in paulman washington, members of her team are breeding the >> >> what are these? >> voucher specimens. this is egypt collected in 1998, and bees from australia. >> for years they've gathered diverse stocks of bee sperm from italy, turkey and the kauk cos mountains to build diversity. >> this is the isolated mating station. we use it to control the mating of the bees. the colonies that have the males that we want for the mating. we have virgin queens that have been produced from crosses that we made during the frozen semen. >> a remarkable aspect fence on smn. work. >> this is the first sperm bank. it has to be frozen for future use. >> it's an extreme environment for the cells to be put through. >> after it's gathered in the storing tubes, the temperatures is lowered very slowly. these scientists in washington are hoping to change the health of bee colonies in the u.s. >> put it in this one. jam is in there. >> it's unknown whether it will be soon enough to help bee keepers like steve ellis. we have reached the disaster point from bee keeping industry standpoint.