Dozens of researchers are chasing, driving and running into storms to collect fresh hail, getting their car bodies and their own bodies dented in the name of science. They hope these hailstones will reveal secrets about storms, damage and maybe the air itself.
But what do you do with nearly 4,000 melting iceballs?
A lot.
Researchers in the first-of-its-kind Project ICECHIP to study hail are measuring the hailstones, weighing them, slicing them, crushing them, chilling them, driving them across several states, seeing what’s in…