Science
How It Works UK
WILL IT BE A WHITE CHRISTMAS?
A single snowfall can make all the difference
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
MUST-HAVE CHRISTMAS TOYS OF THE 1990s
Let's take a nostalgia trip back 30 years to discover how the most-wanted toys of the festive season season worked
6 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
1,400-YEAR-OLD HIEROGLYPHS REVEAL THE NAME OF A POWERFUL MAYA QUEEN
By deciphering inscriptions on centuries-old rocks, researchers have identified the name of a previously unknown Maya queen.
1 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
The building blocks of life have been detected in ice outside the Milky Way
For the first time, scientists have spotted multiple complex building blocks of life in ice around a star outside the Milky Way.
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
Astronomers discover a bizarre 'runaway' planet acting like a star
Astronomers have spotted a 'rogue' planet gobbling gas and dust at a record rate, and they can't explain its baffling behaviour.
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
6-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica
Scientists have pulled a 6-million-year-old chunk of ice out of Antarctica, the oldest directly dated ice ever found, and it’s helping them reconstruct Earth’s ancient climate.
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
Evidence for AND AGAINST
Over the years, several clues have suggested Martian life, while other indications are against it
1 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
INSIDE AN ATOMIC CLOCK
Measuring time using the Earth's rotation was always an imprecise business, so now we do it using the 'tick' of an atom
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
Stalagmites adhere to a single mathematical rule
Stalagmites all adhere to a mathematical rule, scientists have discovered after creating equations showing how the dramatic mineral formations develop into different shapes.
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
AI CHATBOTS REFUSE TO SHUT THEMSELVES DOWN WHEN ASKED TO
AI models may be developing their own 'survival drive' by refusing commands to shut themselves down, an AI safety company has claimed.
1 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
AI HEARING AIDS EXPLAINED
Artificial intelligence is providing a world of clearer and cleverer sounds to the hearing impaired
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
THE HUNT FOR THE MISSING PLANET
Astronomers are now regularly detecting planets thousands of light years from Earth – but have we missed one in our own Solar System?
7 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
NASA'S SUPERSONIC 'FLYING SWORDFISH' MAKES HISTORY WITH ITS FIRST TEST FLIGHT
NASA and Lockheed Martin's experimental X-59 aircraft has taken to the skies for the first time, making history as the first supersonic aircraft designed to make a soft 'thump' instead of thunderous sonic booms.
1 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
Do you think we will ever be able to teleport people?
'Never' is a strong word, but it's highly unlikely that teleportation of a human being á la Star Trek will ever be possible, given our current understanding of quantum physics and the known laws of the universe.
1 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
New eye implants and augmented-reality glasses help blind people read again
A surgically implanted chip and augmented-reality glasses are helping people who've lost sight read again.
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
CHINA REACHED OUT TO NASA TO AVOID A POTENTIAL SATELLITE COLLISION
China recently reached out to NASA over a manoeuvre to prevent a possible collision between satellites, marking a first for space traffic management.
1 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
Artificial muscle helps humanoid robots lift 4,000 times their own weight
Researchers in South Korea have built an artificial muscle that can lift around 4,000 times its own weight.
2 min |
Issue 210
How It Works UK
UNCANNY'S DANNY ROBINS
The creator and host of the BBC's Uncanny series tells us about his most chilling experiences while researching the show, and writing a ghost book for children
4 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
HOW FEATHERS GROW
A bird's proteinaceous plumage comes from the same source as our hair
1 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
New EV battery technology could power 500-mile road trips on a 12-minute charge
Scientists have used a neat chemistry trick to tackle a major challenge facing future batteries.
2 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
HOW AIR PURIFIERS WORK
These filtration devices clean a room's air of particles that can make a person sick
1 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
Chinese scientists hunt for alien radio signals in a 'potentially habitable' star system
TRAPPIST-1 is a red dwarf star located about 40 light years away that hosts seven Earth-sized rocky planets, with at least three orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist.
2 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE?
Our bodies are vessels for life, but in death they undergo a cascade of chemical and biological changes
3 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
WHY ARE KEYBOARDS QWERTY?
There's a reason why this seemingly random arrangement of letters is widely used on keyboard layouts
1 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
A 'quasi-moon' discovered in Earth orbit may have been hiding for decades
A new paper describes a possible 'quasi-moon' of Earth, an interloping asteroid that may have been following our planet around for decades, undetected.
1 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
WHAT'S AN ANTI-DRONE GUN?
How these devices intercept and disable unmanned aerial vehicles
1 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
Dozens of mysterious blobs discovered inside Mars may be 'failed planets'
Giant impact structures, including the potential remains of ancient ‘protoplanets’, may be lurking deep beneath the surface of Mars.
2 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
10 PHENOMENA SCIENCE JUST CAN'T EXPLAIN
From strange lights in the sky to rocks that spontaneously glide across the ground, the mysteries scientists are trying to finally crack
10 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
FLYING A LONGRANGE SUPER JET
Is the JetZero blended-wing aircraft the future of commercial flight?
1 min |
Issue 208
How It Works UK
The US reports its first New World parasitic screw worm infection in decades
A person in Maryland has been confirmed to have an infection with the flesh-eating New World screwworm parasite, the first human case of the infection in the United States since the parasite was eradicated in the country over 60 years ago, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
2 min |