Insiders reveal the cause of Facebook's fall

​​Colossal Dyson spheres may be the key to finding intelligent alien life, a new 450-mile undersea cable can help power the U.K. with Norwegian energy Oct 05, 2021 # Good morning. It was a rough day for Facebook (and social media addicts) yesterday, but we finally know the reason why all of its platforms suddenly went off the grid. In today’s issue, there’s also a team of astronomers who believe Dyson spheres could be the key to discovering intelligent alien life. They even found five stars that might harbor one! Additionally, the world's longest undersea power cable is about to switch on, bringing hydropower from Norway to the United Kingdom. This is The Blueprint. Happy reading. CULTURE [Insiders Posted About the Cause of Facebook's Fall. Here Are the Details]( [People icons arranged in a social network configuration.]( Instagram, WhatsApp, and several other [Facebook-owned platforms took a half-day break yesterday]( around 11:40 AM EDT and stayed MIA until about 5:45 PM EDT. The outage, which appears to be Facebook's largest in history based on the number of customers affected, sparked speculation on whether it was caused by an engineering fault, a malicious attack, or something else. - [The company confirmed theories late last night]( that a routine update to the company's Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) records caused the disruption. Insider information. Roughly one hour after the outage, [a Reddit user named u/ramenporn]( who claimed to be part of the "Recovery Team" for the issue, explained what was happening. The outage in a nutshell. The Reddit user said the outage was likely caused by Facebook network engineers inadvertently locking themselves out of the larger system while doing an update. The only people who could help had to be close to Facebook's physical routers to bring the servers back, but this proved to be a logistical challenge since those with physical access were away from the people who actually knew what to do. Fortunately, a very stressed-out Recovery Team was able to fix the issue. - The Reddit user's posts, which contained potentially sensitive information, have since been deleted, but Wayback Machine preserved an archive of the information. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg [lost more than $6 billion in just a few hours]( which as a loss isn’t very damaging compared to small businesses that rely on Facebook for revenue, for whom every dollar counts. Social media users, however, had a field day, [dishing out jokes and memes about the chaos]( that followed when Facebook went down. [Read More]( SCIENCE [Colossal Dyson Spheres Might Be the Key to Finding Intelligent Alien Life]( [An illustration of NASA's WISE telescope.]( Dyson spheres are hypothetical megastructures built around stars to harness their energy. A growing number of scientists believe we might be able to observe telltale traces of these space megastructures, which could lead us to an intelligent alien civilization advanced enough to actually build them. - A team of astronomers published [a paper exploring the possibility of finding one]( in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and they discovered at least five star systems that could potentially harbor a Dyson sphere. This should have you sitting on the edge of your seat since such a discovery would finally provide evidence that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe. How? The team believed Dyson spheres could take the form of solar panels held in place around stars without being destroyed by their gravitational pull. Such a structure would, in theory, emit radiation in the mid-infrared wavelength at temperatures between 100 to 600 Kelvin and also observably glow. The astronomers were able to highlight the five stars based on that, and next, they want to do follow-up observations on these sources. Why this matters. The Milky Way is home to somewhere between 100 and 400 billion stars, so finding a Dyson sphere is comparable to finding a needle in the proverbial haystack. Still, such a discovery could change our understanding of our place in the universe and help us design our own space megastructures. But [what would it actually take to contain the whole Sun]( in a chamber of solar panels? [Read More]( INNOVATION [A New 450-Mile Undersea Cable Can Help Power the UK With Norwegian Energy]( [The undersea cable laying in progress.]( The world’s longest undersea power cable, which is bringing hydropower from Norway to the U.K., [is about to switch on](. This will connect Kvilldal in Suldal on Norway's west coast to Blyth in Northumberland, a tiny town on the United Kingdom's eastern coast designated as a Renewable Energy Zone. The project, called the North Sea Link, costs $1.9 billion (£1.4 billion), and took six years to complete. - At maximum capacity, the undersea cable can supply enough electricity to power 1.4 million homes. The technology behind it. The interconnector cable was buried 3-to-9 ft (1-to-3 m) beneath the seabed, and enables electricity from hydropower plants connected to large reservoirs in Norway to flow in either direction. The power will be sent using High Voltage Direct Current, a technique that provides more controlled and low-loss transmission of bulk power. At either end of the cable, converter stations convert the power back into alternating current for use in everyday applications. The interconnector line will operate at a capacity of 700 megawatts at first, but can then double over the next three months. Why is this important? By creating a green electricity system across the sea, the U.K. wants to ensure that it can meet future power demands without giving up on its carbon emission targets. The country plans to go carbon-neutral by 2050, and this project will [help it avoid 25.4 million tons (23 million metric tons) of carbon emissions]( by 2030. [Read More]( QUOTE OF THE DAY “ The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it. ” Neil deGrasse Tyson, in a 2011 CNN interview [Video]VIDEO OF THE DAY [Why Spacewalks Are Complicated and Dangerous]( [Why Spacewalks Are Complicated and Dangerous]( AND ANOTHER THING... - Do you remember when everyone thought smokers may be immune to COVID's worst effects at the start of the pandemic? A massive study from the U.K. says that it turns out, this wasn't the case, at all. [How did scientists get things so wrong]( (The Conversation) - A new appliance is poised to become as common as video recording devices, microwaves, and PCs. Get ready for [the home standby generator](. - Physicists have debated how the fabric of space-time may emerge from quantum entanglement. [This thought experiment is taking shape]( in Monika Schleier-lab Smith's at Stanford University. (Quanta Magazine) - From space jellyfish to subterranean robots, relive September's [most memorable science moments through breathtaking photos](. (Nature) - In a new study co-authored by astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 rocks reveal [a bizarre link between the Moon and Earth](. (Inverse) - An experimental brain implant could personalize depression therapy. [Here's how](. (Scientific American) - Meet Margaret Hamilton: Her programming code [helped humans land on the Moon]( and she invented the modern concept of software. - [This adorable comic]( highlights the strange emphasis that humans place on teaching their kids about catching on fire. Prepared by Derya Ozdemir and Brad Bergan Enjoy reading? Don't forget to forward to a friend! Was this email forwarded to you? [Subscribe]( [About Us]( | [Advertise]( | [Contact Us]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( You are receiving this email because you have subscribed to our newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( to manage your newsletter subscriptions. © Copyright 2021 | The Blueprint is by Interesting Engineering, Inc. 201 Spear Street, Suite 1100 San Francisco, CA 94105 | All Rights Reserved [Interesting Engineering]