Powerful Lasers Could Be Fired Into the Clouds to Make It Rain
Laser-Induced Condensation J. Kasparian, et al. We're further along in using science to manually force the weather's hand than many people suspect. In 2009, for example, the Chinese government used weather manipulation to bring a snowstorm to Beijing, and they aren't the only nation giving it a try. But using so-called "cloud seeding" techniques as high-tech rain dances is controversial; critics say it's both ineffective and bad for the environment. A potentially better solution -- to this, as to most things! -- is to fire up some lasers. Last year, a paper published in Nature Communications showed it was possible to form water particles using lasers. That's not the same as creating rain; the particles were about 100 times too small to be rain drops. But it's somewhat of a proof of concept, and as a recent paper in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics points out, our lasers...