WELCOME

Issue 204

FAST FACTS

Amazing trivia that will blow your mind

Pulling an oil platform

© Getty For those in Corpus Christi, Texas,

A millipede’s many legs

© Getty Getting up close and personal with

The Hindenburg disaster

© Alamy Erupting into flames, this captures the

Greenland’s glacial flow

© Lauren Dauphin/NASA EOSDIS LANCE/GIBS/Worldview Captured by NASA’s

China and Russia to build a power plant on the Moon

SPACE

‘Super-vision’ contact lenses let wearers see in the dark

The lenses could also correct for colour blindness

GIANT FLYING PTEROSAURS COULD WALK TOO

Did you know? There were over 200 species

New space-adapted bacteria species found on the Chinese space station

SPACE

EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD REVEALS WHAT DROVE EARLY HUMANS OUT OF AFRICA

A core of rock and sediment drilled from

A hospital superbug can feed on medical plastic

A superbug that commonly causes infections in hospitals can

A NEW PHOTO SHOWS SUNSPOTS IN INCREDIBLE DETAIL

SPACE

Gigantic ‘mud waves’ reveal the dramatic formation of the Atlantic

T he discovery of buried ‘mud waves’ off

A groundbreaking amplifier could make the internet ten times faster

Scientists have developed a new type of laser amplifier

HEALTH Your fingers ‘prune’ the exact same way each time

Everyone knows that your fingers get wrinkly after

1940s Ford car found on a wartime US carrier wreck

Researchers were surprised to find the remains of

NORWAY AIMS FOR A “SAFE, PEACEFUL AND PROSPEROUS FUTURE IN SPACE”

Did you know? 12 astronauts have walked on

WISH LIST

PET GADGETS

Does launching rockets harm the environment?

Amazing answers to your curious questions

How fast does the Sun spin?

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO: HOW IT WORKS MAGAZINE

THE CITIES OF THE FUTURE

COULD YOU MAKE AN EVEN BETTER CITY THAN THESE?

GET DRESSED!

A HISTORICAL GUESSING GAME FOR LOVERS OF FASHION

INSIDE YOUR BRAIN

TEN DISCOVERIES THAT REVEAL HOW THE BRAIN WORKS

Spot the difference

See if you can find all six changes between the images below

MAKE A GLOVE GARDEN

Watch as seeds germinate into seedlings that shoot from cotton wool balls

RALLY HISTORY

Dear HIW , When did rally racing start? Has it always been so dangerous?

A PIERCING QUESTION

Dear HIW , Why is it that when you get a new piercing it can easily close up, but after time it’s less likely to?

PLANT PERFORMANCE

Dear HIW , One of my houseplants has red leaves instead of the more common green. Does this mean there’s less chlorophyll, and how does that impact photosynthesising?

MILK MAKE-UP

Dear HIW , How much do animal milks vary? For example, how similar is a cow’s milk to a human’s milk?

NEXT-GEN FIGHTER JETS

Sixth-generation stealth fighter jets are coming. How will these advanced flying machines remain undetected in a world of increasingly sophisticated radar technology?

TEMPEST TECHNOLOGY

What makes this jet so sleek, sneaky and supersonic?

FIGHTER JETS BY GENERATION

How military jets have evolved across nearly 90 years

DREW STEEL

Steel served as aircrew in the RAF for three decades before joining BAE Systems in 2007. He explains to us the significance of evolving stealth fighter technology

5 ESSENTIAL STEALTH TRAITS

1 SMOOTH EDGES Stealth jets are designed

SIXTH-GENERATION JETS AROUND THE WORLD

Tempest is designed to be easily upgraded with

WHAT DO YOU WEIGH ON OTHER WORLDS?

Scientists distinguish between weight and mass, which may seem pedantic until you see what happens on a world where gravity is radically different to Earth’s

ON BOARD AN OCEAN RESEARCH VESSEL

The OceanXplorer is one of the world’s most advanced research vessels, sailing the seas in the name of scientific discovery

WHAT IS A STARQUAKE?

Neutron stars can suffer quakes far more powerful than anything on Earth

UNDERWATER WONDERS

Take a deep dive into some of the world’s most curious submerged sites

BELOW THE DIVIDE

Beneath the Silfra rift, two continental plates are being pushed in opposite directions by a molten mantle

WATERFALLS BELOW THE WATER

The cascading sands around the 790-square-mile island of

FALLING WATER

How water ‘flows’ beneath the Denmark Strait

CURIOUS CARVINGS

Are these features signs of a lost civilisation, or just geological oddities?

MUSEUMS UNDER THE SEA

These are some of the world’s most intriguing sunken statues and wreckages

HOLES IN THE OCEAN

Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas The world

5 FACTS BIGGEST CORAL REEFS

1 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF Australia is home

RUSSIA’S UNDERWATER CAVE

A diver in the crystalline cave Running for

BENEATH GREENLAND’S ICE CAP

Explore the secret landscape concealed by the ice of this Arctic island nation

A HIDDEN LANDSCAPE

Peek underneath the ice at Greenland’s rocky topography

RAPID EVOLUTION IN ACTION

We think of evolution as a slow, gradual process, but that’s not always the case. Some species undergo a rapid transformation

A NINTENDO GAMECUBE?

WHAT’S INSIDE...

HOW PARACHUTES WORK

There’s much more to this essential piece of flight safety equipment than a simple tug on a rip cord

HOW TO EXPLORE IMPOSSIBLE DEPTHS

Crabster is built to crawl across the ocean floor, reaching locations off limits to other submarines

OTHER ROBOTS BUILT TO EXPLORE

PYRAMID NAVIGATOR Djedi the robot, designed by

THE WORLD’S LONGEST UNDERSEA CABLE

Meta’s latest project could produce a subsea cable long enough to wrap around the world

HOW TO PICK A POPE

Follow the Vatican’s journey to appoint the next direct successor of Saint Peter

HENRIETTA SWAN LEAVITT

This groundbreaking astronomer helped us discover our place in the universe

TECH AHEAD OF ITS TIME

Some of today’s technology goes back much further than you’d imagine

WHAT GIVES FOOD ITS TEXTURE?

From crisp, crunchy fruit to satisfyingly stretchy cheese, explore the chemistry behind each bite

MEAL MAKE-UP

How does the structure of different foods determine their consistency?

HOW DOES JELLY

Animal protein is manipulated by temperature in the making of this popular dessert

REAL-LIFE ZOMBIES

How much science is there behind the grasping undead creatures of horror flicks?

RABIES ROAD MAP

How the virus travels from bite to brain in just a few weeks

SURVIVING A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

A professor of epidemiology and member of the advisory board of the Zombie Research Society, Dr Tara Smith sheds some light on how an apocalypse might emerge and what to do if it does

WHAT IS VITILIGO?

When skin pigmentation is unevenly distributed, the result is unique patterns across the body

WHAT IS THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT?

How even the smallest action can cause significant and unpredictable events in the future

HOW WE USE THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

There are few frequencies of electromagnetic radiation we haven’t exploited, though some have their dangers…