How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? Sperm whales occasionally strand on beaches, but watch out if you see one – they have a habit of exploding Favourite dish Into the depths Sperm whales love eating giant squid, and dive to great depths just to find © Getty 0 them. When we say giant squid, we mean giant. They’re about ten metres long on 0 to 1 metres 0 average, almost the size of the sperm whale itself. Giant squid are pretty Basking sharks can 300 m2e0tr0es impressive. They are the largest filter the equivalent 4 0 The twilight invertebrate on Earth and have the water of one Olympic- largest eyes in the animal kingdom – as sized swimming pool big as a beach ball. Sperm whales also enjoy eating fish and relatives of the every hour. giant squid like octopus, which tops up their diet. zone: all A giant squid lies near 400 metres 0 sunlight the surface, injured Animals produce sappears and after a possible sperm their own light called whale encounter sea plants luminescence to survive in the dark. 600 can’t grow. © Getty 70 m 0tr0es 80 me0tr0es Sunfish are the 900 gest bony h in t world © Getty Weddell seals and dive really are expert divers. ,0 0 deep in search of jellyfish. © Getty 0 700 metres 20 Giant squid can be found 1,30 at around this depth. 1 400 © Alamy 1,000 metres 500 The midnight zone: the weirdest creatures spend their lives here in full darkness. 1,600 Muscle power 1,700 1,800 Oxygen is stored in muscles by proteins called myoglobin and haemoglobin to help during dives. © Alamy ,9 0 Slowing of Oxygen please 2,000 metres 2,000 heart rate The sperm whale holds onto as much Anglerfish look scary, 0 Their heart rate oxygen as possible when diving by but they’re very well 0 slows right down to shutting down blood flow to major adapted to survive conserve oxygen. organs such as the liver and kidneys. with no light. What about us? 0 A diver needs specialist equipment to help them breathe 0 underwater, but can only go to 40 metres, which in 2,500 comparison to the sperm whale is nothing. When underwater, the extra pressure on the human body © Getty 2,600 m2e,9t9re2s means gases – oxygen and nitrogen – are dissolved into 2,700 the blood and tissues. We like the oxygen, but it’s the 2,250 metres nitrogen that can be a problem, particularly if you come © Getty 2,800 Cuvier’s up from depth quickly. Instead of the nitrogen releasing The sperm whale can 2,900 beaked whale slowly from less pressure, it forms bubbles in the A diver in scuba gear exploring the dive to great depths is the world’s bloodstream that expand as the pressure drops. This underwater world using echolocation to deepest-diving causes something called ‘the bends’ and can restrict track down meals. blood flow to major organs. It’s the nitrogen in our body whale. that limits us to how deep we can dive and for how long using traditional diving kit, as well as the air supply. 3,000 www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 051

SPACE Discover some of the inventions made for space BESETHANPEOREACFWTCHIHTE exploration that we now use every day Words by Scott Dutfield 052 How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? At the end of 2019, the world’s solar power capacity reached 583.5 gigawatts The first camera phone was the The prototype Stanford Research Institute (SRI) Kyocera VP-210, mouse from the early 1960s released in 1999 © Getty © SRI International © Getty A computer mouse resembles the tiny mammal, with a cable for a tail When you purchase a desktop computer, The movement of these wheels would then move . a mouse will usually also be included. the cursor on the computer screen. Engelbart until American physicist Eric Fossum However, that wasn’t always the case. presented the new ‘mouse’ at the Fall Joint created the pixel image sensor, paving The mouse was created by American engineer Computer Conference in San Francisco in 1968, the way for modern-day smartphone Doug Engelbart back in the late 1960s for the where thousands of engineers witnessed it for cameras and webcams. It was created in Stanford Research Institute. Engelbart’s the first time. Since then the humble mouse has NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory back in research was funded by NASA, who hoped to undergone several upgrades, with trackpads 1993. The intention was to invent make computers, which at the time were being and laser tracking becoming the new normal. cameras small enough for interplanetary used as flight control systems and for space travel. However, Fossum’s simulations, more interactive. What Engelbart “NASA hoped to make ‘camera-on-a-chip’ technology quickly created was a handheld device that used two computers more proved valuable for many different perpendicular wheels that were turned by interactive” industries, including the invention of pushing the mouse on the flat surface below it. the camera phone. Inside an Scroll wheel Microswitches The camera in your smartphone optical mouse evolved from Fossum’s original This rolling wheel is connected to Two switches either side of complementary metal-oxide- How these computer companions semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel image move a cursor on the screen a switch mechanism that tracks the scroll wheel register sensor. The sensor works using an array of pixel sensors covered by colour filters the direction of movement and when you click the mouse’s and a photodiode – a device that converts light into an electrical current. As light how much the wheel has rotated. right and left buttons. passes over the surface of the sensor, it is detected and converted into an electrical signal before it is amplified by several transistors. These signals are then interpreted as an image. Cable Light-detector chip © Alamy © Getty The digital signals generated This chip measures the light Light by the chip are sent via the reflected back from the desk and cable – or by Bluetooth for converts the movements into An LED bulb produces the red wireless versions – to the signals that are sent to the light which is used to track computer to move the cursor. computer to move the cursor. the movement of the mouse using a detection chip. WIthout space travel, we wouldn’t have www.howitworksdaily.com the selfie How It Works 053

SPACE CREATING CLEAN AIR There’s probably never been a time where clean air has been as important as 262,400 solar cells which it is today, with some air purifier makers cover an area of around claiming more than a 50 per cent rise in sales during 2020. But some air- 2,500 square metres are purification technology was first used to power the ISS developed to stop space crops from harming astronauts. Back in the 1990s, © NASA NASA conducted research into removing the build-up of natural gases emitted SOLAR ENERGY REPOWERED from plants, called ethylene. This was important research for establishing the Although solar power cells were not invented to Earth, the ISS requires solar energy possibility of having plants for food by NASA, nor were they exclusively created collected from the Sun. However, at the time aboard crewed spacecraft during for space exploration, research conducted in solar cells were not ready for space travel, so interplanetary travel. part by NASA propelled their development. NASA partnered with a company known This research began in the early 1980s and today as PowerFilm. Together they created On Earth ethylene is harmless, but in was intended to support the launch of the paper-thin solar cells that were flexible an enclosed spacecraft it can build up enough to be rolled up and light enough to be and cause health issues for astronauts. International Space sent to the ISS. This solar film can convert 90 Engineers created ethylene ‘scrubbers’ to Station (ISS). per cent of the light that crosses its surface take the gas out of the air and convert it Without a into energy. The technology paved the way for into useful by-products. The process charging more lightweight and efficient solar panel works by drawing the air surrounding the cable to production on Earth. plants into tubes coated with titanium connect it dioxide. When a UV light is passed over the titanium dioxide, the ethylene in the © Alamy FOAM THAT air is converted into water and carbon REMEMBERS dioxide, which can be reused to maintain the plant’s growth. Following its development, this technology has been widely adapted to remove particles, bacteria, viruses and mould from the air. Mizuna lettuce growing aboard the ISS © NASA Initially designed to improve the seat cushioning and crash Once known as ‘slow spring back protection of airline pilots and passengers, memory foam, foam’, temper foam returns to its also known as temper foam, was a NASA creation from the 1960s. An engineer called Charles Yost had worked on the original form after any applied development of a recovery system for the Apollo Command pressure is removed Module back in 1962 and was later drafted by NASA to work on airline seating for crash protection. The result was a polymer-plastic material that could absorb a lot of energy from an impact but remain soft. The cushion- like material proved successful in air travel and exploded into other industries. Temper foam mattresses and other memory foam products hit the commercial market back in the early 1990s, and since then have diversified for use in hospitals, as shoe soles and even as a lining in American football players’ helmets. 054 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? The ISS’ Water Recovery System recovers and recycles 93 per cent of the water used Space blankets, also known as STAYING emergency blankets, are often HYDRATED used after long-distance running to reduce the body’s heat loss © Getty Humans have been filtering and cleaning water for thousands of years. However, in the 1960s NASA researchers at Johnson Space Center took purification to the next level. What they created was a pocket-sized purification system that used silver ions to kill bacteria in water. Silver ions naturally break down the bonds between the DNA and proteins in bacteria, ultimately destroying it. This process is exploited by the water purifier, which electronically releases copper and silver ions in the water to kill the bacteria and other single-celled organisms such as algae, which are then filtered out. The technology has been used to clean not only the water supply in space, but is also a common method on Earth to sterilise drinking water and kill harmful bacteria in pools and fountains. SPACE Bacteria’s Anode Cathode BLANKETS silver bullet The positively charged The positively charged These foil blankets are often seen on the Why metal ions are bacteria’s silver ions attach to the backs of marathon runners or worst nightmare silver anode releases negatively charged incorporated into outdoor and camping cathode after they have products, but their initial use was to save silver ions when a current passed through the water. a long-lost space station. During its launch in 1973, Skylab, America’s first passes through it. space station, lost one of its solar shields and began to overheat, reaching DIRECT CURRENT temperatures of around 54 degrees Celsius. To tackle this, NASA used thin Direct C AT H O D E Ag+ C AT H O D E metallic sheets to deflect heat. current Ag+ DNA Scientists created a metallic parasol A low-voltage SILVER disruption that was taken into space aboard a current is ANODE crewed mission and attached to Skylab, passed through The ions block the ultimately preventing it from overheating the silver anode bacterial respiratory and destroying the equipment on board. and the cathode. system, halt energy The lightweight material has not only production and been used on other spacecraft and Water flow prevent cell division satellites since Skylab, but has been used by interacting with to create warming space blankets. Even Water flows the bacteria’s DNA. though they were initially created to through the inlet reduce heat, they are also good for and outlet pipes Death keeping our bodies warm. These blankets to pass the trap up to 90 per cent of the body’s electrodes, which Ultimately the silver naturally produced heat, which would will remove any ions will cause the normally be lost to the environment, thus bacteria within. cell membrane to keeping our bodies warm. burst, destroying WATER FLOW the bacteria. Skylab was launched as proof of concept that humankind could live in space © Alamy Cellular penetration The positively charged silver ions are able to break through the bacterial cell wall. www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 055

