Hey, Ira Flato here from Science Friday. Each episode we give you surprising facts.

There's a whole phenomenon of moths visiting eyes of mammals. Expert insights. It doesn't

take a lot of brain to run a lion, actually. And we tackle the big questions. How is this going to

affect the future?

From space to climate to tech to medicine,

get a new view on the world around you.

That's Science Friday, wherever you get your podcasts. Even the greatest stage magicians possess no supernatural power.

There is always some well-concealed, practical explanation for why it appears they can make solid objects defy gravity and cause doves to appear and ladies to disappear.

The same goes for the technology that links the whole world instantly and constantly.

The idea that it all happens wirelessly is a delightful illusion.

From KERA in Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd.

It's not exactly a secret that we depend on thousands of

miles of fiber optic cables set on the ocean floor to physically link information systems

between land masses. It's just really easy to forget when everything is working properly.

The other reality we tend to avoid thinking about how very delicate the whole system actually is

and how relatively easy it is to sever the ties we all take for granted.

Samanth Subramanian is the author of The Web Beneath the Waves, the Fragile Cables that Connect Our World.

He also adapted an article for The Guardian from the book recently that is titled

Extremely Offline. What Happened when a Pacific Island was cut off from the internet. Someone,

welcome to think. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here. So the story starts off in a pretty

unexpected way for at least one family that was affected.

Residents of this island off the main island in Tonga started smelling sulfur.

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