AI article
How much wildfire prevention is too much?
Publisher description: The race to prevent the worst wildfires has been an increasingly high-tech one. Companies are proposing AI fire detection systems and drones that can stamp out early blazes. And now, one Canadian startup says it’s going after lightning. Lightning-sparked fires can be a big deal: The Canadian wildfires of 2023 generated nearly 500 million metric…
MIT Technology Review | Mar 5, 2026 | Casey Crownhart
Automated excerpt
I can’t help myself, so let’s take just a moment to talk about how this lightning prevention method supposedly works. Basically, lightning is static discharge—virtually the same thing as when you rub your socks on a carpet and then touch a doorknob, as James puts it. In the case of lightning, it’s snowflakes and tiny ice pellets called graupel rubbing together.
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