5 Sod's Law Annoyances That Have Scientific Explanations

Typical. You've been hunched over your fluorescently lit desk all week, trying to ignore the glare of the blazing hot sunshine that is bouncing off your screen and directly onto your retinas. Come Saturday morning, you throw open your curtains, ready to finally embrace the great outdoors, only to find that it's sheeting it down and you've forgotten to bring the washing in.

So, why does it always seem to rain at the weekend? The simple answer is cloud seeding. During the week tiny particles of dust and pollution called aerosols spew from cars and factories and float off in to the atmosphere. These little bits of crud give the moisture in the air something to cling on to and begin a chain reaction that forms clouds. These build up and finally reach breaking point just as your weekly Saturday morning bowls club hit the green.

There's an upside to the rather gloomy thought of polluted rainclouds. A surprising result of the study revealed that these weekly showers may take some of the clout out of more serious storms and even hurricanes. Silver linings and all that...