Really cool, feels like the v1 of the lightning trees from Hyperion. Was hoping there was a breakdown of how the trees accomplish this. Will be interested to see follow up
Clicked on comments to write something about Hyperion, found your comment instead :) Cannot recommend that series enough to anyone who loves science fiction.
Yes, highly recommended - beware, it's 4 long books (which is a good thing), with 1+2 and 3+4 belonging together. And the trees are called Tesla trees ;-)
The Tesla Trees was indeed immediately where my mind went, just give it a few million evolution iterations! And the article not only backs up what the headline indicates - it reads almost as a malevolent adaptation, attracting lightning to eliminate parasites and competition.