In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate.
An effective pre-drainage system in a limited area that has a high water head and huge inflow is important to prevent flooding accidents during subsea tunnelling.
It is those Africans who are stepping up - often at great personal sacrifice and even risk, to bring peace, good governance and sound policies to their countries that are the reason for hope.
But developing blood made from the cells of spare IVF embryos will raise difficult ethical issues for people not happy with the idea of destroying embryos to create stem cells.