http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. New information about lightning-emitted X-rays, gamma rays and high-energy electrons during thunderstorms is prompting scientists to raise concerns about the potential for airline passengers and crews to be exposed to harmful levels of radiation. http://www.physorg.com/news179426300.html Space & Earth Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:39:14 EST news179426300 (AP) -- Hugo Chavez says he is starting to "bombard" clouds now that Cuba has provided Venezuela with cloud-seeding help in an effort to produce rain and alleviate the effects of a severe drought. http://www.physorg.com/news178721126.html Space & Earth Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:46:26 EST news178721126 Sunspots, which rotate around the sun's surface, tell us a great deal about our own planet. Scientists rely on them, for instance, to measure the sun's rotation or to prepare long-range forecasts of the Earth's health. http://www.physorg.com/news177169609.html Space & Earth Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:50:01 EST news177169609 (PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, scientists learn something new about the inner workings of lightning. With satellites, they have discovered that more than 1.2 billion lightning flashes occur around the world every year. (Rwanda has the most flashes per square kilometer, while flashes are rare in polar regions.) Laboratory and field experiments have revealed that the core of some lightning bolts reaches 30,000 Kelvin (53,540 ºF), a temperature hot enough to instantly melt sand and break oxygen and nitrogen molecules into individual atoms. http://www.physorg.com/news175527058.html Space & Earth Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:32:40 EST news175527058 A powerful lightning storm in Saturn`s atmosphere that began in mid-January 2009 has become the Solar System`s longest continuously observed thunderstorm.  It broke the record duration of 7.5 months set by another thunderstorm observed on Saturn by NASA`s Cassini spacecraft between November 2007 and July 2008. http://www.physorg.com/news172217534.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:13:18 EST news172217534 CSIRO and a consortium of Australian Opal miners (Opal Producers Australia Limited) have unveiled the world's first automated device to grade opals using image analysis, at the 2009 National Council of Jewellery Valuers forum in Sydney. http://www.physorg.com/news170932238.html Technology Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:20:01 EST news170932238 (PhysOrg.com) -- With a very lucky shot, scientists have captured a one-second image and the electrical fingerprint of huge lightning that flowed 40 miles upward from the top of a storm. http://www.physorg.com/news170254828.html Space & Earth Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:01:19 EST news170254828 (AP) -- After enduring a month's delay, seven astronauts boarded space shuttle Endeavour on Sunday for an early evening flight to the international space station. http://www.physorg.com/news166611406.html Space & Earth Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:20:17 EST news166611406 (AP) -- NASA scrubbed space shuttle Endeavour's Saturday evening launch after lightning struck at least 11 times near the seaside launch pad. http://www.physorg.com/news166551986.html Space & Earth Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:27:00 EST news166551986 Passenger jets are hit by lightning every 1,000 hours -- on average twice a year -- and experts say the risk from the bolts of electricity is growing. http://www.physorg.com/news163142118.html Technology Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:16:05 EST news163142118 (PhysOrg.com) -- Florida Institute of Technology researchers are trying to solve one of the great mysteries in nature: how thunderstorms make lightning. Because, in principle, lightning is a big spark it should behave like other sparks -like the ones created when we touch a door knob on a dry day. Scientists have accumulated evidence, however, that lightning sometimes behaves in very un-spark-like ways. http://www.physorg.com/news163084480.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:15:24 EST news163084480 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers hit the jackpot in late March, when, for the first time, they began recording data on lightning in a volcanic eruption--right from the start of the eruption. http://www.physorg.com/news158430510.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:29:13 EST news158430510 (PhysOrg.com) -- A 200-year-old report by a sea captain and a stunning photograph of the 2008 eruption of Mount Chaiten are helping scientists at the University of Illinois better understand strong volcanic plumes. http://www.physorg.com/news157210366.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:33:43 EST news157210366 Firing bolts of lightning at expensive electrical equipment is all in a day's work at NEETRAC - the National Electric Energy Testing Research and Applications Center. The goal for the lightning research and other testing done by the center is to improve reliability for the nation's electric energy transmission and distribution system. http://www.physorg.com/news153062898.html Technology Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:28:47 EST news153062898 Flash floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States, and because of their unpredictability they're the leading weather-related cause of death for Americans. They usually arrive with little or no warning, but a Tel Aviv University researcher is trying to predict where and when they will occur - - using lightning. http://www.physorg.com/news146411659.html Space & Earth Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:54:19 EST news146411659 A new narrowband radio interferometer system has been developed for continuous observation of various processes of a lightning discharge at a time resolution of one microsecond. By using this system, a cloud-to-ground lightning flash containing 19 strokes was observed in inland plateau area of China. Detailed analysis of this lightning flash has revealed several new remarkable characteristics of cloud-to-ground lightning. http://www.physorg.com/news145096396.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:33:16 EST news145096396 Bolts of lightning often resemble the forked, branches of trees. Similar to tree branches, lightning sparks typically spread apart. Recently, physicists at Centrum voor Wiskunde un Informatica and Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have for the first time determined the conditions that allow for spark branches to reconnect, by overcoming the electrostatic repulsion that usually causes them to separate. http://www.physorg.com/news141487604.html Physics Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:06:44 EST news141487604 University of Florida and Florida Institute of Technology engineering researchers have narrowed the search for the source of X-rays emitted by lightning, a feat that could one day help predict where lightning will strike. http://www.physorg.com/news135351802.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:43:22 EST news135351802