Benjamin Franklin is credited with inventing the lightning rod, and for some 270 years it has remained the main tool for protecting buildings from destructive and potentially deadly thunderbolts. But ...

SPOKANE, Wash.-- For the first time, scientists have proof that lasers can help direct where lightning strikes go. This may be the biggest breakthrough in lightning safety since Ben Franklin invented ...

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 ...

A group of scientists say they successfully steered bolts of lightning using laser technology during a storm in Switzerland, demonstrating a potential new method to protect infrastructure from ...

On top of a Swiss mountain, a car-sized laser has helped guide lightning from the sky to the ground. Jackson Ryan was CNET's science editor, and a multiple award-winning one at that. Earlier, he'd ...

A group of scientists said they were able to guide lightning bolts using laser technology for the first time. In new work published in the journal Nature Photonics, international researchers said ...

Swiss physicists have achieved a groundbreaking breakthrough in lightning control using laser beams, which could lead to advanced lightning protection systems for critical infrastructure such as ...

PITTSBURGH — “All of a sudden, I smelled something. The smell of electrical wire burning,” homeowner Julie Baruchman said. For Baruchman, a lightning strike sparked the flames that gutted her house ...