# NASA says--Thunderstorms create ANTIMATTER! Newslink
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 13, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533 "2011-01-13T23:18:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/1 "2011-01-13T23:18:56Z")
Holy s%^t!
> **[Antimatter caught streaming from thunderstorms on Earth](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12158718)**
>
> A space telescope designed to probe the farthest reaches of the cosmos has spotted beams of antimatter streaming from thunderstorms on Earth.
> [@](#):
>
> It deepens a mystery about terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, or TGFs - sparks of light that are estimated to occur 500 times a day in thunderstorms on Earth. They are a complex interplay of light and matter whose origin is poorly understood.
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> “One of the great things about the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor is that it detects flashes of gamma rays all across the cosmic scale,” explained Julie McEnery, Fermi project scientist at Nasa.
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> “We see gamma-ray bursts, one of the most distant phenomena we know about in the Universe, we see bursts from soft gamma-ray repeaters in our galaxy, flashes of gamma rays from solar flares, our solar neighbourhood - and now we’re also seeing gamma rays from thunderstorms right here on Earth,” she told BBC News.
>
> “We expected to see TGFs; they had been seen by the GBM’s predecessor,” Dr McEnery explained.
>
> “But what absolutely intrigues us is the discovery that TGFs produce not just gamma rays but also produce positrons, the antimatter equivalent to electrons.”
I’ll be dipped.:eek:
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/2 "2011-01-14T00:42:42Z")
Well, where did you think that the 1.21 gigawatts came from?
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/3 "2011-01-14T00:50:02Z")
Shocking news. It came out the blue like a bolt of lightning. I am thunderstruck I tells ya. The potential implications are sky high. I wonder how much the taxpayers were charged for this pi in the sky stuff?
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### Author:  [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/4 "2011-01-14T01:04:21Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> Shocking news. It came out the blue like a bolt of lightning. I am thunderstruck I tells ya. The potential implications are sky high. I wonder how much the taxpayers were charged for this pi in the sky stuff?
Hey man, don’t hog all the classic puns. I was just charging up, so there’s no need to steal my thunder.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/5 "2011-01-14T01:08:28Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#):
>
> Hey man, don’t hog all the classic puns. I was just charging up, so there’s no need to steal my thunder.
I’ll let you have the clap…
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/6 "2011-01-14T04:31:56Z")
So when will the earth explode? I’m putting my money on 2012.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/7 "2011-01-14T04:39:09Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> So when will the earth explode? I’m putting my money on 2012.
Given how politically charged the election has become maybe a little Armageddon might be a nice change of pace.
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### Author:  [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/8 "2011-01-14T06:52:01Z")
This news is electrifying!
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/9 "2011-01-14T07:07:24Z")
If they can figure out how the natural process works, would this put antimatter generation within reach as a usable power source? (No puns, sorry.)
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/10 "2011-01-14T07:11:32Z")
> [@user\_hostile](#):
>
> This news is electrifying!
Really? I found it an anticlimax.
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### Author:  [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/11 "2011-01-14T07:26:11Z")
> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> If they can figure out how the natural process works, would this put antimatter generation within reach as a usable power source? (No puns, sorry.)
Particle colliders like the LHC have been creating antimatter for years. Generating positrons is simple – capturing & storing them is the hard part.
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### Author:  [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/12 "2011-01-14T14:58:50Z")
Antimatter? Does it really matter?
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### Author:  [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/13 "2011-01-14T15:11:38Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#):
>
> Particle colliders like the LHC have been creating antimatter for years. Generating positrons is simple – capturing & storing them is the hard part.
That and it takes a ton of energy to make a speck of antimatter.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/14 "2011-01-14T15:21:00Z")
Joke all you want, but this is no small matter.
Get it? No small matter? Get it?
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### Author:  [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-says-thunderstorms-create-antimatter-newslink/567533/15 "2011-01-15T18:00:44Z")
What is mind, no matter; what is matter, never mind. – Frankie Howerd, Carry on Doctor