SPACE BABY FOOD © Getty Freeze-dried food can have a shelf life of up to 25 years In exploring how to keep astronauts healthy in Vital nutrients found in baby food were space, NASA scientists discovered an ingredient to first discovered during NASA’s research © Getty keep us all healthy from birth. One of the vital into microalgae omega-3 fatty acids humans need to develop a FREEZE healthy brain, eyes and heart is called DRYING docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and is predominantly found in a mother’s breast milk. However, during the Taking food into space comes with a 1980s, scientists at NASA and a company called whole host of challenges. How do you Martek Biosciences Corporation discovered that a store food in space? How do you make type of algae produced DHA in high quantities. The food last as long as possible? These are research that came to this revelation was initially questions that scientists have been commissioned to explore the potential of algae as a asking since before astronauts ventured food source for interplanetary travel, but researchers into the unknown. Freeze-drying was quickly saw the potential for use in baby formula. found to be one of the best options. The Currently more than 90 per cent of all infant formula process of this extreme dehydration on the market contains added DHA. wasn’t invented by NASA scientists, however. It was the creation of French MEDICAL SPACE Without NASA’s flight physician Jacques-Arsène d’Arsonval INNOVATIONS impact research, we might during World War II. However, it was not have comfortable NASA-funded research in the 1970s which 1Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) running shoes developed it into the widespread These energy-saving bulbs are preservation method used today. used to grow plants on the © Getty International Space Station, but Freeze-drying allows food to be also contributed to the creation of FUNCTIONAL FASHION preserved for longer while maintaining its medical devices such as the nutritional value by exposing foods to a WARP 10, which uses LEDs for It was one small step for man, one giant step for humankind’s series of freezing and drying. First food is muscle treatments. functional fashion. One of NASA’s many technology spin-offs frozen solid in a freezing chamber, and was the revolution of safety suits and footwear around the then a vacuum pump is used to lower the 2Left ventricular assist world. Back in the early 1970s, engineers at Johnson Space air pressure within. Along with a little bit device (LVAD) Center were asked by the nation’s fire chiefs to use their of added heat, this combination of the NASA aerospace engineers helped knowledge of astronaut spacesuit life-support systems to give freezing temperature, low air pressure to design a heart pump called an their fire suits an upgrade, which at the time weighed around and then heat causes the frozen water LVAD. This device helps to keep the 14 kilograms. It took NASA four years, but engineers managed content of the food to escape directly as heart pumping while a patient to create firefighter outfits that were around one-third of their vapour, bypassing its liquid state, known awaits a heart transplant. original weight. Taking these spacesuit adaptations a step as sublimation. The process takes several further, NASA developed a process called ‘blow rubber hours, and once completely dried out the 3Digital mammography moulding’, inadvertently creating a new wave of athletic food is packaged in moisture-free NASA commissioned the shoes. Initially created to make space helmets, the process containers to prevent rehydration. creation of high-tech silicon chips involves blowing air into heated plastic or rubber to form a for digital imaging aboard the hollow mould. In the case of shoe development, this allows Hubble Space Telescope Imaging hollow soles to be made and filled with shock-absorbing Spectrograph. These went on to be material. It was a concept that athletic shoe manufacturer used in mammogram tests to Nike found attractive. In 1978 the company launched the detect breast cancer. first-ever Nike Air, which encapsulated dense gases into rubber membranes to create an ‘air’ bag. 4Ear thermometers These thermometers use NASA and Diatek-developed infrared astronomy technology to measure the heat energy emitted from your ear. 5Artificial limbs Research into shock absorption materials and robotics for spacewalks have been adopted for dynamic artificial limb creation. 056 How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? Astronauts have conducted roughly 3,000 experiments on the ISS LOOKING INSIDE BODIES CT (Computed tomography) scanners, are source to take cross-section images of the commonly found in hospitals around the body. A computer can then compile those © Getty world. However, the technology’s origins can images together to create a two- or three- be traced back to pioneering work at NASA. dimensional image. A CT scanner can be used to diagnose a wide During the Apollo lunar landing program in range of injuries and diseases the mid-1960s, computer-enhanced digital The technology then made its way back to image processing was created to enhance NASA engineers in the late 1980s to allow pictures of the Moon. them to take a look inside rockets. The Advanced Computed Tomography Inspection This technology paved the way for British System (ACTIS) is essentially a giant CT engineer Godfrey Hounsfield to create the scanner that enables aerospace engineers to first CT scanner in 1972. This large piece of spot any defects in the structure of their medical equipment uses a rotating X-ray spacecraft or engines. Inside the X-ray Fan Monitor scanner X-ray beams are generated from a Fans are used to pump The accompanying computer How a CT scanner takes vacuum X-ray tube. These beams out any warm air from assembles the images of slices of interact differently with different the gantry to keep the the body on an adjacent monitor. images of our insides tissue and create contrasting images. machine cool. Cooling Gantry To prevent overheating Known as the ring tunnel, or produced from the gantry, this is where the source, there are several patient will be positioned for liquid-filled cooling units. the duration of the scan. Rotating detector How It Works 057 To collect images from all angles of the patient’s body, the detectors circulate around the bed. “A rotating X-ray source takes cross- section images” www.howitworksdaily.com

