New Delhi: Scientists in the United States tried to bounce back some of the sun's rays into space as a way to temporarily cool Earth after the planet witnessed its hottest year on record in 2023, a report by the New York Times said. They used cloud brightening, a technique that makes clouds brighter so that they reflect a small fraction of incoming sunlight and as a result, lower the temperatures of an area. If successful, the technology aims to position several devices aimed at the sky over oceans bringing down the rising sea temperatures. A secret test on a decommissioned ship On April 2, researchers at the University of Washington launched a mist of salt particles into the sky at a high speed from a snow-machine-like device placed atop a decommissioned aircraft carrier in San Francisco. The experiment was performed under a secret project titled CAARE or Coastal Atmospheric Aerosol Research and Engagement. The idea was to use clouds as mirror that reflect incoming sunligh...