Swiss scientists create dark clouds with a laser lining (video)
By Sean Hollister 
posted May 3rd 2010 5:34AM
posted May 3rd 2010 5:34AM
Lasers can tell time, shoot down missiles and power one heck of a TV. Now, scientists claim they can create rain clouds, too. Turning a 5-terawatt infrared laser on the sky in short, 100-femtosecond bursts, researchers at the University of Geneva managed to strip electrons from the surrounding air, causing the formation of "hydroxlyl radicals" and growing water droplets in their wake. Though some scientific peers believe the idea could never be used to generate real, useful rain compared to existing cloud seeding techniques, Geneva scholars have now duplicated the effect in both the lab and in the skies over Berlin, and we're sure it's only a matter of time before some nefarious villain figures the frickin' weather control technology into a suitably evil plot. Video after the break. 
I wonder what the side effects are...
@Atkins
rain clouds
@Scouse Pricey Or holes in the moon?
@Atkins
One side effect will be living in the world of Back to the Future II..
The 3D Jaws, and friggin "rain on Command" is going to be true...
C'mon flying cars!
[W]eather [M]aking [D]evice
D:
@Atkins Just awful diarrhea....
"Rain on demand" - Fuck yea.
@SlimSpaceman
PEW PEW PEW
@Azlo I'M FIRING MY LAZORRRRBBRBRRWAAAAAHHH!
in my opinion it's already a weapon...you could flood your neighbor country
@erwin
"Weather control device detected"
@Mic2000
Awesome reply.
@erwin Everything is a weapon when humans are involved.
@erwin Well they could always use that big hadron collider to split those particles apart. http://j.mp/hadron-collider
@keilarina ohhh the BHC?
@smazms
Yeah, that one! ;D
@erwin Geneva already does that - when the water level in Lake Geneva gets too high, they let it the extra flow out into France ;)
What else can't lasers do these days?
Surely the place to test this would have been the skies over the Sahara Desert ! ... given that the skies over Berlin are likely to be miserable as hell to start with.
@daveylad
"....filled with air that was saturated with water."
So there is still the second part that might get tricky in Sahara desert skies.
@SeeKo just turn the dial up full... sorted!
Now if they could figure out a way to hook a portable one of these up to one of those mind reading helmets and make all women wear them. Then I'd know when the wife was in a bitchy mood.
LOL, i remember when cloud seeding was a conspiracy. Think that was like 4-6 years ago :) and its been done for over 30 years.
Waterworld anyone?
@nomasteryoda
Sorry dude, that's carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. Already proven and put to work.
@engadget
"....and we're sure it's only a matter of time before some nefarious villain figures the frickin' weather control technology into a suitably evil plot."
Common Engadget we got one already, his name is Al Gore.
OH NO! Now sharks with fricken lasers on their heads can chase us into the desert! Is there nowhere we can find refuge?
Kind of reminds me of Jules Verne's "In The Year 2889".
History shows that man kind are unable to foresee the impacts on nature by manipulating their environment. So just leave it alone...
Does it fit on a shark ?
Look, if things truly get out of hand, we'll just hire our elite special forces unit to blow it into five parts that scatter around the world, and enjoy the hilarity that ensues, amirite?
Wait, did you say these guys from the University of Geneva did this over Berlin? Sounds like the villains are already at work.
This will be a great solution for third world countries who have drought! Exciting! I wish it will be developed further to help those people...
"We don't know who struck first, us or them. But we do know it was us that scorched the sky."
Forget lasers. What they should work on is a really, really, big fan. Then they could just blow the rain clouds around to wherever they are needed.
If they can make the rain, they can soon take it away.... think about it.
Screw the rain....i want the laser!
I wonder how many of those researchers cackled maniacally when they were able to reproduce these dark?
"Now, Berlin, I shall have my revenge!! MWAHAHAHAHA!"
'Course, they'd need to have some big tesla coils nearby,.. for effect...
Immah chargin ma lazors.
That would be "hydroxyl radicals" and not "hydroxlyl radicals." That's .OH (with the period representing an unpaired electron on the oxygen). This is the neutral form of the hydroxide ion (-OH), a reaction between excited (in this case by a laser) oxygen molecule in the atmosphere with water in the atmosphere. Instead of using it to create rain, they could use it to clean up the atmosphere...