Honeybees did better this winter than they have on average the past 7 years according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, but it's not yet clear why. “This year’s survey results, while encouraging, do not provide much comfort because it is not known why the bees seemed to do better this past winter than previous winters,” said Gene Robinson, the director of the Institute for Genomic Biology at Illinois. “We can’t rest until we really understand the factors that drive differences in losses.”