Fulgurite: What A Lightning-Formed Rock May Have Contributed To Life On Earth

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🗓️ 31 March 2021

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

When lightning strikes the ground, it can leave behind a root-like rock called a fulgurite. Host Maddie Sofia talks with NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce about what lightning and its funky rock creation can reveal about the origins of life.

To read more of the story, check out Nell's reporting here.

You can email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to shortwave from NPR.
0:04.4	Maddie, Sify here with NPR Science correspondent Nell Greenfield Boys.
0:08.7	Hi, now.
0:09.7	Hey, Maddie.
0:10.7	So listen, I have a question for you.
0:12.7	If I asked you what comes to mind when you think of lightning and life, what would you
0:17.5	say?
0:18.5	Lightning and life.
0:20.1	Maybe the Frankenstein, maybe Frankenstein, you know that lightning got them where they
0:25.6	were going.
0:26.6	All right.
0:30.9	Yeah, that's what everybody thinks of.
0:34.2	But today I have a different story about lightning and life.
0:37.0	And this one starts about five years ago in Illinois, not too far from Chicago, in a
0:41.7	family's backyard where something strange happened.
0:46.0	There was just like some fire around outside that they saw.
0:49.0	And they're like, we don't know what this was.
0:51.2	Because there's just little bits of glass basically on the surface in their backyard.
0:57.3	So that's Benjamin Hess.
0:58.6	And at the time he was an undergraduate at Wheaton College.
1:01.9	And the family, you know, whose backyard this was called up the college's Department
1:06.4	of Geology.
	...

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