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 • Issue 166
MEET THIS ISSUE’S EXPERTS
Hidden in plain sight
Eye of the Sahara
Cicada scissors
Cosmic caterpillar
Dinosaur ‘reaper’ with massive claws found in Japan
PERSEVERANCE ROVER ADOPTS A ‘PET ROCK’
Cats can memorise their friends’ names
Great white sharks may have driven megalodon to extinction
PIECES OF RARE VIKING SWORD REUNITED AFTER 1,200 YEARS
Google AI is sentient, software engineer claims
PAINTINGS OF EGYPTIAN GODDESSES UNEARTHED
New magnetic wave type found in Earth’s core
City-sized lake found miles below Antarctica’s biggest ice sheet
Unknown radio structure detected around brightest known quasar
James Webb Space Telescope hit by large micrometeoroid
EUROPA CLIPPER TAKES A BIG STEP TOWARDS ITS 2024 LAUNCH
WISH LIST • Thelatest TRAVEL tech
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TEN WEIRD THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT YOUR BRAIN • Discover the science and psychology behind the brain’s fascinatingly quirky and unique design
BRAINS BY NUMBERS
THE SCIENCE BEHIND your accent • How an accent is generated by the brain and shaped over time
WHAT IS BRAIN PLASTICITY?
TEN ENGLISH-SPEAKING accents • How much can the same language vary when used around the world?
HOW DOES THE WORLD KEEP TIME? • Why the tick of timekeeping devices depends on hundreds of atomic oscillators positioned across the globe
WHAT IS DUST? • Discover the ingredients that gather to form everyday household dust
JET SKI TECH • Jet skis are popular around the world, but how do these tiny boats go so fast?
CATERPILLAR TRACKS UNPACKED • Caterpillar tracks are found on tanks, tractors and loads of other tough vehicles; we go under the armour to find out how they work
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY • How one of the most iconic statues in the world was constructed
THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES • How will the 2022 games compare in nearly 100 years of this huge sporting event?
GREGOR MENDEL • This Austrian scientist is known as the ‘father of modern genetics’
FJORDS WATERWAYS CARVED BY GLACIERS • How were fjords formed and where can you see them?
SERPENT SENSES • Discover how these reptiles hear, see and smell
CROCODILES VS ALLIGATORS • The differences between these cold-blooded creatures are more than skin deep
SUMMER SAVINGS • Subscribe to your new summer read today
INSIDE NASA’S FUTURE MOON OUTPOST • This ambitious new plan will put a space station in orbit around the Moon
WHAT IS RED LIGHTNING? • These red flashes can sometimes be seen shooting upwards into the top of the atmosphere. Here’s why they happen
INTO THE MILKY WAY’S MASSIVE BLACK HOLE • At the heart of our galaxy lies the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Here’s what we know about this cosmic titan
HOW LASERS ARE RESHAPING MODERN WARFARE • Whether it’s navy ships or armoured vehicles, militaries all around the globe are taking lasers from the pages of fiction and turning them into the weapons of today
SMART METERS EXPLAINED • How do these self-reading utility meters work to save energy?
Win! • ONE OF FIVE COPIES OF TICKET TO RIDE: SAN FRANCISCO
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BRAINDUMP • Amazing answers to your curious...