As the Sun begins to emerge from a dip in activity, newly launched NASA tools are helping scientists capture the event in unprecedented ways. Cycles in solar activity - such as sunspots, flares, and solar storms - have long been recognized and charted. Generally following a 10-12 year pattern, these cycles are linked to amounts of total solar irradiance, cosmic rays, and even terrestrial radio interference. However, never before have scientists had such powerful tools with which to observe and study these cycles, and never before has the infrastructure of technology and communication been more vulnerable to the rise in solar activity.

Recent images captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal a unique X-shaped pattern of debris and dust approximately 460 feet in diameter and 90 million miles away from Earth. While such a formation has never been observed before, the appearance suggests a high energy collision between two asteroids, with debris being swept back into a tail by solar radiation pressure.

By cooling the atoms down to near-zero temperatures, Harvard researchers have created a system capable of detecting individual atoms. As described in their recent submission to Nature, the team of researchers led by Markus Greiner cooled rubidium down to approximately 5 billionth of one Kelvin.

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics will be shared by physicists who each made important contributions to our understanding of light. Applications of these contributions have proven to be particularly influential on modern life, including such innovations as digital cameras and the internet itself.

In a significant win for the little guy, an obscure member of an ancient group of organisms was recently discovered to be a primary mover and shaker in the processing of nitrogen worldwide. Once considered to be an insignificant player in oceanic processes, the strain known as Nitrosopumilus maritimus has demonstrated the ability to outcompete newer, larger species in the hunt for ammonia.

Beginning this week, the Mountaineer power plant in West Virginia will try a new strategy for dealing with its gas problems: it will bury them. Maligned by many for the large quantities of undesirable emissions, coal driven power plants such as Mountaineer will soon be trying out the first commercial demonstration of the technology known as sequestration, in which an unwanted compound is bound up chemically for later disposal. Carbon dioxide may be nearly impossible to filter out in its gas form, but once it has reacted with ammonium carbonate it can be compressed and liquefied for underground disposal. Once underground, the CO2 would slowly seep into microscopic pores before reacting harmlessly with assorted minerals.

While the scope of the Mountaineer project - half a million tons of carbon dioxide over the next five years - accounts for only a small fraction of the plants total emissions, success could pave the way for higher efficiency and more widespread usage in the future.

Japanese researcher Motoichi Ohtsu, a pioneer in the field of nanophotonics, will be the 2009 recipient of the Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics. His work in near-field optics - the pursuit of imaging at magnifications beyond those allowed by the diffraction limit of conventional microscopes - has made significant contributions to our understanding of light at the nanometer scale.

Rising sea temperatures in the Caribbean have provided scientists with the opportunity to study the effects of warmer water on a particular species of algae. In a paper to be published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers led by Penn State biologist Todd LaJeunesse describe their study of coral in the Caribbean during a particularly warm stretch in 2005.

In a plot that seems to be hijacked straight from B-grade horror flicks, the tropical fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis apparently uses the unsuspecting ants known as Camponotus leonardi in a remarkable fashion, compelling them to move to prime fungus habitat before killing and using the hapless creatures as launchpads for future fungus spores.

The recent impact of a comet or asteroid into the surface of Jupiter has underscored the important role that Jupiter plays in the protection of other planets in the solar system, including Earth.