WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.920 We've gotten very used to a world of wireless electronics, 00:00:02.920 --> 00:00:05.120 but did you know that most of the global internet 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.540 still depends on running cables 00:00:07.540 --> 00:00:10.340 over really, really long distances? 00:00:10.340 --> 00:00:13.200 There are so many undersea internet cables 00:00:13.200 --> 00:00:14.800 sitting on the ocean floor 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:17.960 that the map of them kind of looks like a plate of spaghetti, 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:20.240 whether you're looking off the Cape of Good Hope 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:22.180 or off the northern coast of Russia, 00:00:22.180 --> 00:00:26.040 where there's a cable that's aptly called the Polar Express. 00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:28.680 And it turns out that undersea communications cables 00:00:28.680 --> 00:00:30.040 aren't even anything new. 00:00:30.040 --> 00:00:32.520 In fact, the first commercial cable was laid 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:37.060 all the way back in 1850, connecting England and France. 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:39.580 Though, of course, that cable was intended for Telegraph, 00:00:39.580 --> 00:00:41.220 as they weren't exactly discussing 00:00:41.220 --> 00:00:43.120 Victorian affairs of state over Twitter. 00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:47.040 Now, unfortunately, some fishers actually cut that cable 00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:50.400 a few short weeks later, but you can't stop progress, 00:00:50.400 --> 00:00:53.180 and more submarine cables started popping up, 00:00:53.180 --> 00:00:55.100 with the first transatlantic cable 00:00:55.100 --> 00:00:58.000 becoming operational in 1858. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:58.660 Though, it took around 00:00:58.660 --> 00:01:02.380 two minutes to transmit just one character 00:01:02.380 --> 00:01:04.140 between the continents. 00:01:04.140 --> 00:01:06.400 Of course, it didn't stay that slow for long. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:08.640 As our understanding of the way electricity works 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.320 over long distances increased, 00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:13.900 we got to the point where we could carry full-on voice calls 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:18.080 under the ocean with copper coaxial cables by the 1950s. 00:01:18.080 --> 00:01:20.620 Though, unsurprisingly, those don't provide 00:01:20.620 --> 00:01:24.000 the necessary bandwidth to carry global internet traffic. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.180 Enter fiber optic technology, 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:28.200 which powers every undersea cable 00:01:28.660 --> 00:01:30.120 that's still operating. 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:33.900 Fiber optics work by converting information into light waves, 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:37.340 but because this light attenuates at distance, 00:01:37.340 --> 00:01:40.380 similarly to how a flashlight becomes impossible to see 00:01:40.380 --> 00:01:42.080 when you get far enough away from it, 00:01:42.080 --> 00:01:44.380 repeaters need to be installed at intervals 00:01:44.380 --> 00:01:47.040 along these cables to amplify the light 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.920 and ensure that it gets all the way down the pipe. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:52.980 And although fiber at home is still a luxury for many, 00:01:52.980 --> 00:01:56.180 undersea fiber started appearing in the late 80s. 00:01:56.180 --> 00:01:58.500 Originally, it also mostly carried voice calls, 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:02.220 but now that fiber forms the backbone of the global internet. 00:02:02.220 --> 00:02:03.500 Improvements in the materials 00:02:03.500 --> 00:02:04.940 that we use to construct these cables 00:02:04.940 --> 00:02:07.160 have resulted in them getting literally 00:02:07.160 --> 00:02:10.520 a million times faster since that time. 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:13.060 We've gone from the original TAT-8 cable 00:02:13.060 --> 00:02:15.960 carrying 280 megabits per second 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:19.680 to the new Grace Hopper cable laid in September, 2021, 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:24.280 carrying 352 terabits per second. 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:27.960 That is over 350,000 times faster 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:30.540 than the old home gigabit connection. 00:02:30.540 --> 00:02:33.180 And we'll tell you more right after we thank monday.com 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:34.460 for sponsoring this video. 00:02:34.460 --> 00:02:37.260 They just launched their new WorkDocs feature into beta, 00:02:37.260 --> 00:02:39.220 where you and your team can connect, collaborate, 00:02:39.220 --> 00:02:42.440 and execute ideas and workflows all in one place. 