And to start things off on CNN 10, we're heading out west, where large wildfires have been reported in 12 states.

From Alaska to California to New Mexico to Montana and every state in between more than 4.5 million acres have burned, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

It says that more than 30,000 firefighters and supporting workers have been deployed to the West to fight.

The blaze is at least 33 people have died in the region, and officials say dozens more are missing.

California seems to be the hardest hit state at this point.

It's the site of 24 wildfires, but 12 or more have been reported in each state of Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

These satellite images show you how the cities of Talent and Phoenix, Oregon have been devastated.

Longtime viewer Michael Torgersen tells us that thousands have been evacuated in southern Oregon.

Half a million people statewide have been told they may have to evacuate.

Like California, Oregon is no stranger to wildfires.

The state's governor says they typically destroy half a million acres per year.

But she adds that more than a million acres were lost in this past week alone, and neighboring Washington is struggling with its second worst wildfires in state history, according to its governor.

Miles away from the fires themselves, there are problems in the air.

Major League Baseball and the National Football League were monitoring air quality yesterday in advance of games played out west.

Clean air centers have been opened in parts of California to give relief to people who have nowhere else to go.

The problem could be seen as well as felt.

[Massive plumes of smoke blanketed the San Francisco Bay Area, turning the sky orange.]

It's like the apocalypse right now, haha, it's like nighttime in the daytime.

[Wildfires, raging across the West Coast generated the smoke and caused ash to rain down.]

They're saying it's coming all the way from Oregon, which is hundreds of miles away.

[Residents turned on lights, looking into a rust-colored sky that made it look like nighttime.]

11:15 in the morning, and it's like the middle of the night almost, so ...

[Other places, such as Salem, Oregon experienced similar apocalyptic glows.]

[Dozens of wildfires have been ravaging the West Coast, scorching millions of acres.]

[They've led to the longest stretch of unhealthy air quality alerts on record in the Bay Area.]

10-second trivia!

Which of these insects has the shortest lifespan?

Firefly, honeybee, termite or cicada?

Of these options, the worker honeybee has the shortest lifespan at around 40 days.

But what an important 40 days that is.

The US Department of Agriculture has credited pollinators, including bees, for playing a role in about a third of our food supply.

For decades, bee colonies have been decreasing in America, though they've been growing elsewhere.

From the middle of the last century until now, US bee colonies have declined from about six million to less than three million.

But worldwide colonies have increased from less than 50 million to more than 90 million.

And those include the one in Ireland were about to visit, which is using modern technology to help an ancient practice.

It's a centuries old tradition, and not for the faint-hearted.

They're getting a little excited now, they don't want anyone to touch their honey.

Regular hive inspections are necessary to see if it's healthy, that the queen is alive, allowing the colony to grow.

With up to 50,000 bees in each box, examinations can take several hours and can be labor intensive.

There's such a magnificent creature.

Collectively, these little creatures are so important to the survival of our planet, to economies.

I just think that we ... we should be protecting them.

See, the honeybee is not a mere honey producer.

One third of all the world's food crop production, like almonds and avocados, depend on pollinators.

Pollination from insects, mainly bees, contribute up to US$181 billion worth to the agri-food industry annually.

But whole colonies are being ravaged by diseases, and the use of pesticides and fungicides in farming.

Last year in the United States, beekeepers lost 43 percent of their colonies.

The good news, though, is that smart bee technology could be coming to the rescue.

High up in the Wicklow Mountains, about an hour south of Dublin in Ireland, Simon Lynch has been part of a testing ground for a new, emerging smart bee technology over the last two years.

And there is our queen.

A small Internet-connected sensor has been placed under the roof of the hive, where it measures temperature, humidity, sound and movement.

We've got beehives here in Ireland, in the U.K., in South Africa, over in the USA.

And what we've been doing for the last two years, is collecting data from these beehives--building a giant beehive database.

Irish startup ApisProtect claims that sensors can help produce losses on improve the health of honeybees worldwide by alerting beekeepers immediately if there's a problem in the hive.

The technology allows beekeepers like Simon to remotely monitor their hives, so that they can more quickly on more easily check whether there is a problem.

It's hoped that this technology will allow commercial beekeepers to upscale their business.

Ensuring more pollination and more food for a growing global population.

See, pollination is one of the most important biological processes on our planet.

When bees go out to forage, they collect nectar and pollen to bring back to their colony.

As it lands on a flower, a bee gets covered in pollen, a dust-like substance produced by the flower that contains the male reproductive materials.

As the bee moves from flower to flower, the pollen falls off, hopefully dusting the female reproductive structure.

That fertilizes the plants reproductive organs, kick starting the production of seeds and new plants.

Beekeeping, maybe an historic tradition, but smart technology hopes to ensure it has a fruitful future.

From bees to dogs, we're moving up the food chain today.

There are records of canines having been used in warfare for thousands of years, and these four-legged helpers recently participated in a military exercise in Nevada.

Technically, they're known as autonomous unmanned ground vehicles--UGVs.

But we like to call them robot dogs.

They're equipped with a number of sensors and radios, and their mission in this exercise was to scout for threats outside a cargo plane before the human troops came out and were exposed to danger.

So they're not attack vehicles, their information-gathering ones.

We don't know the cost.

But the electronics network Engadget reported that the company that makes these robot dogs was trying to develop a similar quadruped at a price point of US$1,500.

If you've ever wondered how fast do emperor penguins walk?

The answer is not very, but they can keep up with people.

At least this one did while following a group of expeditioners in Antarctica.

Try to catch up, buddy.

Hey ... yeah ...

The researcher who recorded this video told Storyful that every time he talked to the penguin the animal responded.

Try to keep up, buddy.

Okay, so that's how they went.

Having a nice conversation as the penguins slid along on its belly.

The Australian Antarctic program says sometimes emperor penguins just wanna tag along.

Well, why not?

He's king.

He's having a royally good time.

And if the ice sheet is like a red carpet, he should totally peng-win the title for best supporting Arct-or.

Okay, we know penguins aren't technically ox, but we could still talk like it for the sake of a really good pun-guin.

I'm Carl Azuz, Tok, Alaska is where we wrap up today's show.

Shout out to the students of Tok School.

That's all for today's edition of CNN (10).