On April 5, 2010, the sun spewed a two million-mile-per-hour stream of charged particles toward the magnetosphere, the invisible magnetic fields surrounding Earth.

As the particles interacted with the magnetic fields, the incoming stream of energy caused stormy conditions near Earth. Some scientists believe that it was this solar storm that interfered with commands to a communications satellite, Galaxy-15, which subsequently foundered and drifted, taking almost a year to return to its station.

A new observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), is still under construction but it has already given astronomers a major breakthrough in understanding a nearby planetary system and provided valuable clues about how such systems form and evolve.

 Astronomers using ALMA have discovered that planets orbiting the star Fomalhaut are much smaller than originally thought. 

A new five-ton instrument that goes by the name MOSFIRE (Multi-Object Spectrometer for Infra-Red Exploration) has been installed in the Keck I Telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. 

MOSFIRE gathers light in infrared wavelengths — invisible to the human eye — allowing it to penetrate cosmic dust and see distant objects whose light has been stretched or "redshifted" to the infrared by the expansion of the universe.  Basically, it will allow scientists to look 'back in time' and study the earliest galaxies in the universe

Global spending on cleaner energy grew to a record $263 billion in 2011, a 6.5 percent increase over the previous year, according to new research by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The United States reclaimed the top spot among all G-20 nations, thanks to $48 billion primarily in government subsidies, but with $45.5 billion in private investments, China is the real hub of clean energy activity - leading the world in wind energy investment and deployment, as well as wind and solar manufacturing. 

Mitigation, rationing, taxes. Environmental policy claims have historically been driven by negative thinking - a demand-side mindset that seeks to limit consumption of fossil fuels through pollution permits, greater expenses for consumers and multi-national climate change treaties. 

New research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University suggests that encouraging the purchase of coal, oil and other dirty fossil fuel deposits could be a much better way to fight climate change.

Want to get an autism diagnosis but are just too darn busy?

Researchers at Harvard Medical School are here to help.  Yes, the process of diagnosing autism is complex and subjective but what about if qualified people are not there to help or you are in a rush?