Despite occasional promising rays of light America remains mired in an economic funk.

FORBES: President Obama's Economy Continues To Fizzle

But the influence of cosmic rays could resolve other as yet unexplained cycles in tree growth found in studies in North America.

BBC: Earth News - Cosmic pattern to UK tree growth

As Dr Levan explained to me from America, where the results are being revealed for the first time, if we could see gamma rays ourselves these events would outshine everything else in the sky.

BBC: NASA's Swift satellite observes massive supernova stars