AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein laid the smackdown on the Einstein bee quote with his Cellphones, rapture or Einstein? Ideas, myths swirl around bees’ disappearance article today:

Also on the Internet is a quote attributed to Albert Einstein on how humans would die off in four years if not for honeybees. It’s wrong on two counts.

First, Einstein probably never said it, according to Alice Calaprice, author of “The Quotable Einstein” and five other books on the physicist.

“I’ve never come across it in anything Einstein has written,” Calaprice said. “it could be that someone had made it up and put Einstein’s name on it.”

Second, it’s incorrect scientifically, [U.S. Department of Agriculture bee researcher Jeff] Pettis said. There would be food left for humans because some food is wind-pollinated.

I stopped checking Einstein experts at Walter Isaacson since his word was good enough for me. Alice Calaprice, as author of “The Quotable Einstein” is probably in a better position to know an Einstein quote when she saw it.

Kudos to Seth Borenstein for helping shoo this myth away!