https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Cuts in sulfur emissions from oceangoing vessels have been tied to a reduction in lightning stroke density along heavily trafficked shipping routes in the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea, according to new research from the University of Kansas. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-cleaner-ship-fuel-linked-lightning.html Earth Sciences Tue, 20 Jan 2026 15:18:41 EST news688144682 Lightning has captured people's fascination for millennia. It's embedded in mythology, religion and popular culture. Think of Thor in Norse mythology or Indra in Hinduism. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-blue-jets-lightning-strange.html Earth Sciences Wed, 14 Jan 2026 10:03:45 EST news687607390 The number of wildland fires burning in the Arctic is on the rise, according to NASA researchers. Moreover, these blazes are burning larger, hotter, and longer than they did in previous decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ice-arctic-regime.html Earth Sciences Wed, 14 Jan 2026 09:12:40 EST news687604322 Scientists in Britain say ancient humans may have learned to make fire far earlier than previously believed, after uncovering evidence that deliberate fire-setting took place in what is now eastern England around 400,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-humans-mastered-years.html Archaeology Wed, 10 Dec 2025 12:53:01 EST news684593538 Scientists have detected what they believe to be lightning on Mars by eavesdropping on the whirling wind recorded by NASA's Perseverance rover. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-scientists-capture-crackling-lightning-mars.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 27 Nov 2025 12:00:04 EST news683386402 Smart glasses that display information directly in the field of vision are considered a key technology of the future—but until now, their use has often failed due to cumbersome technology. However, efficient light-emitting pixels are ruled out by classical optics if their size is reduced to the wavelength of the emitted light. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-physicists-smallest-pixel-world.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 24 Oct 2025 08:57:03 EDT news680515021 Lightning-induced wildfires are severe natural disasters. However, because of the regionality and random nature of lightning, there is still an incomplete understanding within the scientific community regarding the characteristics of lightning that cause fires. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-weak-lightning-thunderstorms-trigger-deadly.html Earth Sciences Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:59:03 EDT news679679941 As a late-summer monsoon spread across California in recent weeks, it delivered hundreds of thousands of lightning strikes—record numbers in August and the first week of September. Those sparked hundreds of wildfires and, for many hikers, sheer terror. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-lightning-california-highest-peaks.html Earth Sciences Fri, 19 Sep 2025 07:08:03 EDT news677484476 Playwright Tom Stoppard, in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," provides one of the best definitions of science: "The scientific approach to the examination of phenomena is a defense against the pure emotion of fear." https://phys.org/news/2025-09-lightning-driven-curiosity.html General Physics Mon, 08 Sep 2025 13:30:05 EDT news676555314 A historic California Gold Rush-era town lay in ruins Wednesday after lightning storms sparked almost two dozen wildfires. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-wildfire-california-gold-town.html Environment Thu, 04 Sep 2025 04:48:28 EDT news676180102 A study co-led by ICN2 reveals that ice is a flexoelectric material, meaning it can produce electricity when unevenly deformed. Published in Nature Physics, this discovery could have major technological implications while also shedding light on natural phenomena such as lightning. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-scientists-ice-generates-electricity-bent.html General Physics Mon, 01 Sep 2025 08:48:03 EDT news675935281 Picture this: You're stuck in traffic on a summer afternoon, checking the weather app on your phone as dark storm clouds roll in. You might think about power outages or possible flooding, but you probably don't think about how every lightning bolt that flashes across the sky also emits a gas, nitrogen oxide (NO), that is also emitted in the exhaust from your car's engine. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-scientists-track-lightning-pollution-real.html Earth Sciences Sat, 30 Aug 2025 05:52:12 EDT news675751916 The Northwest can expect a widespread increase in days with cloud-to-ground lightning in the years to come, along with heightened wildfire risk, according to projections made with a unique machine-learning approach developed at Washington State University. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-lightning-wildfire-northwest.html Earth Sciences Tue, 26 Aug 2025 16:22:04 EDT news675444121 A research team at Los Alamos National Laboratory recently found that the strength difference between two very high-frequency radio pulses in lightning is closely related to the altitude of the lightning in the cloud—a finding that sheds light on how the power in lightning radiates. This, in turn, gives insight into lightning initiation in a particularly powerful type of in-cloud lightning. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-sensor-powerful-lightning-clouds.html Earth Sciences Fri, 15 Aug 2025 09:35:01 EDT news674469298 A month after a wildfire erupted at the edge of the Grand Canyon, US firefighters were struggling Monday to bring the blaze under control. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-grand-canyon-rages-month.html Environment Tue, 05 Aug 2025 05:00:06 EDT news673587477 It was a single lightning flash that streaked across the Great Plains for 515 miles, from eastern Texas nearly all the way to Kansas City, setting a new world record. