A new study suggests that microscopic lightning bolts—called microlightning—within water droplets may have helped forge the very first amino acids on Earth. The research revives and reimagines one of ...

Scientists have revealed a hidden trigger of lightning that could resolve a centuries-old weather mystery. Earth is struck by some 44 bolts of lightning each second ... the "initial breakdown event," ...

In addition to the buildup and trajectory of the lightning bolts, the researchers measured the polarization, or direction, of the electrical current that made up the lightning and compared these ...

Sometimes, when two oppositely charged droplets got close to each other, sparks jumped between. The process resembles how energy is built up in clouds and then released as lightning. Since these mini ...