What causes lightning? The answer keeps getting more interesting | Hacker News

A Hacker News thread highlighted a Quanta Magazine piece on the science of how lightning begins.

Researchers are testing theories that cosmic rays and particle cascades may help trigger the first electrical breakdown in clouds.

Rocket-triggered lightning experiments are giving scientists a way to study strikes under controlled conditions.

The debate matters for weather science, atmospheric electricity, and understanding one of nature’s most dramatic discharges.