Controlling (lab) weather with an artificial sun

From now on, the weather will never be cloudy again, according to scientists from the Institute for Solar Research in Jüllich, Germany. The institute has built the world’s largest synthetic sun, Synlight, using 149 lamps like the ones normally found in film projectors. The sun will be used by scientists developing new methods for producing the world’s most promising - but most challenging - fuel: hydrogen. Synlight can be focused at areas as small as 20 x 20 cm, heating them to a temperature of 3,000 °C and allowing the fission of water into hydrogen and oxygen.