What might seem too large to be anything but invincible can often be brought low by seemingly innocuous things. Think of the once-unsinkable Titanic — an adjective proven wrong on its very first voyage — or the Hindenburg, floating along majestically until a fire broke out and consumed the mighty aircraft in a matter of seconds.
Such a tragedy seems to have befallen one of the scientific community's true jewels as well: the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.