The devastating Texas blackouts explained in 3 levels of detail

The devastating Texas blackouts explained in 3 levels of detail

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If there was one meme that captured the week, it'd probably be the image of Ted Cruz on Mars through the lens of the brand new Perseverance rover. 

The rover successfully touched down on the red planet yesterday “” a major scientific feat, by the way “” and beamed images back to Earth. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Texans remained without power, after a winter storm pummeled the state. 

Cruz, a Texas senator, caught a ton of flak when he briefly traveled with his family to Cancún. Someone quickly photoshopped him into the Mars image. Naturally. 

Let's start with the blackouts.  

Explaining the Texas blackouts, in 3 levels of detail 

The latest: Power has been restored to most of the 3-million-plus Texans who were plunged into darkness earlier this week. 

Misinformation flooded the internet following the blackouts. Here's what actually happened, in three levels of detail. 

Level 1: An unusual winter storm struck the state, causing power plants to malfunction right when demand for electricity shot up as people tried to stay warm. 

Level 2: Most of the power sources that went offline were run on so-called thermal energy, which