Researchers in Japan are trying to understand why thunderstorms fire out bursts of powerful radiation.
Gamma rays – the highest-energy electromagnetic radiation in the universe – are typically created in extreme outer space environments like supernovae. But back in the 1980s and 1990s, physicists discovered a source of gamma rays much closer to home: thunderstorms here on Earth.
Now, researchers in Japan are enlisting an army of citizen scientists to help understand the mysterious process going on inside storm clouds that leads to them creating extreme bursts of radiation.
This is an audio version of our feature: Thunderstorms spew out gamma rays — these scientists want to know why
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Winding roads could make you a better navigator
Milky Way's origin story revealed by 250,000 stars
Coronapod: How vaccine complacency is plaguing 'COVID zero' strategies
The coin toss of Alzheimer's inheritance
The vest that can hear your heartbeat
The AI that deciphers ancient Greek graffiti
Coronapod: why stopping COVID testing would be a mistake
COVID stimulus spending failed to deliver on climate promises
Audio long-read: The race to save the Internet from quantum hackers
Dinosaur-destroying asteroid struck in spring
Tongan volcano eruption leaves scientists with unanswered questions
Coronapod: How African scientists are copying Moderna's COVID vaccine
RNA test detects deadly pregnancy disorder early
Coronapod: what people get wrong about endemic COVID
Weirdly flowing water finally has an explanation: 'quantum friction'
Coronapod: Why T cells have been overlooked
How can battery-powered aircraft get off the ground?
Audio long read: Is precision public health the future — or a contradiction?
Coronapod: COVID death toll is likely millions more than official counts
Why mutation is not as random as we thought
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free