Climate Confidential

Large, unmanned aerial vehicles look like regular (albeit menacing) airplanes. But there are also small drones that resemble big insects, and they're being programmed to act like them too. Insectile drones could evolve into useful minions to track, map, and respond to climate change.

California, where ambitious agriculture sucks up 80 percent of the state’s developed water, is no stranger to water wrangles. Now one of the worst droughts in state history is pushing legislators to reckon with its unwieldy water laws, especially one major oversight: California has been the only Western state without groundwater regulation—but now that looks set to change.