Latest news with #monolith
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Massive Monolith Found in the Waters of Papahānaumokuākea
On April 22, which is Earth Day, researchers studying the sea floor in unexplored deepwater regions of Papahānaumokuākea found something incredible: an enormous monolith nearly 50-feet high. The Papahānaumokuākea region is an amazing place. Located off the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the vast archipelago has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world, and it is an absolute treasure trove of wonderfully interesting things. The researchers were part of a mission called 'Beyond the Blue: Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping,' which aims to 'map, explore, and characterize ecologically and economically important unexplored deepwater regions of Papahānaumokuākea.' The scientists, for most of the dive, found what they were expecting. As they were thinking about calling it for the day, a volcanic dike loomed out of the darkness. 'This community was relatively consistent throughout, until the end of the dive when we found a large solitary dike feature that was nearly 15 meters (49 feet) of shear vertical wall running for over 11 meters (36 feet) in length but only four meters (13 feet) wide,' the dive log reads. 'The up-current side of this wall hosted numerous large Hemicorallium colonies with several large Primnoids corals interspersed.' Volcanic dikes are formed when magma finds its way into a crack in older rock. This particular one was nearly 7,000 feet down, and was covered in all manner of life. 'The waters in the Pacific Islands region span a diverse range of ecosystems and dynamic geological environments,' NOAA researchers wrote. 'They contain some of the last relatively pristine marine ecosystems on the planet and harbor numerous protected species, wondrous geological formations, and undiscovered shipwrecks. Papahānaumokuākea is a place of extraordinary beauty, known by a single name that commemorates the union of two Hawaiian ancestors – Papahānaumoku and Wākea – who gave rise to the Hawaiian Archipelago, the taro plant, and the Hawaiian people.' Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
12-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How The Microservices Vs. Monoliths Debate Is Damaging Your Business
Beyond The Architecture Cage Match: How The Microservices Vs. Monoliths Debate Is Damaging Your ... More Business In the red corner, weighing in with independent scalability and distributed complexity: microservices! In the blue corner, the reigning legacy champion, with its infamous deployment challenges: the monolith! For years, architects and technology executives have watched this architectural cage match with bated breath. Technology forums buzzed with trash talk from both sides. Conference speakers built careers championing one approach while demonizing the other. Vendors sold middleware solutions promising to crown you champion — if only you'd pick their preferred fighter. But what if we told you that this entire spectacle was all just a waste of time? The truth? Your organization shouldn't pick a single winner in this so-called battle. You need different solutions tailored to specific contexts. The industry landscape is littered with both cautionary tales and success stories that illustrate architectural tension. Consider how Segment, the customer data platform, famously documented its journey from monolith to microservices and then partially back again. The engineering team initially split Segment's platform into over 100 microservices in pursuit of scalability, only to face what they called 'death by a thousand microservices.' The team eventually consolidated back to a more balanced approach after experiencing mounting operational complexity and debugging challenges that outweighed the benefits. On the flip side, many established enterprises cling to aging monoliths long past their expiration dates. When retail giant Target began its digital transformation, it realized that its monolithic architecture couldn't deliver the agility needed to compete with Amazon. Its pragmatic phased approach to modernization — selectively decomposing components while maintaining core systems — helped Target achieve an impressive digital turnaround without falling into either extreme of the architectural spectrum. The lesson from both scenarios? Architectural decisions driven by trends rather than business context frequently lead organizations astray. Architecture is about weighing trade-offs, not adhering to dogma. As we enter a new era of digital acceleration, the organizations pulling ahead aren't arguing about monoliths versus microservices. They're pragmatically applying architectural patterns where they make sense, modernizing incrementally where they see concrete benefits, and staying focused on delivering business value. So go beyond the battle royale, put down the architectural dogma, and start asking better questions about what your specific context, organization, and business needs demand. The true champion of modern software architecture isn't a particular pattern — it's the pragmatic, business-focused approach that delivers real results in your unique context. Because in the real world, the only architectural approach fighter that truly wins is the one that helps your business succeed. This post was written by Principal Analyst Devin Dickerson and Principal Analyst David Mooter and it originally appeared here.
