Fungal proteins for safer cloud seeding

Researchers report fungi in the Mortierellaceae family have horizontally acquired bacterial genes that produce a soluble ice‑nucleating protein. That protein can nucleate ice at relatively high temperatures and, because it is water‑soluble and not membrane‑bound, might be producible and deployed as a biological alternative to silver iodide in cloud seeding. — If scalable, biologically derived ice‑nucleating proteins could shift the tools, risks, and governance questions around intentional weather modification and agricultural frost control.