The influence of lightning on insect and fungal dynamics in a lowland tropical forest.

Lightning strikes are a common source of disturbance in tropical forests, and a typical strike generates large quantities of dead wood. Lightning-damaged trees are a consistent resource for tropical saproxylic (i.e.

Effects of hormonal contraception on mood and sexuality.

The impact of hormonal contraception on mental and sexual health has long been either ignored or considered to be much less important than the cardiovascular, metabolic and cancer risks. In recent years the interest in these side effects, having an impact on the quality of life of users, has grown due to several reasons. In the last decades different scientific approaches to gain empirical evidence about the type and extent of negative effects of hormonal contraceptives on mood and sex did not result in clear evidence-based statements due to the complexity of the interaction between contraceptive methods and mental and sexual health (inconsistent measurement of patient reported outcomes, multiplicity of intervening variables etc).

Flickering gamma-ray flashes, the missing link between gamma glows and TGFs.

Two different hard-radiation phenomena are known to originate from thunderclouds: terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) and gamma-ray glows. Both involve an avalanche of electrons accelerated to relativistic energies but are otherwise different. Glows are known to last for one to hundreds of seconds, have moderate intensities and originate from quasi-stationary thundercloud fields.

Highly dynamic gamma-ray emissions are common in tropical thunderclouds.

Thunderstorms emit fluxes of gamma rays known as gamma-ray glows, sporadically observed by aircraft, balloons and from the ground. Observations report increased gamma-ray emissions by tens of percent up to two orders of magnitude above the background, sometimes abruptly terminated by lightning discharges. Glows are produced by the acceleration of energetic electrons in high-electric-field regions within thunderclouds and contribute to charge dissipation.

Effects of urbanization on cloud-to-ground lightning strike frequency: a global perspective.

Urbanization tends to increase local lightning frequency (i.e. the 'lightning enhancement' effect).