A few quick notes about bees. We all know that bees are essential to our daily lives, no matter how much we dislike their stingers. But with bee populations decreasing drastically over the past few years, their continued health has become even more vital. So to remind us all about our little buzzing friends, here's a few stories from around the web about bees.

First, in the UK, beekeepers are pushing for money to research ways to prevent the colony collapses seen here in the U.S.

Beekeepers have warned that most of the country's honey bees could be wiped out by disease in 10 years unless an urgent research programme is launched to find new treatments and drugs. They are to launch a nationwide campaign, including protests, to force the government to fund the £8m research project which they say is needed to save the nation's bees.