Lightning
Latest about lightning
A Single Thundercloud Carries 1 Billion Volts of Electricity
By Brandon Specktor published
A single thundercloud is more powerful than even the most potent nuclear plants on Earth. Scientists used cosmic rays to prove it.
A Field Covered in Dead, Headless Reindeer and Poop Is Teaching Us About the Circle of Life
By Yasemin Saplakoglu published
Scavengers are helping transform a grim landscape in Norway
Plasma Scientists Created Invisible, Whooping 'Whistlers' in a Lab
By Rafi Letzter published
The strange radio bursts usually circle the Earth like electromagnetic ghosts, but scientists have now created and studied their shapes in a plasma chamber on Earth.
Artists Have Been Drawing Lightning Bolts Wrong for Centuries
By Laura Geggel published
If you draw lightning bolts like crooked zigzags, then you're doing it wrong — but at least you're in good company. Artists have drawn lightning incorrectly for hundreds of years, a new study finds.
Ghostly 'Lightning' Waves Discovered Inside a Nuclear Reactor
By Marcus Woo published
Whistler waves are normally produced in the atmosphere by lightning. They could help protect nuclear fusion reactors from runaway electrons.
A Massive Electrical Field Aligned All the Snowflakes in This Week's Nor'easter
By Rafi Letzter published
A powerful storm is causing ice crystals to form strange, radar-confusing patterns above New York City.
News Flash: Lightning Deaths Hit a Record Low in 2017
By Laura Geggel published
Death from lightning strike hit a record low in 2017 in the United States, according to a new report.
Lightning Bolts Are Churning Out Antimatter All Over Planet Earth
By Rafi Letzter published
Flash, boom, gamma-rays!
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