Question: how do you think your work will effect our lives?

Paul Higgins answered on 18 Nov 2012:

My work could lead to us being able to predict when explosions on the Sun will happen. These explosions can damage satellites and endanger astronauts. If we can predict the explosions, called solar flares, we can warn astronauts to get behind a shield, or for satellites, we can turn them off, so they don’t get damaged.