Lightning Research

Mike writes: "There was a great topic covered on tonight's episode of ABC's NightLine. They discussed lightning and how a group of researchers at the University of Florida have been able to develop rockets that "pull down" lightning and allow them to gather data to help find out more about it. They can capture lightning bolts with relative ease and film the bolts with high-speed cameras, revealing that what appeared as a single flash to the naked eye was often times three or four bolts in extremely rapid succession. While the article doesn't go into the detail that was covered on TV, you do get a video clip and nice overview. And photos and additional details are available at the University of Florida's Lightning Research Lab web site."

Comments

Too often, Slashdot is off topic.

[Futurepower(tm)]

I would like to be a Wizard, and be able to throw thunderbolts from my fingers.

Can you believe it? That comment is on topic.

Too often, Slashdot is off topic. I like science, but I would like to see a higher percentage of computer-related articles.

We are in the middle of one of the biggest and most amazing social revolutions in history. More than 100,000 very well-educated people have decided to form a loose brotherhood and sisterhood to give the world a complete computer operating system. There are many stories in that.

I think there should be more stories about software development. Many of the big issues aren't being discussed enough, in my opinion. For example, there needs to be a more vigorous debate about computer language development.