<story><title>1859&apos;s &quot;Great Auroral Storm&quot;—the week the Sun touched the earth</title><url>http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/05/1859s-great-auroral-stormthe-week-the-sun-touched-the-earth.ars</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>fractallyte</author><text>Why so much emphasis on the negative aspects of aurorae? More constructive would be to devise ways of harnessing the solar wind. Just consider: no lossy conversion from one form of energy to another; solar wind is &apos;electricity&apos;.&lt;p&gt;In the 1950s, SF writer Murray Leinster already had the idea of drawing energy from the ionosphere (for spacecraft &apos;landing grids&apos;).&lt;p&gt;Scientific American in 1974 had an Amateur Scientist article about electrostatic motors, which are powered by atmospheric electricity. (And how many times in history has a curiosity led on to something with rather more tangible benefits...?  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile)&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;p&gt;And recent experiments with lasers demonstrate that it is possible to open up a channel of ionized air to direct lightning (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328584.200-lightning-directed-by-laser-beams.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328584.200-lightning...&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;p&gt;All that free electricity above us, wasted on pretty colored lights... ;-)</text></comment>
<story><title>1859&apos;s &quot;Great Auroral Storm&quot;—the week the Sun touched the earth</title><url>http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/05/1859s-great-auroral-stormthe-week-the-sun-touched-the-earth.ars</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>spatten</author><text>Made me wonder how you could prepare for something like this. If you had warning, and a metal box, would throwing all of your electronics in there be good enough to save them?&lt;p&gt;I&apos;m thinking computer, phone, stuff like that.&lt;p&gt;Either way, I&apos;m guessing the internet would be down for quite a while. Not to mention what this would do to our electrical infrastructure.&lt;p&gt;Hmm. I wonder if the fields would strong enough to kill the computers in cars.&lt;p&gt;This might make for a good near-future apocalyptic scenario. It doesn&apos;t sound &lt;i&gt;too&lt;/i&gt; scary, but then you start thinking of the possibilities.&lt;p&gt;Think I&apos;ll go make myself a tinfoil hat :D.</text></comment>