Tiny Microbes Hiding in Soil May Help Pull Rain From The Sky, Study Reveals

A Science Advances study found that some soil fungi can help clouds form ice and trigger rain.

Mortierella species secrete ice-nucleating proteins that can freeze supercooled water at relatively warm temperatures.

The researchers think these fungi likely picked up the ice-forming genes from bacteria through horizontal gene transfer.

The finding adds a microbial pathway to cloud and rainfall formation, with possible effects on local climate.