SPACE Star trackers Two star-tracking cameras help provide the probe with positional information to enable navigation. Re-entry capsule A hardened device equipped with a heat shield for returning the asteroid samples to Earth. T is probe has returned ho e with asteroid samples t could unlock the secrets of the universe Under the hot s shin uth © JAXA, Chiba Institute of Technology & collaborators Australian outback, te of scientists could barely contain their excitement as they collected alien rock samples that could help unlock some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. This was the culmination of a six-year mission that Sample horn saw a Japanese space probe travel billions of This fires a projectile to loosen debris, which is miles through space to harvest the first-ever then collected in the main cylinder for analysis. subsurface samples from an asteroid and the mission could shed light on how life parachute them back to Earth. reached our planet: “Originally, Earth didn’t have water at all. Something had to bring Hayabusa2 was launched back in 2014, and A camera image of the spinning, diamond- water to our planet to make it habitable. shaped asteroid Ryugu Something like Ryugu brought water to has since travelled 3.2 billion miles on a Earth, and that’s why we are here.” After spending 18 months at the asteroid round trip to visit the asteroid Ryugu. The the probe then headed home, and in the early With its cargo safely dropped off, hours of 6 December 2020 dropped the Hayabusa2 set off on its next mission. The spacecraft arrived in 2018 and touched down 40-centimetre-diameter capsule containing craft is now heading for another distant the precious samples it had collected – asteroid called 1998 KY26, with the mission twice, where it deployed two rovers and a weighing only 0.1 grams – into the expected to take about ten years. atmosphere 75 miles above Earth. small lander onto the surface. It also fired a Professor Masaki Fujimoto, from the Japan device into the asteroid in February 2019 to Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said create an artificial crater – the first time this has ever been done – allowing the probe to collect an untouched sample from beneath the surface to deliver back to Earth. Mothership The probe features a range of deployable scientific equipment Re-entry capsule MINERVA-II-1A MINERVA-II-2 MASCOT lander Impactor The capsule which One of two MINERVA rover This rover was sent into orbit Standing for Mobile Asteroid A two-kilogram copper device contained the samples was vehicles, standing for around Ryugu to take gravitational Surface Scout, MASCOT is a which was dropped to the equipped with a heat shield measurements. It then impacted ‘hopping’ lander designed to Micro-Nano Experimental take pictures and record data. surface at high speed to make to help it return to Earth. Robot Vehicle for Asteroid. the asteroid in October 2019. an artificial crater. 058 HowItWorks www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW Scientists think Ryugu flew close to the Sun in the past and dried out Science lab A team of in space scientists retrieving the Hayabusa2 is equipped with a range of advanced asteroid scientific gear sample from the Australian High-gain antennae desert Part of a sophisticated communications system designed to send complex mission data back to Earth. Solar array panels Diamond in the sky Converts solar energy from Asteroid 162173 Ryugu – to give its proper the sun into fuel for the name – is a diamond-shaped asteroid that probe to use for propulsion. was first discovered in 1999 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research Ion engine (LINEAR) project. An electric propulsion Ryugu means ‘dragon palace’ in system that creates Japanese, which references a magical thrust by accelerating underwater castle in a Japanese folk tale. ions using electricity. In fact, the folk story bears an uncanny resemblance to Hayabusa2’s mission. The “Something like Ryugu tale centres on a fisherman who visits the brought water to Earth, and palace and returns with a mysterious box, much like the sample collected. that’s why we are here” JAXA estimates the asteroid’s size to be about 900 metres in diameter, and it orbits the Sun between Earth and Mars. Scientists believe it broke off from a larger celestial body a long time ago, and although its surface is thought to be between 8.9 and 158 million years old, some of Ryugu’s individual rocks are thought to be up to 4.6 billion years old. Because it occasionally crosses Earth’s orbit, Ryugu is classified as ‘potentially hazardous’. As it flies it spins around, rotating every 7.6 hours. Down to Earth © JAXA, Chiba Institute of Technology & collaborators © JAXA, Chiba Institute of Technology & collaborators Protected by special heat shields, the capsule containing the samples was dropped back to Earth and looked just like a A fireball seen in the Australian shooting star as it burned through the atmosphere. Then at sky was the asteroid sample about six miles above ground, a parachute opened to slow hitting the atmosphere its fall. It landed safely in the Woomera Prohibited Area of South Australia. Scientists are excited because the asteroid is thought to be the type that carbonaceous meteorites come from, which could contain amino acids – the building blocks of life. And because some of the samples are from beneath the surface, they will have been untainted by cosmic radiation and other environmental factors. Target markers MINERVA-II-1B NIRS3 An image of the asteroid’s surface A sort of mini bean bag that’s The second of two An infrared spectrometer that taken by one of the dropped to the surface to form MINERVA rover vehicles. uses rays to investigate mineral probe’s mobile rovers This one contains three and water changes as well as an artificial landmark so the rather than four cameras. chemical reactions of minerals. © JAXA, Chiba Institute of probe knows where to land. Technology & collaborators www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 059

TECHNOLOGY SSeYcNrCeHtsROoTfRthOeN Find out how the UK’s largest laboratory can accelerate electrons to nearly the speed of light Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is incredibly useful. It enables us to transmit music visiting scientists need X-ray light, they are able wirelessly over large distances, cook food to get it. We step through from Rehm’s office in Diamond House, a sleek, glass-walled complex in our microwaves and see the world around us in which the majority of the facility’s staff are in vivid detail. However, now more than ever, based. Then, once we’re across the security- electromagnetic radiation is also crucial in controlled bridge into the synchrotron facility studying the physical, environmental and life itself, he begins to describe to us exactly how the sciences that are making real breakthroughs for system works. people on a day-to-day basis. From the creation The synchrotron here consists of four main of new medical drugs and vaccines through to parts, the first of which is an electron gun. Sitting the testing of revolutionary artificial organs and at the heart of the facility, this gun is responsible onto discoveries that allow diseases to be for generating electrons by heating a high- prevented, the harnessing of EM radiation on a voltage cathode in a vacuum, then forcing them large scale is truly expanding horizons in the to bunch up together and compress into compact scientific world. groups; this is achieved by passing the beam of In the UK that revolution is happening at the electrons through a cavity where an alternating Diamond Light Source national synchrotron electric field is active. facility in Oxfordshire, a high-tech particle From the bunching cavity, a beam of accelerator that excels in generating vast compressed groups of electrons passes into a quantities of EM radiation in the form of linear accelerator. This part of the synchrotron synchrotron light. How It Works decided to take uses a series of electric fields to force the One of the synchrotron’s sextupole magnets. These a trip to this cutting-edge science site to see what compressed groups of electrons in the stream to are responsible for achromatic correction and working there is like on an average day and what accelerate to close to the speed of light and up to maintenance of a stable electron orbit within the groundbreaking experiments are currently a charge level of 100 megaelectronvolts (MeV). facility’s storage ring being investigated… From here the sped-up bunches of electrons are injected into the booster synchrotron. Exploring the synchrotron The booster synchrotron sits just off the linear A good place to start would be to explain what a accelerator. It is a 158-metre, O-shaped stainless- synchrotron actually is. Essentially it’s a large, steel tube vacuum surrounded by magnets that complex system of machines that generates sits within the synchrotron’s storage ring and electrons, accelerates those electrons to near other facilities. This smaller synchrotron light speed and then deposits them in a large receives the electrons, and then – with the help storage ring. The high-energy electrons then fly of 36 dipole magnets – bends them around the around the ring circuit continuously until they vacuum circuit while they are accelerated are manipulated to generate very high-intensity further up to the necessary extraction energy of X-ray light; we are talking about electrons with three GeV. Travelling at almost the speed of light around three gigaelectronvolts (GeV), a GeV and carrying an insane energy level, the being a unit of energy equal to a billion electron electron bunches are lastly injected into the volts. This is the light that scientists can utilise in synchrotron’s storage ring. their experiments. The storage ring is similar in both build and Right now we’re about to meet with Dr purpose to the booster ring, but on a far larger Guenther Rehm, head of the Diamond scale. The storage ring consists of a vacuum in synchrotron’s beamline diagnostics group. This which the charged electrons travel, and a series is the team responsible for ensuring that when of magnets, including dipole-bending magnets 060 How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? Diamond is a medium-energy synchrotron – it currently has 32 beamlines The Diamond synchrotron is located near the city of Oxford in the UK. Its advanced technology attracts scientists from all over the world How It Works 061

