themselves. It’s the tale of three CFANS investigators and their team, who hope to learn the bees’ secret and use it to save humans, as well.

And it all began with a sore throat.

Once upon a time
About seven years ago, a researcher from the Ukraine working at the University of Minnesota medical school on lab trials to combat HIV came down with a cold. She, like countless people around the world, had always relied on a traditional treatment for such woes, a substance found in any honeybee hive: propolis.

Propolis, sometimes known as bee glue, is a thick, sticky resin that bees collect from tree buds and use to cement holes in the hive and defend it against invading parasites and diseases. Traditional healers from South America to China, Japan to Eastern Europe, have valued propolis as a remedy for such ailments as gum problems and dental health, skin issues and oral sores, as well as viruses and the common cold.