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The huge disaster in Japan has ruined parts of the nation's electrical system, notably the six Fukushima Daiichi reactors that remain shut down. As a result, the country's utilities can't generate enough power to meet demand, so they are using rolling blackouts to give some power to everyone for some portion of each day.

VIENNA, March 24 (Reuters) - Japanese scientists have found measurable concentrations of radioactive iodine-131 and caesium-137 in seawater samples taken 30 km (18 miles) from land, the U.N. [More]

The radiation crisis in Japan worsens, for two reasons, one that we’ve heard about, one that we haven’t but which may in the end do far more harm. The Japanese government, and the company in charge of the crippled nuclear complex, are struggling with their risk and crisis communications, and their missteps are fueling mistrust and anger, which magnifies fear and stress, which may do more health damage than the radiation itself

In the past 15 months several devastating earthquakes have rumbled beneath the Pacific.

In the past 15 months several devastating earthquakes have rumbled beneath the Pacific. In February 2010 a magnitude 8.8 temblor slammed central Chile; this past September a magnitude 7 quake walloped Christchurch, New Zealand, leading to a magnitude 6.3 aftershock this past February.

If the recent events in Japan were a movie, we'd say that the plot was too outlandishly catastrophic to be true--first an earthquake, then a tsunami, then a nuclear accident. Watching footage of entire neighborhoods being shoveled inland by roiling water, and knowing that those buildings and vehicles contained people, was horrifying.But while the citizens of Japan continue to struggle with their own personal hell, many

As Japanese military struggles to cool overheating fuel rods at the country’s damaged nuclear plant, some suggest a full meltdown might actually be happening somewhere else--in the corporate suites of Tokyo Electric Power Co. Tepco, as it’s known, is a for-profit utility that owns the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and other plants and provides almost 35% of Japan’s electricity ( pdf ). And in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that brought the country to nuclear crisis, the organization is turning into a lighting rod of political criticism.

Physicist James Acton with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace spoke with Katie Couric about what could be a pivotal moment in the effort to cool the Japanese reactors.

Americans snapping up cancer-preventing pills even though U.S. says almost no threat from radiation leaking from stricken Japanese reactors

Cyberdine has just shown the next iteration of its HAL robots--strap-on exoskeletons that boost the user's strength with electric motors.

Twitter and other social networks have, of course, been remarkable tools during past uprisings and disasters.

The ongoing disaster in Japan is an unprecedented human tragedy.

By Taiga Uranaka and Ki Joon Kwon FUKUSHIMA, Japan, March 14 (Reuters) - Japan scrambled to avert a meltdown at a stricken nuclear plant on Monday after a hydrogen explosion at one reactor and exposure of fuel rods at another, just days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000 people. Roads and rail, power and ports have been crippled across much of Japan's northeast and estimates of the cost of the multiple disasters have leapt to as much as $170 billion

(Adds quotes, background) VIENNA, March 13 (Reuters) - Japanese authorities have told [More]

This afternoon from the stage at South by Southwest , Architecture for Humanity's Cameron Sinclair will announce a $75,000 commitment from donors to rebuilding from the Japanese earthquake, along with a personal pledge: If the donation link bit.ly/sxsw4JP is reTweeted 100,000 times, he'll donate 10% of his own salary. The rebuilding effort will unfold in stages, depending on how much money is ultimately raised.