WELCOME

Issue 207

The coral keeper

© Getty This curious coral dweller is a

Cape Canaveral’s first launch

© Alamy 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of

Seeing Saturn

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI Drifting through the shadow of Saturn,

Flying wide

© Alamy Taken at Mojave Air and Space

A new brain implant can decode a person’s ‘inner monologue’

Sientists have developed a brain-computer interface that can

A new brain implant can decode a person’s ‘inner monologue’

HEALTH

Texas puma genes rescue Florida panthers from extinction

A photo of a captive Florida panther, taken

A LAKE-FILLED CRATER IN AFRICA TRANSFORMS INTO A GIANT SILVER ‘MIRROR’ VIA RARE PHENOMENON

Chad’s Lake Iro looked like a large, circular

515-mile-long lightning bolt spanning five states is the longest on record

Bolts of this size have only become fully

VIRGIN GALACTIC’S NEW SPACE PLANE COULD FLY AS SOON AS AUTUMN 2026

A 3D rendering of a Delta-class Spaceship design

A colossal black hole is one of the largest ever seen in the universe

Did you know? The nearest black hole is

BITE MARKS REVEAL GIANT TERROR BIRDS WERE POTENTIALLY PREY FOR ANOTHER APEX PREDATOR

A 3D illustration of an extinct flightless terror

A paperclip-sized spacecraft could visit a nearby black hole in the next century

An astrophysicist has made a daring proposal to send

Ancient viruses embedded in our DNA help turn genes on and off

Virus fragments are embedded inside the human genome

Warm and cool temperatures travel on completely different paths to the brain

Researchers have mapped out the neural pathway humans

Scientists transform ‘forever chemicals’ in water into fluoride

Sunlight helps speed along the breakdown of forever

COSMIC RAYS COULD HELP SUPPORT ALIEN LIFE ON WORLDS OUTSIDE THE HABITABLE ZONE

A new study suggests that cosmic rays could

How were Mount Rushmore’s presidents sculpted out?

Amazing answers to your curious questions

Has a comet ever hit our planet?

Yes. On cosmic timescales, comets hit Earth frequently, but because they’re largely made of ice rather than solid rock, they tend not to leave obvious craters. A small comet is more likely than an asteroid to break up as it plunges into Earth’s atmosphere and heats up, often resulting in an explosion called an airburst that can devastate large areas of the landscape but doesn’t leave a crater. Perhaps the most famous such event happened over the Russian region of Tunguska in 1908, when an exploding comet flattened some 770 square miles of Siberian forest. A comet would have to be pretty big in order to hit the ground intact.

Why do some bees make blue honey?

When bees in the French town of Ribeauvillé started producing blue and green honey in 2012, dyes from an M&M’s waste plant were to blame. While bees produce different shades of honey depending on which flowers they collect nectar from, blue honey was previously unheard of. Beekeepers discovered their bees had switched food sources, shunning local flowers in favour of brightly coloured, sugary M&M’s shell fragments being processed at a neighbouring biogas plant. Bees then transformed these sugars – along with the dyes – into honey. The waste-processing plant has since tidied away any uncovered waste containers, spelling the end of the blue honey.

THE LIBRARY

The latest book releases for curious minds

Spot the difference

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

MAKE A COTTON BALL LAUNCHER

Practical projects to try at home

INBOX

Speak your mind

FAST FACTS

Amazing trivia that will blow your mind

DRIVING ELECTRIC

Get behind the wheel of an all-electric vehicle and discover how we’re beating our addiction to gasoline-fuelled cars

HOW SATELLITE NAVIGATION WORKS

Whether you’re navigating the streets on your smartphone or driving long distances using a satnav device, you’re using a separate system to everyday phone calls and messages

ROLLER COASTER THRILLS EXPLAINED

Each year, people flock to theme parks for the adrenaline rush delivered by roller coasters. But how are they engineered to delight and excite?

THE SCIENCE OF ART

How scientific and technological advancements have expanded the possibilities of human creativity

HOW CATAPULTS WORKED

These terrifying weapons of fortress destruction could slingshot a siege to success

A GUIDE TO EXOPLANETS

How our knowledge of these worlds beyond the Solar System has exploded in the last three decades

INSIDE AN F-16 FIGHTER JET

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is an iconic jet, and after decades of service it’s still on the front line in Ukraine. We’ve gone into the cockpit to discover why this legend still takes charge of the skies today

WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL MICROSCOPE

How the scanning electron microscope takes detailed images of things too tiny for our naked eye to see

ALL ABOUT YOUR ORGANS

From the heart to the brain, our vital organs work hard to help us survive

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE SCREAMS

Phobias are irrational by definition. So why do we have them, and can they be cured?

HOW TOOTHPASTE IS MADE

Toothpaste can prevent tooth decay and leaves your mouth feeling fresh. But do we really need it?

HOW NATURE RECORDS HISTORY

Not only has Earth been around for billions of years, it’s been keeping a log of its journey across time

HORNETS EXPLAINED

What makes this massive member of the wasp family such a deadly bee killer?

THE WORLD’S LARGEST

Explore the anatomy of the mighty Asian giant hornet

WASP WARRIORS

What’s the buzz about these four unique hornet species?