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 ...

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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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Lightning may look beautiful but every year it kills thousands of people, does huge amounts of damage to buildings and infrastructure, and causes power outages. The only protection we have is ...

Researchers have successfully harnessed the power of lasers to deflect lightning strikes. IFLScience reports that Dr. Aurélien Houard and his team at ENSTA Paris have demonstrated that lasers can ...

Playwright Tom Stoppard, in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," provides one of the best definitions of science: "The scientific approach to the examination of phenomena is a defense against the ...