In what has been described as a “cleaner version of cloud seeding,” a physics professor at the University of Geneva is working on using lasers to modify weather patterns. Not unlike cloud seeding, lasers can generate clouds by prompting condensation.

Similar to natural processes, lasers could condense water vapor already in the atmosphere. If effective, lasers would be preferred over cloud seeding, which requires the chemical silver iodide to be sprayed into the atmosphere. With continued or intense exposure, silver iodide can cause temporary incapacitation to mammals and humans. Lasers, on the other hand, would only use light to create the same atmospheric effect.

Professor Wolf said that clouds have been created in a laboratory but not yet on a large scale. “The laser is not powerful enough” he said, even though the laser tested was one terawatt, or the same amount of energy all nuclear power plants on Earth produce. “Of course, it doesn’t last very long,” he said.

Once refined, lasers could transport water for high-rainfall areas to those in need of water. The technique of laser seeding also can trigger lightning inside clouds. Facilitating the discharge of lightning to a desired location could help minimize lightning damage in certain areas and the costs associated with it. In addition to human injury and death, lightning damage costs billions of dollars each year.

The same technology could also be helpful in the biomedical field. Depending on the color of the laser, cancer cells could ostensibly be identified and killed “with little or no collateral damage.”