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-weather-tracking-advances-revealing-astonishing.html Earth Sciences Thu, 31 Jul 2025 08:00:01 EDT news673109852 Though scientists have long understood how lightning strikes, the precise atmospheric events that trigger it within thunderclouds have remained a perplexing mystery. The mystery may now be solved, thanks to a team of researchers led by Victor Pasko, professor of electrical engineering in the Penn State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, that has revealed the powerful chain reaction that triggers lightning. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-born-atmospheric-events-underpinning-lightning.html Earth Sciences Mon, 28 Jul 2025 09:52:52 EDT news672915167 Lightning has a greater impact on forests than previously thought. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed new model calculations that, for the first time, estimate the global influence of lightning on forest ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-million-trees-lightning-year-considerable.html Earth Sciences Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:30:07 EDT news672386190 Crack! Boom! We're entering the daily summer thunderstorm season in Florida. The clouds roll in and, with them, you sometimes see lightning in the distance. Then you hear thunder. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-experts-lightning-myths-life-florida.html Environment Thu, 05 Jun 2025 11:44:03 EDT news668342641 Lightning is a phenomenon that has fascinated humanity since time immemorial, providing a stark example of the power and unpredictability of the natural world. Although the study of lightning can be challenging, scientists have, in recent years, made great strides in developing our understanding of this extreme spectacle. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-lightning-gamma-ray-unleashed-collision.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 May 2025 14:00:03 EDT news667049491 A new artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by Israeli researchers promises to revolutionize wildfire prediction, with a particular focus on lightning-induced blazes that are growing increasingly common due to climate change. The new AI model can predict where and when lightning strikes are most likely to cause wildfires, achieving more than 90% accuracy—a first in wildfire forecasting. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-ai-lightning-wildfires-unprecedented-accuracy.html Earth Sciences Thu, 03 Apr 2025 12:06:04 EDT news662900761 Getting zapped with millions of volts of electricity may not sound like a healthy activity, but for some trees, it is. A new study, published in New Phytologist, reports that some tropical tree species are not only able to tolerate lightning strikes, but benefit from them. The trees may have even evolved to act as lightning rods. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-trees-lightning-electric-jolts-boost.html Plants & Animals Wed, 26 Mar 2025 10:00:02 EDT news662110741 Have you ever heard of—or even seen—red lightning? These are not animated characters but real atmospheric phenomena known as electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorms. Scientists refer to them as "red sprites," named for their jellyfish-like appearance and vivid red flashes. Now, imagine witnessing these mesmerizing displays over the world's highest mountain range—the Himalayas. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-unveiling-mysterious-red-sprite-lightning.html Earth Sciences Tue, 18 Mar 2025 12:09:05 EDT news661518543 Life may not have begun with a dramatic lightning strike into the ocean but from many smaller "microlightning" exchanges among water droplets from crashing waterfalls or breaking waves. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-microlightning-droplets-life-earth.html Astrobiology Fri, 14 Mar 2025 14:00:04 EDT news661163626 Lightning is one of the primary causes of transmission line trips, posing a significant threat to the safety of power grids. However, due to the complexity and sporadic nature of lightning, achieving accurate forecasts has always been a challenge. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-deep-technique-lightning-power-grids.html Environment Fri, 14 Mar 2025 13:37:03 EDT news661178222 If you look at a map of lightning near the Port of Singapore, you'll notice an odd streak of intense lightning activity right over the busiest shipping lane in the world. As it turns out, the lightning really is responding to the ships, or rather the tiny particles they emit. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-world-sulfur-ship-fuels-lightning.html Environment Tue, 11 Mar 2025 14:40:01 EDT news660918895 Scores of wildfires broke out across North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in early March 2025 as strong winds, abnormally dry conditions and low humidity combined to kindle and spread the flames. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-carolina-wildfires-months-weather-whiplash.html Environment Thu, 06 Mar 2025 11:00:05 EST news660480881 Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest and alpine ecosystems of Cradle Mountain that may never recover. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-dry-lightning-tasmania-bushfires-fighters.html Environment Wed, 19 Feb 2025 11:55:11 EST news659188503 Extreme fire seasons in recent years highlight the urgent need to better understand wildfires within the broader context of climate change. Under climate change, many drivers of wildfires are expected to change, such as the amount of carbon stored in vegetation, rainfall, and lightning strikes. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-wildfires-due-vegetation-humidity-lightning.html Earth Sciences Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:58:05 EST news658594681 Investigators are trying to determine what caused several wind-driven wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes across the Los Angeles area in January 2025. Given the fires' locations, and lack of lightning at the time, it's likely that utility infrastructure, other equipment or human activities were involved. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-la-fast-wildfires-human-destructive.html Environment Tue, 14 Jan 2025 12:19:03 EST news656079542