An automated machine developed by the U.S. Army uses bluegills—a hardy species about the size of a human hand—to continuously monitor water quality in New York City; San Francisco, California; and Washington, D.C.

Researchers are now turning to automated image-processing and artificial intelligence to better forecast the sun's behaviour and give us time to prepare for a solar onslaught.

Scientists and officials from a range of organizations gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss plans for dealing with massive solar flares that could disrupt modern communications infrastructure. "A similar storm today might knock us for a loop," Lika Guhathakurta, a solar physicist at NASA headquarters, said. "Modern society depends on high-tech systems such as smart power grids, GPS and satellite communications — all of which are vulnerable to solar storms."

Experts said a U.N. plan to upgrade "space weather" forecasts can help the world cope with solar storms that might rack up to $2 trillion in damages if the sun repeated a giant flare of 1859.

Researchers met in London with the aim of setting up a European solar radiation-storm warning service. With the Sun expected to belch forth increasing amounts of bad "space weather" in coming years, the scientists warn that billions of pounds' worth of damage could be done to satellites in orbit.

The intensifying nuclear crisis in Japan is raising anxieties on both sides of the Pacific over the potential impacts of radiation exposure, and a relative dearth of official information on radiation levels is leading some to turn to crowdsourced options.

NASA has devised a new tool in the battle against massive eruptions from the sun: an early warning system to protect electrical grids on Earth from extremely powerful solar storms. The new project, called Solar Shield, is designed to predict the severity of powerful sun storms at specific locations on Earth to help power companies plan responses and limit the potential damage to their equipment.

The sun's erratic and sometimes volatile behavior has the potential to cause real problems here on Earth, and protecting our planet from a possible "Solar Katrina" in 2013 will require an international effort, according to scientists who gathered recently for a meeting about the effects of solar activity.

North Korea's nuclear test in May indicated that an international network of nuclear detonation sensors is becoming increasingly capable of detecting violations of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, said leaders of a study that surveyed more than 200 scientists worldwide on the monitoring project's technical underpinnings.

A team of U.S. military experts went to Moscow for the first round of discussions on an early warning center that would assess the threat of ballistic missiles, including any from Iran or North Korea, as part of the Obama administration's effort to "reset" relations with Moscow.