Laser my what?

Lasers.  Not much cooler than that in the first place.  You'd think they couldn't get cooler, but you'd be wrong.  


A team from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, has tested lasers as rainmakers.  Traditionally, rainmaking involves a lot of small particles scattered above the area to supply 'seeds' for raindrops to form around.  Smoky bonfires, exploding gunpowder, and silver iodide are some of the methods used in the history of rainmaking.


The scientists from UoG took a mobile laser and blasted very humid air (70% relative humidity).  The results were good in two ways: first, particles of nitric oxide, thought to be a natural seed, were formed; second, the energy induced condensation, forming tiny droplets too small to rain but ready to combine into bigger drops given the right conditions.


They hope to test more powerful lasers, hoping more heat will make more, larger droplets.  If this works, groups of large mobile lasers could trigger rain for drought stricken regions, force dangerous coastal storms to drop excess rain at sea or even change course, and even prevent rain over humid, flooded regions by forcing droplets to 'compete' and remain too small to reach the ground.


That's not the only cool recent development.  Tuneable infrared lasers are being tested to shatter the skin of viruses and bacteria without affecting surrounding human tissues.  Cheaper, smaller nanowire ultraviolet lasers will soon lead to minimally invasive directed energy procedures, letting surgeons aim pin-point blasts at cancer cells.  Arrays of these UV lasers could quickly purify water without using chemicals.  


Cool, huh?