At https://phys.org/news/2025-07-born-atmospheric-events-underpinning-lightning.html … what happens in the atmosphere to trigger lightning? A study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – see https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JD043897 … describes how strong electric fields in thunder clouds accelerate electrons that crash into molecules like nitrogen and oxygen, producing x-rays. These initiate a deluge of additional electrons and high energy photons. This is how lightning bolts form, they say. This research is said to connect the dots – between x-ray, electric fields, and the physics of electron avalanches.
There is another factor. High energy electrons are seeded by cosmic rays entering the atmosphere from outer space, and the solar wind, we may imagine. They multiply in thunderstorm electric fields and emit brief high energy photon bursts. These are known as terrestrial gamma ray bursts. What connection between what is happening in Earth’s atmosphere and the huge gamma ray bursts seen in space telescopes. An order of magnitude higher – or is that deemed impossible?
Over at https://phys.org/news/2025-07-planet-massive-edge-solar.html … why there could still be something big at the edge of the solar system. An undiscovered planet, or otherwise. The idea came about as a result of the erratic orbits of trans-Neptune objects. It is increasingly unlikely but apparently still a possibility.