Pollination is the process by which pollen (a powdery substance containing plant reproductive cells) moves from one part of a flower to another, or from one flower to another, allowing plants to create seeds and reproduce. Think of pollen as tiny packages of genetic information that need to travel to the right destination for new plants to grow.

Many flowering plants can't pollinate themselves. They need help from pollinators: creatures like bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and even bats that visit flowers for nectar and accidentally carry pollen from flower to flower on their bodies. When a bee lands on a sunflower, pollen sticks to its fuzzy body. When that bee visits another sunflower, some of that pollen rubs off, and pollination happens.

Without pollination, we wouldn't have apples, strawberries, almonds, or countless other foods. About one-third of the food humans eat depends on pollination by animals. Some plants use wind for pollination instead of animals. Corn and many grasses scatter their pollen into the air, hoping it lands on the right flower.

The word can also be used in a broader sense: when ideas or influences spread from one place to another, we sometimes call this cross-pollination. Scientists from different fields might cross-pollinate ideas when they work together, combining their knowledge to solve new problems.