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 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...