TECHNOLOGY to manoeuvre the beam around the circuit, Diagnostics centre quadrupole and sextupole magnets to ensure accurate beam focus and position, as well as The synchrotron’s operation is special magnets called insertion devices (IDs) to controlled and monitored from a manipulate the electrons for synchrotron central control room. Despite light production. many systems being automated, the room is permanently staffed The IDs are the real stars of the synchrotron, in case of a serious error. capable of forcing passing electrons to oscillate around their straight course. As a result of their Control cabin resistance, super-powerful X-rays are produced. As such, prior to any beamline – offshoots from This is the final hutch of each the ring where experiments take place – you’ll beamline and is where the scientific find an ID. The electrons enter the device, teams monitor and control their oscillate and create X-rays. While the electrons experiments and equipment. are flung farther down the storage ring by dipole magnets, photons continue straight down the “The IDs are the real beamline for use in experiments. stars of the synchrotron, forcing electrons to Staying in control oscillate around their straight course” Next we arrive at beamline central control. A large, spacious room overlooking approximately IDs up close a third of the expanding facility, the area is filled with a main bank of monitors and two members Insertion devices (IDs) are arrays of incredibly strong of the diagnostics team manning computer magnets lined up in two rows – top and bottom – next systems. Rehm explains that the day-to-day to each other in tight lines that have very strong operation of the synchrotron is heavily magnetic fields. The magnets are arranged to generate automated, hence the minimal staffing. a specific pattern of vertical-alternating magnetic field. However, due to the incredible complexity of the When electrons pass through it, this causes them to systems involved in creating and maintaining oscillate – vibrate back and forth. This oscillating high-energy electron beams, the status of the motion generates synchrotron radiation in the form of complex has to be constantly monitored. Indeed, photons, which can then be siphoned off for various we had expected that controlling an electron different experiments in synchrotron facilities. beam of such magnitude would be no easy feat. www.howitworksdaily.com At all times the beam in the storage ring at the synchrotron is analysed within the control room for charge level, position, time structure and electron losses. This is done through a piece of software referred to as EPICS: Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System. This allows the invisible beam’s properties to be visualised via a variety of sensors, monitors and cameras within the ring. In a demonstration of how this works, Rehm shows how over a ten-minute period the bunched electrons in the storage ring suffer inevitable loss. This is due to collisions and residual gas molecules, as well as energy loss through the generation of synchrotron light by the insertion devices and bending by the dipole magnets. To maintain optimal beam stability and synchrotron light quality, it is automatically topped up periodically. Watching a live graph in EPICS, we see how the overall charge level drops within the ring and then, precisely after ten minutes, returns back to its start level. Rehm explains that not only is this topping up automatic, but the system can actually target the parts of the beam in which the electrons have been lost from; this makes for an even, stable distribution of energy around the ring for light 062 How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? The storage ring is not actually a circle, but a 24-sided polygon Storage ring Once the generated electrons have reached the desired extraction energy of three GeV, they are streamed into the storage ring. This large ring holds and bends the electrons around a 560-metre vacuum circuit. Booster Injection system synchrotron The injection system consists Electrons leave the of the synchrotron’s electron linear accelerator and gun and linear accelerator. are injected into the It produces, bunches and booster synchrotron. accelerates electrons to an This is responsible for energy level of 100 MeV. accelerating the electrons up to a Front ends higher energy level. The front end connects the Optics hutch storage ring at an angle to the optics hutch of each beamline. Each beamline’s optics hutch It passes through the storage receives synchrotron light from ring’s shield wall, allowing the the front end. These rooms synchrotron light to pass. contain many optical devices, such as mirrors and filters, to focus the incoming light beam. Experimental hutch Beamlines © Diamond Light Source Experimental equipment is Stemming off from the housed in the second hutch of storage ring are the each beamline. A sample is beamlines. These are placed on a rotating arm and a the parts of the facility beam of light is targeted on into which synchrotron the sample. Detectors light is filtered. surrounding the arm analyse Insertion devices (IDs) the data given by the sample. are positioned before each beamline to www.howitworksdaily.com generate the light. How It Works 063

TECHNOLOGY An internal view of the Diamond Light Source facility. The yellow line visible front-centre marks the path of the electron beam within the storage ring generation at all times. This system is truly to keep all the various systems and subsystems scattering and diffraction beamline (I22). Among amazing, capable of injecting additional working together continuously without failure many other examples, Terrill describes how a electrons into the depleted electron bunches is challenging. Scientists are visiting the facility team recently used I22 to test new polymer- smoothly as they fly around the storage ring at all the time, spending months applying and material artificial heart valves. The team built a almost light speed. waiting for their chance to use a beamline, so tiny device to stretch the valve to reproduce the any unscheduled downtime is keenly felt. effects of a heartbeat and then used the Looking down the beamline synchrotron’s high-energy X-ray light source to It is some of those scientists that How It image the internal structure of the polymer Moving to the heart of the facility, we enter the Works is about to meet, but first Rehm has one valve in continuous resolution over a long cavernous main room of the synchrotron. more stop. Sandwiched between two period. These sorts of polymer valves will soon Standing on an elevated gantry bridge, beamlines is a small, black room. On entering, be a common replacement for problematic stretching out to both sides, the curved expanses we find a large table stuffed with machines, mechanical and animal implant valves. reveal many of the synchrotron’s individual pipes, optics and cabling. Behind this, a small beamlines, branching off from a concrete ring. hole is cut in the wall. This is the optics After a short walk around the synchrotron’s Rehm explains that this is the facility’s storage diagnostics cabin, and it allows the support outer walkway to beamline I24, we come across ring, albeit encased within metre-thick, scientists to explore the temporal structure of the microfocus macromolecular crystallography radiation-blocking concrete shielding. On top of the stored electron beam, revealing its fill station. I24 is staffed by Diamond’s senior the concrete ring is a yellow line – this identifies pattern – how much charge is in each of the support scientist Dr Danny Axford, who explains the actual path of the electron beam inside. electron bunches. Rehm holds his hand in front how the team is working on membrane proteins, According to our guide, a person could lie on top of the incoming beam of light to reveal its exploring their structures – something of vital of the concrete for an entire year and only apparent weakness, like a faint splodge. We importance in the creation of new drugs, among receive a radiation increase of approximately 50 then look down the incoming beam and are other applications. This project is a collaboration per cent over that from standard background immediately dazzled by a piercing bright light. between Imperial College London and Diamond radiation. Simply put, very little radiation This is but a minuscule replica of the high- itself. It is making use of both the on-site escapes the ring. energy synchrotron light in the beamlines. Membrane Protein Lab, which negates the need to transport samples and potentially damage As we progress to get a better look at the Handling the light them, as well as a new technique in which a storage ring and beamlines, Rehm begins to tell wide variety of crystal samples can be imaged in us about a major challenge of his occupation: Knowing how the synchrotron works is one a short space of time. consistency of run time. thing, but what does it actually mean for the world at large? Enter Professor Nick Terrill, the After allowing the visiting scientists to finish Despite the synchrotron having a day’s principal beamline scientist for the small angle analysing their current batch of samples, Axford downtime every week for maintenance, trying www.howitworksdaily.com 064 How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? About 700 people work at the Diamond synchrotron facility opens up I24’s experiment’s hutch – the room An experimental hutch from the containing the liquid-nitrogen storage tanks, small molecule single crystal imaging sensor, robotic arm, synchrotron diffraction beamline (I19) light-focus optic and sample array all needed to perform experiments. The sensor in this room is level and at microsecond time scales is truly “The ability to image state-of-the-art, and alongside the sample- mind-blowing, and is allowing scientists to reaction processes holding array allows rows of crystals to be understand things such as catalysts, imaged at room temperature. This is incredibly useful, as heat from the imaging process metalloproteins – metal ion-containing proteins damages crystals, so capturing their structure quickly is crucial – hence why many samples are miacrtoasteocmoincdletvimeles sacnadles– and toxic materials like never before. cryogenically cooled. Racing the electron beam is mind-blowing” Our next port of call is the small molecule After witnessing first-hand just how this single crystal diffraction beamline (I19), where we see how a variety of crystallised samples are impressive facility is enabling scientists to make being analysed through diffraction techniques, with samples ranging in areas from cancer to radical breakthroughs in many fields of science, concrete roof of the storage ring before following hydrogen storage. Next door in I20, we get a detailed tour of the impressive, versatile X-ray we have time for one final stop: a stroll on the the yellow beamline marker around the facility. absorption spectroscopy beamline by principal beamline scientist Dr Sofia Diaz-Moreno. roof of the storage ring. Ascending back up to the It takes us close to ten minutes to make a full This beamline, which is much larger than any first floor from beamline level and crossing the circuit around the ring; by way of comparison, it of the others, has two experiment hutches that share the line to enable different types of metal gantry towards the centre of the facility, takes the hyper-charged electrons beneath our spectroscopy analysis. What really excites us is hearing about how important chemical we break off and step directly on top of the feet just two-millionths of a second. components in catalysts – even in very low concentrations – can have their structure illuminated and imaged continuously. This ability to image reaction processes at an atomic www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 065

