RedOrbit: According to a study published in the online journal PLOS ONE, there is a rich diversity of microbial life and chemicals in the ephemeral habitat of a storm cloud.
A Danish research team at Aarhus University analyzed hailstones recovered after a storm in May 2009 and found that they carried several species of bacteria typically found on plants as well as nearly 3,000 different compounds commonly found in soil.
The hailstones had very few soil-associated bacteria or chemicals typically found...