Here comes the sun — to end civilisation

How our world’s closest star has been playing Russian roulette with the solar system for billions of years. Every so often, the sun fires off a plasma bomb in a random direction. And little can be done to save our planet if it falls in its path. Matt Ribel argues that life on Earth depends entirely on the mercy of a cosmic nuclear power with an unpredictable trigger finger, and there’s no human triumph that can currently change that.