An active region on the sun labeled AR 12192 rotated into view on Oct. 18th. It was already an area of intense and complex magnetic fields and soon grew into the largest such region in 24 years.

It fired off 10 sizable solar flares as it traversed across the face of the sun and became so large it could be seen without a telescope (don't ever look without with eclipse glasses) as many did during a partial eclipse on Oct. 23rd.

By Simon Buckle, Imperial College London

Scanning headlines last week, one may have been persuaded that chocolate consumption preserves and improves memory functions for aging brains. In reality, this news should not inspire the purchase of an extra bag of Halloween candy.

By Bill Buchanan, Edinburgh Napier University

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Computer security relies on a great number of links, hardware, software and something else altogether: you.

The greatest threat to information security is actually people. Why strive to defeat encrypted passwords stored in computers, when those computers' human users will turn them over willingly?

Though he is glorified by modern science advocates, Galileo was wrong about a lot of things - for example, when his calculation that the tides only happened once a day and was at the same time was criticized, he launched into vitriolic attacks on both Kepler and math, though they both were clearly right and Galileo was clearly wrong, as every illiterate sailor knew.

For $27 Galileo could have been shown the errors of his ways. That is what Rachel MacTavish, a graduate student in the Department of Biology at Georgia Southern University, spent on buckets from a hardware store, aquarium tubing, and pumps in order to be able to replicate the tide.

The Green Revolution that began in the 1940s and 50s brought about large increases in crop yields and saved millions of people from mass famine. Yet malnutrition remains widely prevalent around the globe. And, while many people eat enough calories, many do not get enough nutrients.

As happened in both California and Washington state referendums in recent years, what seemed like an easy path to victory for supporters of a mandatory GMO labeling law in Oregon has turned into a dog fight as the voting nears, while voters in Colorado appear poised to soundly reject the measure.

By Sally O'Reilly, The Open University

The "Cambrian explosion," the rapid diversification of animal life in the fossil record 530 million years ago, has by necessity remained the subjective of speculation. We know it happened, but no idea why, we simply know we wouldn't be here without it.

Last week, the Obama administration stated that it will fine over 2,600 hospitals because too many Medicare patients treated at those hospitals end up back in the hospital within 30 days of going home. 

Over 200,000 doctors have said they will no longer participate in the Affordable Care Act - Obamacare - because of high costs, low payouts, and Byzantine mazes of paperwork, so it seems bad to be driving hospitals away from the programs also - the ones affected primarily treat poor and minority patients.

The administration added two new conditions in this round of penalties: elective hip and knee replacement and chronic lung disease.