The Times website published an article entitled "How Science Helps Us Get the Weather We Want" on March 5. The author is Peter Francopan, professor of global history at Oxford University, UK. The article is compiled as follows: You may rarely use watering hoses recently, except for cleaning cars. Don't forget that the UK is still in drought. The rainfall in England and Wales in February is less than one third of the normal level, and the rainfall in some parts of southeast England is only 9% of the long-term average level. It seems strange to say this, but should we pray for rain, or can we let it rain? Almost every culture offers sacrifices to the gods, praying for rain and harvest and resisting natural disasters. But more scientific methods also have a long and surprising history - and may have a strong future. By the middle of the 19th century, the United States government began to fund research on artificial climate, trying to "shake" rain from the sky by lighting fires and firing explosives, but the effect was not particularly significant. By the 1920s, people dispersed rain clouds by pumping charged sand. With the beginning of the cold war, the United States and the Soviet Union devoted a lot of resources to the study of "manipulating the forces of nature" - most of which involved scattering silver iodide into clouds to increase the number of condensation nodules. By the end of 1950, about 30 countries were studying how to change the weather. During the Vietnam War, the United States used these technologies to make rainstorm interrupt the supply line of the Vietnamese Communist Party. The revelation of these secret actions in a series of media exposures made the United States very embarrassed (especially because American officials had officially denied the relevant actions), and paved the way for the 1976 United Nations agreement. The agreement prohibits "environmental modification technology" and "using technology to change the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere or outer space". Rainmaking and weather control may be "more catastrophic than nuclear war", wrote Howard Orwell, chairman of President Eisenhower's Weather Control Advisory Committee. Although the United Nations agreement prohibits the use of climate modification technologies for military purposes, it does not prevent countries and enterprises from formulating more benign plans. In 2004, due to concerns about the weather conditions of Paul McCartney's concert in St. Petersburg, Russia, the concert promoter arranged to put a large amount of dry ice into the clouds in order to clear the sky. A spokesman for McCartney said: "The sky looked very gloomy at first, but it became bright after the meeting." This is no coincidence. The Russian Red Square parade also used relevant technology. Since 2000, the United States has launched nearly 1000 projects to study weather modification. A report prepared by the United States Air Force Military Academy in the mid-1990s said that the United States would be able to "control the weather" by 2025. Then comes the ongoing efforts of Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. With an average annual rainfall of 10 cm, Saudi Arabia is likely to be one of the countries most affected by global warming, where artificial rainfall is considered as "one of the most promising solutions". While investing in artificial rainfall, the United Arab Emirates is also funding pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence to determine the cause of rainfall
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