Defying expectations, solar activity is back in a big way, with the number of sunspots counted on the Sun’s surface last month reaching levels not seen in nearly 23 years, more than twice the number predicted by previous forecasts. This newfound activity signals not only that the Sun is wellread more

Decommissioning teams at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant have begun a two-week operation aimed at retrieving a sample of the radioactive debris that remains inside the facility’s stricken nuclear reactors, using a telescoping robot custom-built for the task, thirteen years after the power plant suffered multiple meltdowns in the wake of the tsunami thatread more