How It Works

Welcome to How It Works, the magazine that explains everything you never knew you wanted to know about the world we live in. Loaded with fully illustrated guides and expert knowledge, and with sections dedicated to science, technology, transportation, space, history and the environment, no subject is too big or small for How It Works to explain.

WELCOME • The magazine that feeds minds!

Meet the team

MEET THIS ISSUE’S EXPERTS…

AR ARZONE ZONE !!

MILLIPEDE UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

SEEING SUPERSONIC

MADRID SNOWSCAPE

POLLEN PILE

Fastest spinning black hole in the cosmos discovered

Endangered ferret cloned for the first time

DNA found twisting into weird shapes to get into cells

Ancient deity statue wears a mullet and moustache

‘Spider star’ gamma-ray mystery solved

Humpback survives orca attack

Dinosaur-killing rock came from the edge of the Solar System

Experts trace hidden ‘madman’ message on The Scream

‘Rivers of gold’ rush through the Amazon

Woman contracts COVID-19 from lung transplant

Venus flytraps produce magnetic fields

Russia finds case of humans catching avian bird flu

WISH LIST • The latest sleep gadgets

APPS & TOOLS

CAN WE LIVE FOREVER? • What is ageing and why do we get older? How It Works looks at the science of senescence and the technologies tackling the inevitable

DID YOU KNOW?

Cell shutdown • How apoptosis systematically destroys cells

Too old to age

Cutting chromosomes • Here’s how telomeres shorten over time

Forming wrinkles • How skin folds to create laugh lines

Seven ways your brain changes as you age

5 WAYS TO  KEEP YOUR MIND SHARP

Inducing self-destruction • How senolytic drugs could keep us young

WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER? • The science that seeks to slow down the process of ageing

Freezing the future • How stem cells are stored and thawed

IMMORTALITY • Is the future of everlasting life cryonics?

First cryogenic human

Inside the cryo coffin • From death to deep freeze, here’s how the human body is preserved

HOW WE USE OIL • Known as ‘black gold’, oil’s versatility has fuelled progress – and problems

CARBON’S FLEXIBLE BACKBONES • Carbon can bond to four surrounding atoms, so can form chains and many other shapes

A REFINED PROCESS • Cooled columns in refineries separate oil into different useful parts according to their boiling temperature

Treating cancer with nuclear medicine • How radiation can be used to detect and target tumours

5 NUCLEAR  MEDICINE SCANS

How targeted radionuclide therapy works • Radioactive substances injected into the bloodstream can destroy cancerous cells

Life from other worlds • Could life have been brought to Earth by meteorites, space dust or even aliens?

Can bacteria survive in space?

5 signs of life beyond Earth

The three variations • What are the main hypotheses for panspermia?

Could life have come from Mars? • This Martian meteorite holds potential evidence of microbial life on the Red Planet

Theory development • How have philosophers and scientists shaped the evolution of this theory?

Nuclear spacecraft to Mars • Could nuclear power be the answer to deep-space missions?

A history of nuclear engines

How a nuclear engine works • Using an atomic reaction to create an exhaust that can power flight

Sunken cities • Explore these submerged settlements to discover why they didn’t survive the test of time

Changing shorelines • How a natural disaster shifted the shape of...