Lightning Protection: Lasers, Rockets or Rods?

Lightning Protection: Lasers, Rockets or Rods...

Up next

The truth about intermittent fasting

From TikTok and Instagram influencers to celebrities like Hugh Jackman and Kourtney Kardashian, intermittent fasting has gotten a lot of hype. The diet restricts what time you eat rather than what or how much you eat. The idea is that short periods of fasting cause your body to b ...  Show more

The neuroscience of cracking under pressure

The 2026 Winter Olympics are unfolding in Milan and Cortina, and we can’t look away: We’re watching athletes fly down mountains on skis and glide — sometimes slipping and falling — on the ice. Vikram Chib studies performance and how the brain responds to rewards at Johns Hopkins ...  Show more

Recommended Episodes

Laser 'lightning rod' diverts strikes high in the Alps
Nature Podcast

In this episode:00:45 Laser-guided lightningScientists have shown that a specially designed laser can divert the course of lightning strikes in a real-world setting. The team fired the laser into the sky above a communications tower high in the Swiss Alps and altered the course o ...  Show more

It’s ball lightning!
Unexplainable

For millennia, people have been reporting stories of mysterious spheres of light that glow, crackle, and hover eerily during thunderstorms. They’ve been spotted in people’s homes, and are even said to be able to pass through windows. No one knows how ball lightning forms — but th ...  Show more

What is lightning?
Chemistry For Your Life

#137

Lightning is something we're all used to. It's always just been an odd part of life. But think for a second, what even is it? It's just electricity, hanging out in the sky?? Why? What causes it? What makes it move from cloud to cloud? Or from cloud ...

  Show more

Is It Dangerous to Bathe During a Thunderstorm?
BrainStuff

Myths about lightning abound, but this one is true: It's safest to avoid running the taps during a thunderstorm. Learn why in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/storms/dangerous-to-bathe-during-thunderstorm. ...  Show more