“If you knock out nine total substations among those three grids, you can black out the entire United States.” According to Wellinghoff, which nine substations were taken offline didn’t matter as long as each one was among the 10 most important in its region, and you could black out the three interconnections individually as well: “I mean, it’s not like there are particular substations. You just have to figure out what are the top 10 critical ones in each of those interconnects. Which, to do that, it’s probably something that a bunch of 12-year-olds with the internet could do pretty easily. All you have to do is look at a map of the grid and figure out where most of the wires go into the substations — that’s a critical substation.”

Neural circuits in the amygdala are responsible for predatory behavior in mice, according to a study published January 12 in Cell. Using optogenetics, a technique that uses light to turn neural circuits on and off, a group of researchers led by neuroscientist Ivan de Araujo of Yale University was able to turn docile mice into ruthless hunters.