Lightning rods have been used to safely guide strikes into the ground since Benjamin Franklin's day, but their short range (roughly the same radius as the height) and fixed-in-place design makes them ...

Lightning is estimated to cause up to 24,000 deaths globally each year. It starts forest fires, burns buildings and crops, and causes power outages. The best, most practical technology available to ...

Lightning is one of the most powerful forces on Earth, and try as we might, it’s tough to control... but not impossible. Early this year, a team of European scientists scaled the heights of human ...

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - When Benjamin Franklin fashioned the first lightning rod in the 1750s following his famous experiment flying a kite with a key attached during a thunderstorm, the ...

Last year marked the 270th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s lightning rod — but it’s more than a relic of history. The Franklin rod remains in use today because the simple design exploits some ...

Brazilian researchers captured on camera the brief moment when lightning rods on buildings released an upward discharge to attract incoming lightning. By Nicholas Bakalar Benjamin Franklin invented ...