670 million people—roughly half of India’s population—has been without electricity for two days, following a massive blackout. The United States has a much more modern grid, but only nine years ago a blackout in the Northeast of this country cut power to 45 million. How does a huge blackout like that happen? What are we doing to prevent another one? I’ll be on Southern California Public Radio’s Madeline Brand Show this morning to talk about how America’s electric grid works … and doesn’t work. The show starts at 9:00 Pacific time and I’ll be on around the top of the hour.