00:02:42.440 --> 00:02:44.560 Their real-time engine allows hundreds of people 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:45.880 to work together on a WorkDoc 00:02:45.880 --> 00:02:47.720 without them overwriting each other's work, 00:02:47.720 --> 00:02:50.340 and it even supports embedding live objects. 00:02:50.340 --> 00:02:53.540 Sign up today for a free month trial at the link down below. 00:02:53.540 --> 00:02:54.580 Now, the question is, 00:02:54.580 --> 00:02:57.600 how do we keep undersea cables from failing all the time? 00:02:57.600 --> 00:02:58.420 I mean, 00:02:58.420 --> 00:02:59.960 undersea floor is a far cry 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:02.920 from the secured climate-controlled data centers 00:03:02.920 --> 00:03:04.160 that we're used to thinking of 00:03:04.160 --> 00:03:06.760 when we hear the words internet infrastructure. 00:03:06.760 --> 00:03:08.100 Well, the cables are wrapped up 00:03:08.100 --> 00:03:12.180 and insulated quite securely against any number of hazards. 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:15.340 At the very center of the cable are the optical fibers 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:16.880 that carry the actual data 00:03:16.880 --> 00:03:19.380 and copper tubing that provides power. 00:03:19.380 --> 00:03:22.840 These guts of the cable are wrapped up in plastic 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:25.380 and aluminum to prevent water ingress. 00:03:25.380 --> 00:03:27.220 But the cable still needs to be toughened up 00:03:27.220 --> 00:03:28.380 to withstand other physical damage, 00:03:28.380 --> 00:03:29.760 physical hazards. 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:33.000 Nylon and tar can provide additional protection, 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.560 and thick steel wires serve as armor 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:37.560 against fishing boats, anchors, 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.180 and even the occasional shark bite. 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:43.320 And yes, sharks have been observed nibbling on these cables 00:03:43.320 --> 00:03:44.280 every now and then. 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:46.880 But that doesn't make the cables invincible. 00:03:46.880 --> 00:03:48.680 They do still sustain damage 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:50.860 and even break completely sometimes, 00:03:50.860 --> 00:03:54.500 causing slowdowns like we saw in South Africa in 2020. 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:56.920 Fortunately, the internet works in such a way 00:03:56.920 --> 00:03:58.060 that data can simply 00:03:58.060 --> 00:04:00.020 take another route to its destination 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:01.620 while the cable is being fixed, 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:03.600 which typically involves a repair ship 00:04:03.600 --> 00:04:05.520 dragging the two broken ends of the cable 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.740 up from the sea floor and splicing them back together. 00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:10.000 But hold on a second. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:11.120 With all the satellites 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:12.780 that we have floating around in space 00:04:12.780 --> 00:04:15.240 and services like Starlink being released, 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:17.280 are these cables in danger of being replaced 00:04:17.280 --> 00:04:19.340 by wireless solutions? 00:04:19.340 --> 00:04:20.780 Not anytime soon. 00:04:20.780 --> 00:04:23.220 Even though wireless data transfer over distances 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:25.300 is much better than it used to be, 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:27.600 cables are still much faster, much lower latency, 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:30.900 and way cheaper. 00:04:30.900 --> 00:04:33.420 It's kind of like Ethernet versus Wi-Fi, 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:35.600 but on a way larger scale. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:37.920 In fact, several of the fastest cables 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:40.640 aren't even owned by old school telecom companies. 00:04:40.640 --> 00:04:42.680 They were instead laid by newer companies 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:44.980 like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook 00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:47.960 to improve efficiency in their cloud data centers. 00:04:47.960 --> 00:04:51.480 So the undersea cables look like they're here to stay, 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:53.100 at least until the fish that we eat 00:04:53.100 --> 00:04:56.760 learn to use garden shears and exact revenge on all of us. 00:04:56.760 --> 00:04:57.600 Thanks for watching, guys. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:00.340 Like the video or dislike if you didn't like it so much. 00:05:00.340 --> 00:05:02.440 Check out our other videos if you did like it 00:05:02.440 --> 00:05:04.200 and comment with a video 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