They could also provide an atmospheric electrical potential difference, which otherwise might not exist, to achieve precisely aimed and timed lightning strikes.

FORBES: "Cloud Computing" of the Not-So-Virtual Sort

In the brain, the signals travelling through the synapses rely on action potential, which is the electrical energy created by the difference in concentrations of charged atoms (ions) on the inside and outside of neuron, which move back and forth through ion channels.

FORBES: MIT Scientists Develop A Chip That Mimics Brain Synapses