Author: janine_m_young

Most thunderstorms are really radioactive

Researchers have known for several decades that thunderstorms can act as miniature particle accelerators that produce antimatter, gamma rays and other nuclear phenomena. But they did not know how common the phenomenon was. In observations taken by a retrofitted U2 spy plane, they’ve discovered essentially all large thunderstorms produce gamma rays in many dynamic, unexpected and unknown ways.

New 16 million year-old spider

I don’t like spiders. But I live in Canberra and we are surrounded by bush so there’s lots of creepy crawlies. Mostly it’s angry-looking black things and huntsmen, which freak me out but I can live with if Other Half shoos them away. So when I read this article about a massive ancient version further north in Gulgong (west of Newcastle), I was very glad it’s dead.