Abstract: The past decade has seen several fundamental advancements in experimental particle astrophysics. The long-standing solar neutrino problem has finally been resolved by a set of ground-breaking experimental efforts. Direct searches for the elusive dark-matter particle have placed limits on the interaction cross-section and mass of WIMPS, and have constrained parameter space in supersymmetric models which predict them. In this colloquium I will discuss some of the history of the solar neutrino problem, and the recent experimental evidence which has solved it. I will discuss some details of the SNO experiment which has provided direct evidence for flavour transformation of electron neutrinos from the solar 8B reaction. Some preliminary studies for the design of a cryogenic experiment (CLEAN) which can improve sensitivity to dark matter particles by several orders of magnitude, as well as provide a real-time measurement of the low-energy pp solar neutrino flux will be presented.