The weather outside is frightful...
It's time to stay indoors - for conditions in outer space aren't looking good.
If you are going to take the trip to Mars anytime soon, you're going to have to take something more protective than just a rain coat.
Scientists have reported that galactic cosmic rays have just hit a Space Age high.
According to Caltech, cosmic rays intensities have increased by 19 per cent in 2009.
This is way above anything we have seen in the last 50 years and could mean more radiation shielding might be needed for astronauts.
The cause of the surge is the quiet sun.
Activity (sun spots, flares) on the big yellow ball has been scarce over the last few years.
And this means more cosmic rays - highly charged, sub-atomic particles from outer space - make it to the inner solar system.
The rays can be deadly for anyone outside the safety of the Earth's atmosphere. A satellite can be knocked out by a single one.
Usually many of them are stopped in their tracks by the sun's magnetic field, which is powered by the solar wind.
But when all's quite in the solar neighbourhood this natural shielding weakens.
There's no need to worry if you're on Earth, though, as the planet's own magnetic field can easily bat away the rays.
Indeed, hundreds of years ago the cosmic rays were 200 per cent higher than they are now.
Weird Science Factoid: Albert Einstein never wore any socks. And now, neither do I!
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Daniel Smith - a long time ago, in a galaxy far away just north of Watford, Daniel fancied himself as a scientist but turned out to be the worst scientist since that bloke who mapped out all those canals on Mars that turned out to be scratches on his telescope's lens. Luckily, he is now not working on the Large Hadron Collider inadvertently creating a black hole that would swallow the world but is safely behind a desk writing this blog, bringing you the fantastical underbelly of nature... weird science.
