From the BBC:

The growth of British trees appears to follow a cosmic pattern, with trees growing faster when high levels of cosmic radiation arrive from space.

The first idea is that cosmic rays ionise gases in the atmosphere, creating molecules around which clouds condense, therefore increasing cloud over.

“Or there is some direct effect,” says Ms Dengel.

What that might be is unknown, but experiments in space have shown that cosmic rays can have some positive impacts on biological materials.

There you have it, the sun makes trees grow!

Image courtesy The Geograph British Isles

cosmic rays, earth, Science, trees