What are pollinators?

Rowers are known to employ all manner of trickery to attract pollinators, from taking the shape of an insect mate to emitting wafts of rotting flesh. A South African flower lures in its main pollinators, Desmometopa flies, with the scent of a fresh meal. The flower produces a cocktail of chemicals that mimics those released by a wounded honey bee, drawing flies into a pollen-coated chamber.

Microsoft said it would buy LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, which equals the combined amount Microsoft has paid for its next four largest acquisitions. The leading site for professional social-networking, LinkedIn has struggled to get its customers to use the site repeatedly. Microsoft, which is grappling to reinvent itself for the online age, might add Linkedln to its Office software. Whether that will entice more people to use its products is an open question.