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HOW IT WORKS

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How It Works
Issue 197
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HOW IT WORKS
“It can often defy all our ideas of common sense”
Quantum physics explained PAGE 20 I saac Newton’s
HOW IT WORKS
Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath,
REGULARS
A city of books
© Getty In Buenavista, Mexico City, you can
Mudslinging wasps
© Alamy The female black-and-yellow mud dauber is
Spider in the sky
© NASA Crawling through the sky is a
Rainbow woods
© Shutterstock Dotted along Bald Cypress Trail at
Astronauts are set to grow livers in space
GLOBAL EYE Showcasing the incredible world we live
Never-before-seen head of a giant ‘millipede’ solves an evolutionary mystery
An illustration of what Arthropleura might have looked
THE LARGEST KNOWN PRIME NUMBER, SPANNING 41 MILLION DIGITS, IS DISCOVERED
The largest known prime number has been discovered
Explorer Sandy Irvine’s foot discovered 100 years after he vanished on Everest
The last known image of mountaineers George Mallory
BIZARRE ‘PET CLOUD’ REAPPEARS ABOVE NEW ZEALAND
A peculiar ‘pet cloud’ took centre stage in
The UN warns to cut emissions in half right now to prevent a climate catastrophe
Climate change made the wildfires that decimated the
PERSEVERANCE WATCHES A SOLAR ECLIPSE ON MARS
NASA’s Perseverance rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to
Most of Earth’s meteorites may have come from the same three spots
Did you know? Mars is around half the
Malfunctioning mitochondria may drive Crohn’s disease
A 3D illustration of two membranebound organelles called
Our brains can understand written sentences in the ‘blink of an eye’
Human brains can discern the basic structures of
Drones could use ‘robotic cat’s eyes’ to track targets more precisely
The system includes a slit-like aperture to filter
SCIENTISTS HAVE DATED THE MOON’S OLDEST AND LARGEST IMPACT SITE
For billions of years, our celestial neighbour has
WISH LIST
CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE
BRAINDUMP
Amazing answers to your curious questions
How does the Sun burn if there is no oxygen in space?
At first glance, the Sun’s surface might resemble the flames of a roaring fire, but that’s deceptive – our local star isn’t really burning in the same way things do on Earth. Confusingly, when astronomers talk about the Sun ‘burning’, they’re actually talking about a completely different process called nuclear fusion. This involves forcing together the tiny nuclei of hydrogen, the lightest element, to create atoms of helium in the high temperatures and pressures of the core. The process releases energy in a much more efficient way than the combustion we’re familiar with in a fire – and it doesn’t need oxygen.
In which direction do we look to see almost as far back as the Big Bang?
One of the strange things about our expanding
THE LIBRARY
The latest book releases for curious minds
HOW TO…
Practical projects to try at home
INBOX
Speak your mind
FAST FACTS
© Shutterstock 2.7 MILLION MILES PER HOUR Standing
SPECIAL
QUANTUM PHYSICS EXPLAINED
Take an in-depth look at the unbelievable theories, crazy experiments and practical applications of what may be the weirdest of all scientific subjects
SPACE
HOW THE TELESCOPE WAS INVENTED
Follow the timeline to discover centuries of advancement in the way we observe the universe
WHAT’S INSIDE A LUNAR CAVE?
How China’s ‘Jade Rabbit’ rover is exploring the subterranean world of Earth’s cosmic companion
SCIENCE
TAMING ANTIMATTER
How we’ll finally discover this substance’s true nature and learn how to harness it to propel us to distant stars
WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE ‘MORNING PEOPLE’
Do you prefer to lie in, or are you keen on an early rise?
WHERE DOES HELIUM COME FROM?
This lighter-than-air element could one day disappear from our planet
HISTORY
GUESS THE MEDIEVAL INSTRUMENT
Do you know your timekeepers from navigation devices?
HOW THE DUTCH MADE HOLL AND BIGGER
Nearly 800 years ago, The Netherlands was smaller than it is today
THE 50-YEAR COAL MINE FIRE
Why a mine beneath a Pennsylvanian ghost town is perpetually engulfed in flames
TRANSPORT
HOW HUMANS CAN FLY
These ingenious inventions have given people wings to soar through the air
HOW CAR COMPUTERS WORK
Within almost every car is a high-tech computer controlling and monitoring how we drive
ENVIRONMENT
WHAT WAS THE FIRST LIVING THING?
How the origin of everything alive on Earth today points to one ancient organism
WHAT ARE ALGAL BLOOMS?
When algae populations in bodies of water grow rapidly, it causes problems for the environment, wildlife and humans
TECHNOLOGY
WORLD’S STRONGEST CRANE
The Mammoet SK6000 has gained the title of world’s strongest land-based crane. How can it help construct a greener future?
APPLE AIRPODS PRO TEARDOWN
This high-end earphone technology includes a remarkable feature to control the sound that enters your ears
SHRINKING THE X-RAY MACHINE
Forget room-sized machines… modern bone imagers have gotten much smaller
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