The “Small Boy” nuclear test conducted in Nevada in 1962 By Sid PerkinsRadioactive fallout is rarely a good thing. But new research suggests charged particles emitted from Cold War–era nuclear tests may have boosted rainfall thousands of kilometers away from the testing sites, by triggering electrical charges in the air that caused water droplets to coalesce.The United States, Soviet Union, and other nations often tested nuclear weapons above ground in the 1950s and early 1960s.
The fallout contained a devil’s cocktail of radioactive elements that can have subtle effects in the atmosphere. Charged particles emitted during radioactive decay can smack into surrounding atoms and molecules, ripping them asunder and creating even more charged