Physics World August 2014

Flirting with danger: solar super-storms and why we must plan for them

The cover feature of the August issue looks at the Sun – and in particular, at the consequences here on Earth of a “solar super-storm”. As the University of Bristol's Ashley Dale points out, these violent events can disturb the Earth’s magnetic field – potentially inducing damaging electrical currents in power lines, knocking out satellites and disrupting telecommunications. Also in this issue, Katia Moskvitch introduces a novel sound-detection technique based on fibre-optic and laser technologies that can be used to detect intruders, check the flow in pipelines and monitor undersea wildlife.

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