An artist's illustration shows how a remote-controlled drone might one day be used to pollinate flowers. Courtesy of Dr. Eijiro Miyako hide caption An artist's illustration shows how a remote-controlled drone might one day be used to pollinate flowers. Near Esparto, in the beautiful Capay Valley region of central California, 1,400 young almond trees flourish in a century-old orchard overlooking the hills. Since November, they've stood in perfect rows without a hint of foliage -- resting, naked and dormant, for the upcoming growing season. Their branches now swell with bright pastel blooms in preparation for pollination. Like most almond growers, Brian Paddock, owner of Capay Hills Orchard, relies on bees to provide this important aspect of crop development.

Steve Mirsky: Welcome to Scientific American's, Science Talk, posted on November 10, 2015. A short episode today for which I'll turn it over now to Scientific American's associate tech editor, Larry Greenemeier. Larry Greenemeier: Computers have always been good at doing things that are really complicated for us humans. On the other hand, computers have a really hard time recognizing a particular voice or face in a crowd; something most kids learn to do before they're even out of diapers. But things are changing fast. Over the next decade or so, machines will more easily mimic inherently human abilities.