The Download: Our thawing permafrost, and a drone-filled future

Something is rotten in the city of Nunapitchuk. In recent years, sewage has leached into the earth. The ground can feel squishy, sodden.

This small town in northern Alaska is experiencing a sometimes overlooked consequence of climate change: thawing permafrost. And Nunapitchuk is far from the only Arctic town to find itself in such a predicament. 

Now scientists think they may be able to use satellite data to delve deep beneath the ground’s surface and get a better understanding of how the permafrost thaws, and which areas might be most severely affected. Read the full story.

—Sarah Scoles

The US may be heading toward a drone-filled future

—James O’Donnell

Last week, I published a story about the police-tech giant Flock Safety selling its drones to the private sector to track shoplifters. Keith Kauffman, a former police chief who now leads Flock’s drone efforts, described the ideal scenario: A security team at a Home Depot, say, launches a drone from the roof that follows shoplifting suspects to their car. The drone tracks their car through the streets, transmitting its live video feed directly to the police.

It’s a vision that, unsurprisingly, alarms civil liberties advocates. But the fate of drones in the US pretty much comes down to one rule. It’s a Federal Aviation Administration regulation that stipulates where and how drones can be flown—and it is about to change. Read the full story.

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.