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b'In this episode we travel to a world without bees. And not just honey bees, all bees.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0You\\u2019ve probably heard a lot of doom and gloom predictions about what might happen if honey bees went extinct. Mass famine! The end of coffee! World economic collapse! But is that all true? (Probably not.) And how likely is a honeybee extinction anyway? (Extremely unlikely.) Plus, what about all the other bees in the world? We ponder these questions and more in this episode.\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0To walk us through what might happen to agriculture if bees went away, I talked to Marcelo A. Aizen, a researcher who studies plant pollinator interactions. His research suggests that the loss of honeybees might not be as dire as everybody claims. And to talk about the more neglected bees out there, I called up Elaine Evans, a professor at the University of MInnesota\\u2019s Bee Lab, and Paige Embry, the author of the forthcoming book Our Native Bees: North America\\u2019s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0Plus, a little bonus \\u201cwhat if\\u201d at the end, featuring cartoonist Dean Yeagle, the man who drew the original Honey Nut Cheerios bee.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0Further reading:\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0How much does agriculture depend on pollinators? Lessons from long-term trends in crop production (PDF)\\n\\xa0How to befriend bumblebees\\xa0\\n\\xa0What if bees went extinct?\\n\\xa0Why bees are disappearing\\n\\xa0Citizen Science: Bumble Bee Surveys\\n\\xa0Has Anybody Seen the Franklin\\u2019s Bumblebee?\\n\\xa0Franklin\\u2019s Bumblebee Still Elusive\\n\\xa0The Old Man and the Bee\\n\\xa0Wallace\\u2019s Giant Bee\\n\\xa0Honey Nut Cheerios Mascot Goes Missing as Brand Addresses Declining Bee Populations\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The future voice this episode was provided by Mike Rugnetta. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at info@flashforwardpod.com. I love hearing your ideas! And if you think you\\u2019ve spotted one of the little references I\\u2019ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you\\u2019re right, I\\u2019ll send you something cool.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that\\u2019s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0That\\u2019s all for this future, come back next time and we\\u2019ll travel to a new one.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'