Life on Earth is fundamentally impacted by thunderstorms, from the life-sustaining fresh water they supply, to the life-threatening severe weather they produce. T In spite of the critical role of thunderstorms in our weather and climate system, we've fallen short in predicting how they'll behave.  But Dr. Susan van den Heever's team and NASA plan to observe these storms from space, helping to construct better models for predicting severe weather, something that could save many lives.  Dr van den Heever was joined by her teammate, Dr. Derek Posselt and by Mark Kozak, executive director of Telluride Science.  Podcast hosts: Judy Muller and George Lewis.  Images available at incus.colostate.edu