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How It Works UK

Scientists pull up riches from the ‘Holy Grail of shipwrecks’

Valuable shipwrecked treasures are seeing the light of day after they sank along with the San José galleon off the coast of Colombia more than 300 years ago. The incredibly well-preserved items that were retrieved, including a cannon, a porcelain cup and three coins, are just a taste of the wreck's vast riches. The galleon is often dubbed 'the Holy Grail of shipwrecks' as it went down with a huge cargo of 180 tonnes of gold, silver and gems that was said to be worth around £13.5 billion ($18.2 billion) in 2018. The recovery is part of an ongoing project by the Colombian government to investigate the wreck and recover the precious artefacts. The recovery of the objects “opens the possibility for citizens to approach, through material testimony, the history of the San José galleon,” said Alhena Caicedo Fernández of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History.

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

NATURE'S DANCE

DO THE FOXTROT, CRAB STEP, FISH WALK AND BUNNY HUG

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

LASERS TARGET THETARANTULA NEBULA WITH 'ARTIFICIAL STARS'

In November 2025, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) used its powerful interferometer, the VLTI, as part of its GRAVITY+ upgrade.

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

FAULT LINES AROUND THE WORLD

Discover the dangers and benefits of Earth's cracked crust. Is there a fault line beneath your feet?

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

THE SECRET POWERS OF ANIMALS

AN INTERACTIVE INTRODUCTION TO TEN AMAZING ANIMALS AND THEIR SPECIAL ABILITIES

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

Human refuse is ‘kick-starting’ the domestication of raccoons

City-dwelling raccoons are showing early signs of domestication. Using photos uploaded to the citizen science platform iNaturalist, researchers found that raccoons in urban environments had shorter snouts than their rural counterparts. The difference could be one of several traits that make up 'domestication syndrome', the scientists wrote in a study published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology. Domesticated animals typically become less aggressive towards humans over time. They gradually develop a relationship in which people provide for them in exchange for resources, such as meat and milk from livestock or labour from herding dogs. That process often involves selectively breeding animals for certain desirable traits, but it doesn't always begin that way. \"I wanted to know if living in a city environment would kick-start domestication processes in animals that are currently not domesticated,\" said Raffaela Lesch, a zoologist at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

Most modern dogs have wolf DNA

Most modern dog breeds have small amounts of wolf ancestry from long after dogs were domesticated. The wolf DNA isn't left over from when dogs and wolves diverged; instead, it most likely came from interbreeding in the past few thousand years.

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

Scientists discover a new type of lion roar

Scientists have discovered a new type of lion roar, the intermediate roar, which is shorter and lower pitched than the animal's iconic full-throated roar. Researchers found that these intermediate roars always follow full-throated roars, revealing that lion vocalisations are more complex than thought. “The full-throated roar is an explosion of sound – it’s loud and complex and arcs in pitch,” said Jonathan Growcott, a doctoral student at the University of Exeter. “The intermediary roar differs by being a flatter sound with less variation.”

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

HOME DELIVERY FOR ISS RESIDENTS

On 29 October 2025, the HTV-X1 cargo spacecraft reached the International Space Station (ISS). Launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in this image the spacecraft is being gripped by the ISS' Canadarm2 robotic arm. It delivered vital equipment for cardiovascular research and spacesuit maintenance. While on board, the ISS astronauts are studying how blood circulates between vessels in the human body in microgravity.

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Issue 211

How It Works UK

20 WEARABLE HEALTH TRACKERS

Whether you strap a wellness coach to your wrist or weave subtle sensors into your clothes, these devices are revolutionising how we track our health

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