Editing Cascading failure (section)

== Other examples ==

=== Biology ===
[[Biochemical cascade]]s exist in biology, where a small reaction can have system-wide implications. One negative example is [[ischemic cascade]], in which a small [[ischemia|ischemic]] attack releases [[toxin]]s which kill off far more cells than the initial damage, resulting in more toxins being released. Current research is to find a way to block this cascade in [[stroke]] patients to minimize the damage.

In the study of extinction, sometimes the extinction of one species will cause many other extinctions to happen. Such a species is known as a [[keystone species]].

=== Electronics ===
Another example is the [[Cockcroft–Walton generator]], which can also experience cascade failures wherein one failed [[diode]] can result in all the diodes failing in a fraction of a second.

Yet another example of this effect in a scientific experiment was the [[Implosion (mechanical process)|implosion]] in 2001 of several thousand fragile glass photomultiplier tubes used in the [[Super-Kamiokande]] experiment, where the shock wave caused by the failure of a single detector appears to have triggered the implosion of the other detectors in a chain reaction.

=== Finance ===
{{main|Systemic risk}} {{main|Cascades in financial networks}}
In [[finance]], the risk of cascading failures of financial institutions is referred to as ''[[systemic risk]]:'' the failure of one financial institution may cause other financial institutions (its [[Counterparty|counterparties]]) to fail, cascading throughout the system. Institutions that are believed to pose systemic risk are deemed either "[[too big to fail]]" (TBTF) or "too interconnected to fail" (TICTF), depending on why they appear to pose a threat.

Note however that systemic risk is not due to individual institutions per se, but due to the interconnections. Frameworks to study and predict the effects of cascading failures have been developed in the research literature.<ref name="Acemoglu Ozdaglar Tahbaz-Salehi 2015 pp. 564–608">{{cite journal |last1=Acemoglu |first1=Daron |last2=Ozdaglar |first2=Asuman |last3=Tahbaz-Salehi |first3=Alireza |title=Systemic Risk and Stability in Financial Networks |journal=American Economic Review |date=February 2015 |volume=105 |issue=2 |pages=564–608 |doi=10.1257/aer.20130456 |hdl=1721.1/100979 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gai |first1=Prasanna |last2=Kapadia |first2=Sujit |title=Contagion in financial networks |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |date=8 August 2010 |volume=466 |issue=2120 |pages=2401–2423 |doi=10.1098/rspa.2009.0410 |bibcode=2010RSPSA.466.2401G }}</ref><ref name="EGJ">{{cite journal |last1=Elliott |first1=Matthew |last2=Golub |first2=Benjamin |last3=Jackson |first3=Matthew O. |title=Financial Networks and Contagion |journal=American Economic Review |date=October 2014 |volume=104 |issue=10 |pages=3115–3153 |doi=10.1257/aer.104.10.3115 |url=https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20141114-080019333 }}</ref>

A related (though distinct) type of cascading failure in finance occurs in the stock market, exemplified by the [[2010 Flash Crash]].<ref name="EGJ" />