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 Issue 185 • “Tetrachromacy allows people to see the world in around 100 times more colours and shades than average”

Salty science

On top of the world

Building an ant bridge

Celebrating science

Huge sharks hang out in the twilight zone

A ‘missing’ blob of water predicted to be in the Atlantic is finally found

CHINESE SCIENTISTS BUILD A MARS ATMOSPHERE MODEL

Early ‘teenage’ galaxies contain mysterious heavy elements

2,800-YEAR-OLD IVORY CARVED WITH A SPHINX IS DISCOVERED IN TURKEY

AI that can master different types of games is built

CRABS EVOLVE TO GO FROM THE SEA, TO THE LAND AND BACK AGAIN

Supervolcano ‘megabeds’ point to catastrophic events in Europe every 15,000 years

Elephants give each other names

Healthy tissue may predict lung cancer’s return better than tumours

Remains of a 2,000-year-old sheep-drawn chariot discovered

HYDROGE FOUND IN MOON ROCKS

WISH LIST • The latest HEALTH AND FITNESS tech

DISCOVER YOUR SIXTH SENSE • Uncover the science behind your five senses – plus others that you may not know you have

THE SCIENCE OF SIGHT

HOW WE HEAR

WHEN SENSES CROSS

SENSORY PATHWAYS

THE SECRETS OF SMELLING

PUTTING TASTE BUDS TO THE TEST

TASTE BUD STRUCTURE • How these microscopic structures gather information about flavour and why some people can taste better then others

FEELING TOUCH

REAL-LIFE SPIDEY-SENSES

UNCOVERING YOUR SIXTH SENSE

EYES IN THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD

EXPLORING THE PACIFIC • Hop aboard the ancient sailing vessels that carried new nations across the ocean

BRINGING CANOES BACK TO HAWAII

PERSONAL VESSELS

ABOARD THE OUTRIGGER • How these early vessels were built to brave the open waters of the Pacific Ocean

WHY WE’RE MADE OF STARDUST • Human beings – and everything else – are made from recycled elements that came from stars

ORIGIN OF THE ELEMENTS

WHERE ATOMS COME FROM • The atoms around us come from various cosmic sources, as shown in this colour-coded table

WHAT IS STARDUST?

OBSERVING THE BIRTH OF STARS

OUR COSMIC ORIGINS • The chemical elements making up our bodies all came from outer space

WEBB VERSUS HUBBLE

WHAT HAPPENS DURING A LUNAR ECLIPSE? • In 2024 we’ll have two different eclipses of the Moon. But how do they happen, and why do total lunar eclipses turn our natural satellite red?

WHEN TO VIEW THE PARTIAL ECLIPSE

THE QUIETEST ROOM IN THE WORLD

SOUNDPROOFING IN ACTION • Noise can be a real nuisance in the wrong place, but the volume can be turned down using the right shapes and materials

SOUND AND SURFACES • How waves of vibrations interact with different surfaces

5 FACTS • DIY SOUNDPROOFING METHODS

THE SCIENCE OF CHOCOLATE • Each bite of this delicious confectionary contains a complex mixture of components that affect your body in many ways

FOETUS FAVOURITE

THE SWEET INGREDIENTS AND OUR BODY’S REACTION • What does it contain and how do these things affect us?

KNOW YOUR TRUE AGE • A technique for determining the age of tissues shows that different parts of our bodies are growing older at vastly different rates

WHY OUR BODY PARTS AGE AT DIFFERENT...