In the span of just a few weeks, we’ve seen two reminders of how dependent we are on the systems around us. A large solar flare recently made headlines for its potential to disrupt communications and the power grid. Not long after, back‑to‑back winter storms swept across the East Coast, bringing snow, ice, and frigid temperatures that strained local infrastructure and left many families dealing with outages. Neither event was catastrophic — but both were close enough to make