TECHNOLOGY How to stop a hurricane Could this simple bubble technology reduce the destruction wreaked by these deadly natural disasters? The most recent hurricane season saw a OceanTherm is one company dedicated to application in preventing tropical storms is. brutal increase in both the strength and answering this question. Because hurricanes Currently, bubble curtains are used in Norway to number of hurricanes emerging from the feed off the heat from the ocean’s surface, one produce the opposite effect – increasing the North Atlantic. Scientists have concluded that potential method that aims to calm these surface temperature. As the country’s freezing many more of these tropical storms are tearing tropical storms – or even stop them in their winters often lead to ice forming on the fjords, apart homes and lives as they surge through tracks – is to cool the sea using bubble curtains. water hidden from the air’s chill is brought up towns because of the planet’s ever-warming Bubble curtains are perforated pipes that stretch from the depths to prevent it from freezing. conditions. We can all make changes in an across the seas, below the surface. As the attempt to reduce the long-term effects of climate bubbles released from the pipe travel upwards to “The bubbles from the change, but can any immediate action be taken the surface, they bring the cooler water up from pipe travel upwards to to improve the situation between these killer the deep to lower the temperature of the water at hurricane seasons? the surface. This technology isn’t new, but its the surface” Bubble curtains Cold bubbles in action Cold air rushes to the surface when How this storm-stopping technology could protect us released, bringing cooler water with Stable curtain it toward ’s The edges of the bubble curtain natural c les are weighted to achieve the desired depth, while a tension to a wide line keeps the pipe covering the maximum area. Bubble curtains have been used in Norway for 50 years Mobile system Air supply An alternative method is being The compressed air worked on to attach the bubble is delivered straight tech to a vessel as a module, from the ship to the forming a curtain as it is pulled centre of the line. along under the surface. 066 How It Works © OceanTherm daily.com

DID YOU KNOW? A rise in surface temperature of one degree can increase surrounding wind speeds by 20 miles an hour At temperatures below © OceanTherm Oceantherm CEO 26 degrees Celsius, Olav Hollingsaeter gained a hurricanes can’t form © Getty master’s in computer science and begin to weaken at the University of Bergen and served in the Norwegian Heat distribution Navy before developing his hurricane-halting concept from the existing As the bubbles create movement, bubble curtain technology. th d When did you come up with the idea to use this m technology for hurricanes? it Seeing the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 motivated me. With 1,833 lives lost and enormous damage, Perforated pipe Fixed method Illustration © The Art Agency / Nick Sellers we all asked ourselves: ‘How did this hurricane become so strong?’ The warm surface water was feeding the hurricane Placed in colder depths, the pipes When used between two land masses, with energy, making it stronger. As an old submariner, I knew are filled with compressed air the bubble curtain can be installed as that the temperatures are colder deeper in the ocean column. I that is released through holes on a fixed system. Although permanently started to think about how to lift this cold water. aluminium rings. in place, air will only be passed through the pipe when hurricanes are How much impact could this have on global storms? www.howitworksdaily.com likely to occur in the area. Since hurricanes refuel their energy from the warm ocean surface and get an energy cut-off when the sea surface temperature is below 26.5 degrees Celsius, we feel confident that a colder surface layer could prevent tropical storms and hurricanes from increasing in strength – potentially also reducing their strength. This will have a considerable effect on their devastating impact. How sustainable is use of the bubble curtain worldwide? There is a significant climate footprint related to rebuilding after devastating hurricanes, and the flooding and rainfall that come as a result of these devastating storms bring significant pollution back out to the ocean. Preventing this will considerably benefit the climate in addition to saving lives and property. Studies need to assess the effect on the climate and surrounding ecosystems, but we don’t anticipate any negative consequences since the cooling is only temporary and very local. The climate footprint of the bubble curtain will be mostly related to the building of the systems and the use of energy when operating the system, which will only be when a tropical storm or a hurricane is coming into an area. What will make this technology most effective? The installation will be rather large, including a submerged and moored bubble tube at about 100 metres below the sea surface. To our knowledge, the bubble curtain has never been applied at these depths and in the scale that is necessary for hurricane prevention. Ocean currents will be the true engine in the system, making sure the cooling effect spreads to a larger area. This is necessary in order to have an effect, and really the key to our technology. We help nature to help us. We help nature, by lowering the sea surface temperature, to help us by spreading out the effect with the help of ocean currents. How It Works 067

TECHNOLOGY AR ZONE! Forged in Haematite Coal the fire Making steel starts Pellets of this carbon-rich A blast furnace’s design helps with pellets of iron-rich fuel burn and help remove us harness steel’s strength rocks – or ores – oxygen from haematite, known as haematite. then melt the resulting iron. 0 er s Layer of Recycling Typical blast furnace haematite waste gases height – higher than five houses stacked together. Pellets are added in Gases leaving the blast layers at the top of furnace can be reused the blast furnace. to provide the heat for incoming clean air. Waste gas Gases flow up through the blast furnace to help turn haematite to iron and must escape at the top. 1ton e n Layer of coal The amount of steel Coal used in blast furnaces produced in 2019. is heated to become coke before being used as layers of pellets to make steel. Slag Hot-air blast Chemicals added to the The heat from the bricks mixture of haematite and coal transfers to the cold remove unwanted substances incoming air blast, by separating out at high making hot air that temperatures as slag. enters the blast furnace. Pig iron Tuyère Glowing orange Tuyères blast in air at because it’s so hot, around 1,200 degrees molten liquid pig iron Celsius, which is hot enough flows out of the blast to set coal pellets alight. furnace to become steel later. The steel that shapes our modern cities starts from glowing pellets of haematite, rich in iron but also oxygen, metal made in these massive furnaces and carbon-rich coal and other ingredients in the top. To make steel, we need to separate the How do the large buildings we see around 2016 up to 900 blast furnaces made and melted iron from the oxygen. To do this, extremely the modern world stay up? They have over a billion tonnes of this iron, which soon powerful heaters blow hot air into the bottom of skeletons of steel that are strong enough became steel, worldwide. Each one makes up to the furnaces hard enough that it flows upwards to help support other heavy materials like 12,000 tonnes of molten pig iron per day, running through the rocks. This air is hot enough to set concrete. That’s why steel is one of the world’s around 19 days out of 20. A few extra chemical the coal alight, and the flame’s temperature can most important products – and so the blast steps make pig iron into steel. be above 2,000 degrees Celsius. furnaces that make it are very important too. Blast furnaces make very hot, liquid pig iron. In Blast furnaces look a bit like tall vases. This eventually helps bring this mixture Conveyor belts pour mixtures of small rocky above 1,500 degrees Celsius, mixing ingredients together. Some of the carbon from the coal reacts with oxygen, flowing away as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas. The glowing-orange molten pig iron that remains contains a little 068 HowItWorks www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? Burning coal drives climate change, so some blast furnaces are trying hydrogen instead Cleaning up e t et AR ZONE! waste gases The size of haematite SCAN HERE Before they can pellets used in blast release waste gas, the furnace operators furnaces. remove unwanted components like dust. Heating up stoves 40 n © Getty Cost of a furnace Burning the cleaned waste making 4 million tonnes gases heats up stacks of brick inside tube-shaped stoves of steel annually. near the blast furnace. As rocky pellets fall into a blast furnace, hot air from below sets them alight © Getty Pipes circulate gas around blast furnaces to help produce molten iron Stoves heat up air Cleaning up coal Once the bricks inside the stoves Iron and steelmaking has a history going have heated up, they can heat up back at least 2,000 years. Blast furnaces blasts of incoming cold air. became common in Europe in the 1400s, relying on wood to make iron. Partially 5 us burning wood made carbon-rich charcoal, which could help remove oxygen from The time it takes for 300 iron-rich rocks. But by the 1700s wood was getting more expensive, as many tonnes of liquid iron to trees had already been chopped down. be converted into steel Rocky coal is also mostly carbon, and was cheap and easy to get. But it also at Scunthorpe. contains lots of sulphur, which makes iron brittle. In 1709, an Englishman called Abraham Darby tried using coal that had been heated in a kiln without any air to remove the sulphur, making a product called coke. That change meant that making pig iron was easier, and played a big part in the Industrial Revolution. It later helped a historic cast-iron bridge to be built over the River Severn, in a village now named Ironbridge. The taller blast Illustration © Adrian Mann furnace has carbon, and unwanted elements like sulphur © Getty three stoves to and manganese. Steelworks quickly send this © Getty heat up incoming hot metal to mix with other rocks to remove the Ironbridge in Shropshire, England, was made unwanted elements. They can then add other possible by using coke in blast furnaces air to its right elements that make the steel stronger, and pour it into moulds. If you aren’t careful, this can be a www.howitworksdaily.com dangerous process – but that’s what is needed to harness steel’s valuable strength. How It Works 069

