Side by side images show lightning seemingly curving away from its path to follow a bright laser beam being shot toward the sky
Two side-by-side pictures of a lightning bolt interacting with a laser. It shows the bolt following the path of the laser on its way to the ground.
  • For the first time, scientists were able to show they can bend lightning from a storm with a laser. 
  • The project, 20 years in the making, required a super powerful laser to be shot into the sky. 
  • The hope is the laser could draw lightning away from places we don't want it to hit.

Researchers were able to deflect lightning using a powerful laser shot into the sky — a scientific first.

A powerful laser was able to deflect a lightning bolt almost 200 feet before it hit a lightning rod, greatly improving the rod's function.