Fun fact first: a single bolt of lightning can briefly heat the air around it to nearly 30,000 degrees Celsius, making it far hotter than the surface of the Sun—right above our heads, during an ordinary monsoon evening. Yes, you read that right. Lightning is hotter than the surface of the Sun, and not by …
Fun fact: Every single day, Earth quietly produces bursts of gamma radiation powerful enough to rival events we usually associate with exploding stars—yet most of us will live our entire lives never knowing they exist. That hidden drama is the heart of “When Lightning Turns Radioactive: Earth’s Gamma Secret.” The idea sounds like science fiction, …