TECHNOLOGY How do A court reporter stenographers at work in 1935 type so quickly? Phonetic word processors let them record court proceedings in real time If you’ve ever seen a court drama, you may have heard a prosecutor tell a witness to by pressing combinations of buttons – known as answer questions truthfully ‘for the record’. a chord – they can produce whole syllables, words or phrases in one movement. This allows You may have also heard a lawyer loudly object, them to type at around 200 words per minute declaring something should be ‘stricken from and even record multiple people’s speech at © Getty the record.’ While real-life court cases aren’t once. Some can type even faster than that: the always this theatrical, the record is very real. Guinness World Record holder Mark Kislingbury © Getty The end of an era? Court cases are documented in detail so that reached a jaw-dropping 360 words per minute! Throughout history, there has always anyone can find out how a judge reached a legal The first steno machines appeared in the 19th been someone documenting court cases. decision. If there’s evidence that anything was century. This model is from around 1882 Before stenographers there were wrong with the way a case was handled, shorthand writers. They used a judgements can be overturned, so it’s very complicated code of squiggles to jot important that the official records are accurate. down quotes at around 100 words per minute. Even in medieval England, notes It falls to the stenographer – sometimes called were made in abbreviated Latin before a court reporter – to write down everything the being written up in full for the plea rolls. judge, lawyers and witnesses say during a trial. But the average person speaks between 100 and But this is changing. Since 2012, the 130 words per minute. Trying to faithfully write Old Bailey and other crown courts in what one person says as they say it at these England and Wales have replaced speeds is practically impossible. stenographers with the Digital Audio Recording Transcription and Storage But stenographers have a secret weapon. System (DARTS). As the name suggests, While a regular computer keyboard has over 100 this involves recording what’s said in buttons, their ‘stenotype’ or ‘steno machine’ court with microphones, then word processors have only 22. Some letters are transcribing it later. Many other courts missing and there are no punctuation keys. But around the world are following suit. Built for speed K A T R OE R The steno machine makes it easy to type more in a single motion Repeated keys K ER Letters that both commonly start and end words appear WR EU TH Digital Learn the chords on both the left and right TP A recording sides of the keyboard to TH A F T While they work individually, make words faster to type. ER Traditional steno normally multiple keys are pressed at once to KU PB machines printed represent a phonetic sound or even a whole word. onto long, thin sheets of paper that looked like receipts, but today they have S T P H * FP L TD RA E D a digital display. K W R SZ TH Strike the record The asterisk key can work like a AOEU delete button, removing the previous chord. It’s typically tapped using the right-hand index finger. Pick a number Missing letters Vowels There are no number keys, but if you You type phonetically, so some letters The letters A, O, E and U run across press and hold the bar at the top of the alphabet that sound alike aren’t the bottom, where they can be while typing STPHAOFPLT from left included. For instance, you use K for C. easily tapped with a thumb. to right they’ll spell 1234506789. 070 HowItWorks www.howitworksdaily.com

Special offer for readers in North America 4FREE issues when you subscribe T e a tion-packed sc ence and o ogy magazine th feeds minds O er line () OFFER EXPIRES Online at www.magazinesdirect.com/hiw/79as 30 Apr *Terms and conditions Offer closes 30/04/2021. Offer open to new subscribers only. Direct Debit offer is available to UK subscribers only. 2021 This price is guaranteed for the first 12 months and we will notify you in advance of any price changes. Please allow up to six weeks for delivery of your first subscription issue, or up to eight weeks overseas. The full subscription rate is for 12 months (13 issues) and includes postage and packaging. If the magazine ordered changes frequency per annum, we will honour the number of issues paid for, not the term of the subscription. For full terms and conditions visit www.magazinesdirect.com/terms. For enquiries please call: +44 (0) 330 333 1113. Lines are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm UK time or e-mail: [email protected]. Calls to 0330 numbers will be charged at no more than a national landline call, and may be included in your phone provider’s call bundle.

SCIENCE Nucleus and nucleolus Cell anatomy Cells: The central nucleus holds genetic These are the organelles you’ll information and regulates the cell’s growth and metabolism. A smaller find in many animal cells structure inside called the nucleolus produces ribosomes to be transported outside the nucleus. Ribosomes Formed in the nucleus, ribosomes are responsible for assembling amino acids into proteins, such as enzymes and hormones, for use in the cell. blocks Endoplasmic reticulum Trillions of cells keep us alive, but what processes Working with ribosomes, the take place within these endoplasmic reticulum (ER) intricate systems? is a host for the continuous attachment of ribosomes. The ER analyses proteins and determines their fate. When you look in the mirror, you see a Cytoskeleton Centrioles single organism. But on a microscopic level we are packed Working as the scaffolding These barrel-shaped organelles with over 37 trillion individual units: cells. of the cell, this is a lattice come in pairs and are situated They play an important and specific role to of fibres and filaments. It near the nucleus. During cell keep your body operating while performing helps to maintain the cell’s division they move to opposite functions to keep themselves healthy. If shape and controls the sides of the nucleus and help to you’ve ever wondered why the human mind movement of organelles. separate chromosomes. and body are so complex, it’s down to these many tiny living components that dictate Mitochondrion your life. Not only are cells alive, they define what makes an organism a living thing. Mitochondria are the cell’s powerhouses, generating Inside all of us, our cells are constantly at chemical energy for reactions work. Each one is carrying out thousands of within the cell. The energy routine jobs at any given time, and its diverse produced is in the form of a tiny organelles – organs for cells – have evolved to molecule called adenosine carry these out efficiently. While human cells triphosphate (ATP). have a common structure, there are over 200 major types, each with a specialised Between cells, protein structure and function. complexes called cell junctions hold neighbouring cells Understanding cells means understanding together, such as skin cells ourselves. They are called the building blocks of life because they are the smallest unit that © Getty Vesicle makes up every system in our body. Individual cells have to perform a certain These organelles aid transport function. For example, muscle cells need to within and out of the cell. contract. They are grouped together with Secretory vesicles fuse with the matching cells to form a tissue type. Cells in membrane to remove the contents muscle tissues work with the same goal, in a process called exocytosis. producing a greater force when their contractions are synchronised. When this www.howitworksdaily.com tissue connects with other tissue types – like the nerve cells that coordinate the muscles – these multifunctional systems create the complexities that make us human. Each system is reliant on another to carry out their vital roles, and these are made possible by the capabilities of our individual cells. 072 How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? The average life span of a human cell is seven to ten years Longest living Golgi complex Because most cells are replaced as you age, much of your body is actually The Golgi complex transports molecules younger than you are. Brain cells are an from the endoplasmic reticulum to their exception. Most of the neurons in the required destination. It can also modify brain have remained since you were these molecules to a specialised function. conceived. They don’t divide like other cells, and in the case of humans will only die because of disease, injury or because the rest of the body has died. Scientists have proved that brain cells can continue living in a healthy environment by taking them from mice and implanting them into rats. These brain cells continued to live in their new host for twice as long as the original mouse lived. Microvilli This part of the cell membrane not only protects the cell’s contents, but also increases the surface area so more nutrients can be absorbed into it and toxic substances pushed out. Lysosome © Alamy Mitochondria © CNRI/ Science Photo Library have a smooth This small, acidic organelle needs to outer membrane maintain a low pH level to hold and a folded inner digestive enzymes. These enzymes membrane, which can are sent to digest molecules and make be seen in this electron their nutrients available for the cell, micrograph image while removing any waste products. How It Works 073 www.howitworksdaily.com

