Every so often, given the proper conditions, a small and roughly spherical piece of the atmosphere around us will briefly catch fire. As they are best viewed late into the night and have no obvious natural explanation, it's perhaps no wonder they've inspired a rich mythology. Names for balls of fire include ignis fatuus, will-o'-the-wisp, ghost lights, and ball lightning. They've been said to hover above graves, dance along the banks of rivers, signal the imminent arrival of an earthquake, and stalk the aisles of airplanes. Even today, we don't have a crystal-clear understanding of how they form and do what they do. Which doesn't mean scientists have, well, dropped the ball. Last month, Chinese scientist H.-C. Wu offered a compelling new explanation in Scientific Reports.
Some fireballs appear to be the products of living organisms. The decay of organic matter, for example, in marshes and other wetlands (or even a mass grave in a Polish forest) leads to the release of methane and phosphorus-containing gases such as phosphine, which can spontaneously catch fire after encountering oxygen in the atmosphere, producing a flickering light suspended midair. Some, on the other hand, are electrical in…
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