SCIENCE How superconductors work so efficiently Superconductors may seem like perfectly ordinary materials, but turn down the temperature and their superpowers are revealed Superconductors are metals – such as This is a scanning lead – or oxides which conduct tunnelling micrograph electricity with no resistance. There’s – a digital image taken just one catch – to display their superpowers, through a microscope they need to be kept at a frosty -265 degrees – of a superconductor Celsius, or thereabouts. on an atomic scale. The top image shows the Peer inside a chunk of lead and you’ll see superconductor’s row upon row of neatly packed ions, bathed topography, its surface in a swarm of electrons. These loose shape and features, in electrons are what conduct electricity – set close-up detail them into motion and you have an electrical current. At room temperature the lead ions Top metal superconductors vibrate away frenetically. From an electron’s perspective, it’s like trying to move across a Here are the best Type 1 metal Lead: 7.196 Kelvin crowded dance floor without spilling your superconductors with their critical Lanthanum: 4.88 Kelvin drink. Constant collisions between electrons transition temperatures – the point Tantalum: 4.47 Kelvin and ions convert electrical energy into heat – to which it is necessary to cool Mercury: 4.15 Kelvin this is resistance. them before they’ll superconduct. Tin: 3.72 Kelvin Turn the temperature down a few hundred notches, however, and the ion vibrations subside, creating a stable lattice. Now as electrons flow through, a new effect comes into play: distortions in the lattice force them into pairs. These unlikely unions trigger a weird quantum physics quirk: electron pairs throughout the material coalesce into a perfectly synchronised cloud, moving a bit like a school of fish. This means that the swarm of electrons can move through the lattice with no collisions, resulting in no resistance whatsoever. Thanks to this astounding property, a huge current can be run through a superconductor without it overheating. This means that they can create incomparably powerful electromagnets. These are currently used in MRI scanners, supercomputers, particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider and levitating maglev trains. Superconductor 1911 1933 evolution Absolute zero Levitation How It Works takes a journey through the last century to see just how far Dutch physicist Heike Meissner and Ochsenfeld superconductors have come Kamerlingh Onnes and and discover the Meissner his team create temperatures effect: the uncanny ability 074 HowItWorks of just above absolute zero of superconductors to repel and discover that mercury is magnetic fields and cause a good superconductor. magnets to levitate. www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? Just four people have won two Nobel Prizes – superconductivity theorist John Bardeen is one of them Superconductor in action 2 Bending the lattice 1 Frozen lattice Find out how superconductors make life a As a negatively charged electron At temperatures whole lot easier for passing electrons makes its way through, the approaching absolute zero, positively charged ions are the superconductor’s ions 3 Another + + attracted into its path. barely vibrate, forming electron + + a stable lattice. is drawn in ++ + This bend in the lattice ++ creates an area of - + stronger positive charge, 6 No resistance drawing another electron ++ As a condensate, the cloud into the same space. of electron pairs moves ++ together in perfect unison, - travelling unhindered through the superconductor. 4 Electron pair + + + + + Trapped in a tight space, 5 Electron the two electrons are pairs unite forced together despite A quirk of quantum mechanics allows their negative charges. the electron pairs to + join forces as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). A chilled superconductor The potential of repels magnetic fields, superconductivity allowing it to levitate a magnet Despite their impressive abilities, most current superconductor technologies remain chained 1935 1957 1986 2020 to high-tech science laboratories, burdened by © SPL bulky, energy-greedy and very expensive Brothers London BCS Hot stuff Hotter stuff cooling systems in order to function. Fritz and Heinz London Bardeen, Cooper and Bednorz and Müller A metallic compound Scientists have set their sights on creating a reconcile superconductor Schrieffer propose the discover the first made of hydrogen, carbon superconductor that works at room theory to show that zero BCS theory of ‘high-temperature’ and sulphur exhibits temperature and pressure, which could bring resistance and the Meissner superconductivity, superconductor, which superconductivity at 15 cutting-edge technologies into all of our effect stem from the explaining electron pairing. works its magic up to degrees Celsius – but at day-to-day lives. Inexpensive, portable MRI same phenomenon. It earns them a Nobel Prize. -243.15 degrees Celsius. extreme pressures. scanners could drastically improve healthcare, while superfast maglev trains would zip up and www.howitworksdaily.com down the country, reducing travel times. Replacing our inefficient electrical grids with superconducting cables would slash our electricity bills too. It could also give renewable energies – such as wind farms, which are often located great distances from our cities – a much-deserved boost. Elsewhere, superconductor-enabled electronics could see smaller, faster computers hit the high street. While physicists have managed to create superconducting materials operational at a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, they require extremely high pressures, approaching those found at the Earth’s centre. Many still believe that the Holy Grail of truly room- temperature superconductors is achievable – it’s just a matter of time and patience before we discover it and utilise it in new technology. How It Works 075

HISTORY How ou the ld Words by Ailsa Harvey What ancient depictions of the globe tell us about our ancestors’ beliefs Is there such a thing as a totally accurate world become distorted from their true size and shape. © Getty map? Thanks to a combination of For example, Antarctica appears to be a giant in photographs taken from space and careful comparison to Australia, when really they are today, imagine the difficulty faced by those who calculations, it might appear so. But in reality, no similar in size. had never crossed the seas. With no idea of the map is completely accurate. When images from immensity of the planet – and without the each angle of the globe are captured, the shapes You might now feel as though you have been knowledge that Earth was a sphere – the only and lines that make up continents and the misguided during your school geography world that mattered to most was their own town jagged borders that form the borders between classes, but our drawn depictions of the world or country. They might have seen land across the land and sea need to be flattened. have come a long way. Technology gives us the water, but with no way of making sense of it, confidence that we have at least included the they told stories of the beasts who might live The most common world map today is called total surface area of the globe, and we can use there and incorporated them into the drawings. the Mercator projection, and while this has been other sources to learn the true sizes of each accepted for its accuracy, it’s actually filled with country. Rewinding to over 2,000 years ago, the Maps have evolved as our knowledge of the compromises. In order to make a spherical object maps produced by leading scientists would be world has expanded. From when the whole fit a flat, rectangular space, latitudinal lines have unrecognisable to those we use today. Putting world was made up of just a handful of cities to been straightened. As a result, land masses have aside the task of producing an accurate map the maps combining myths and geography in equal parts, these are some of our attempts to map the world over hundreds of years. 076 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? Medieval maps were expensive to create, so they were often owned to show off wealth OLDEST Imago Mundi was HE MAPS OF WORLD MAP found in Sippar, ANAXIMANDER Iraq, and first A D HECATAEUS 600 BCE When you think of a world map today, translated in 1889 610 to 476 BCE Atfirstglance, you likely imagine a paper thin, Anaximander’s world foldable sketch. But perhaps one Source: Wiki/© Gary Todd map is extremely similar to the early Babylonian of the reasons this map remained map. However, the crucial difference comes when largely intact for so long is that observing the areas covered. The ancient Greek the Imago Mundi – also known philosopher was the first known person to attempt as the Babylonian Map of the to map out all known inhabited land. This World – is a chunky clay table . included three continents and the sea that Carved into this block is an surrounded and separated them. Europe is drawn ancient vision of the world. in the upper half, Asia towards the right and Libya Babylon is placed at the in the bottom-left section. The map was published centre, with a ring of sea to improve navigation of the Mediterranean Sea circling it. As the oldest and Black Sea, and depicted a cold north and hot known map of the world, the south. Beyond his 2D maps, Anaximander was the area it covers is limited. But first to state that Earth can exist by itself, and this was the world known doesn’t rest on top of something else. to the Babylonians: a relatively accurate geographic positioning Inspired by Anaximander, Hecataeus set out to of the land they had traversed, a build upon his map and make it more accurate. narrow band of water as it would Based on his own travels around Europe, Asia and appear from land and the eight Egypt, he added more details. Venturing further regions beyond it, either visualised inland, he noticed the continents connecting in or imagined. The world to them places where Anaximander had portrayed them to comprised just seven cities. be separated. While Anaximander focused only on the position of these large bodies of land, Reading Imago Mundi Mountains Hecataeus furthered knowledge of the countries within these continents. What terrestrial features are A curved line creating an area engraved in the clay? inside the ring of sea is labelled Anaximander’s ‘mountain’. This is believed to be original map Outer regions the Zagros Mountains – a was lost, but 990-mile-long mountain range. descriptions of it The description of five out of the eight surrounding has allowed this triangles have survived. Makers of this map believed Cities reconstruction. mythical beasts and gods lived beyond the sea. These small circles Hecataeus’ map 18 represent surrounding was originally cities, including engraved onto a 19 Assyria (4), Der (5) copper plate. and Susa (8). How It Works 077 24 1 17 22 12 2 Babylon 13 3 Intersected by 25 4 the Euphrates River, which 20 14 23 crosses the centre of the 11 6 5 map vertically, is 10 7 Babylon. This is Sea 9 represented by a large rectangle. The sea is carved 16 as a surrounding 8 ring, given the label 21 15 Source: Wiki/© Bibi Saint-Pol of ‘bitter river’. This band of water separated the land they were familiar Swamp and outflow with from mysterious islands. At the mouth of the Euphrates River, a strip separates horizontally into the ‘swamp’ (7) and the ‘outflow’ (9). www.howitworksdaily.com

Y TODAY’S CARTOGRAPHY TECH Source: Wiki/BalkaniquePTOLEMY’S CALCULATIONS With exact coordinates, it was 1Aerial photography Source: Wiki/Isidore of Sevillepossible for exact replicas ofModern drones have made Ptolemy’s map to be drawn surveillance of large areas much easier than it was previously. This 150 CE Astronomer and Previously, map makers had equal to a one hour difference in the real-time footage can create visual geographer Claudius decided the size of places based on Sun’s position. records of changes to the Ptolemy transformed the way maps their perceived geographical or geography of Earth. were created when he became the religious importance. Putting a grid As an astronomer, Ptolemy was first person to use maths to scale onto his maps enabled Ptolemy to keen to show the curved nature of 2 Sensors locations. Helping to inform map work out distances terrestrially and the globe in his map, but not by When mapping the planet’s makers of the planet’s true size, celestially, as his passions also lay distorting the distances between properties, sensors can instantly Ptolemy provided coordinates for in the stars. The distance from the locations. It was later discovered pick up changes. Converting sound, all of his maps’ labelled positions. equator was calculated by studying that many of his calculations were light, heat and motion into In doing this he invented longitude the length of the longest day of the inaccurate, but he opened doors to electrical signals, change detection and latitude measurements, year there, while positions east and more informative methods when he maps can be made. finding these values for around west were measured in time. 15 published his techniques in a book 8,000 locations. degrees was found to be about titled Guide to Geography. 3GPS The Global Positioning System uses orbiting satellites to provide accurate feedback on the location of a device. When creating new maps this comes in handy, as it can provide the precise path that land surveyors have taken. 4 Satellites Watching from space, satellites are constantly storing footage of the world. This data can be used for speedy updates of large portions of the planet. 5Geographic Information System After sensors, satellites and GPS have collected the data, this system is needed to organise it. It can take different types of data and put the information together to provide a clearer visualisation. THE T AND T and O maps O MAP are typically displayed with east at the top 636 CE The medieval T and O map was given its name based on its most prominent features. The ‘O’ refers to the outer circle of the ocean, while the ‘T’ shape – the River Nile and Mediterranean Sea – creates the separation between Asia, Europe and Africa. As described by the 7th-century scholar Isidore of Seville, this portrayal of Earth represents only one-half of the globe. While it was believed that Earth was spherical by this point, it was also thought that nobody was able to venture to the lower half – the equator was a burning death trap. Because of this belief that the Southern Hemisphere was uninhabited, it seemed unnecessary to draw it on a map. 078 How It Works y.com

DID YOU KNOW? The Mercator projection has been used as the standard world map for nearly 500 years WORLD’S LARGEST world. Oriented with east at the top, the map but of Christianity’s alone. Many of the MEDIEVAL MAP displays 420 towns, 15 religious events, 33 spiritual references found on the map, and animals and plants and eight classical the locations given most attention, line up 1300 Spanning 1.59 metres in length and mythology scenes. with those in the Bible. 1.34 metres wide, the Hereford Mappa Mundi is a large piece of calf skin Designed in Europe during the late 13th Historians believe that this work was packed with over 500 detailed ink drawings. and early 14th centuries, this is by no means produced by a group of artists, perhaps two Preserved to show extraordinary detail, the a depiction of the general view of the world, or three, while the writing was completed by extensive map shows how both religious a single hand. The largest cities drawn texts and geographical information were E include Paris and Rome, while Hereford – the combined to form its makers’ vision of the city it resides in – is added as a small dot, perhaps even as a late addition. Paradise The Red Sea At the top a ring of fire is drawn, with the centre This large section has been coloured depicting paradise. Due to paradise being drawn in red to show where the Red Sea lies. where Japan should be, this image was printed in The bottom section has been Japanese textbooks during World War II. separated in reference to the story of Moses parting the sea. Jerusalem Signifying its importance to the creators, at the centre of the map is Jerusalem, with a crucifix drawn just above. Caspian Sea Egypt Showing that this map Rivers are carefully doesn’t exactly follow the plotted onto this geographical knowledge medieval map; the River of the time, the Caspian Nile can be seen leading Sea appears to connect to through the centre of the surrounding ocean. Egypt. This image, a coloured copy of the Noah’s Ark map, shows a close up of the Nile in blue. A portrayal of this Mythical creatures, as famous biblical story well as animals such as can be found on the the rhino, are drawn border between inside Egypt. Armenia and Turkey. S N Great Britain Greece Source: Wiki/© Scott Ehardt Surrounded by red Mount Olympus, Athens ink, at the and Corinth are all northeastern border illustrated in this area, of the map are the allocated to Greece. British Isles. The top-left section shows Balearic Islands Scotland, the larger section on the right is With Africa on the right and England and Wales Europe on the left, the three and the strip below white triangles among the represents Ireland. black ink of the sea are the Spanish islands of Majorca, www.howitworksdaily.com Italy W Menorca and Ibiza. If you tilt your head to the left you How It Works 079 can make out the beginnings of the boot of Italy. Directly to the right, surrounded in black ink, is a large triangle: the island of Sicily.

HISTORY An aerial view of the famous 134-metre-long condor © Getty © Getty Mystery of the PERU Nazca Lines A lizard, llama and spider connected by a series of criss-crossing lines… whatever could it mean? A terrifying elongated spider spreads across the landscape Over 1,500 years ago, the ancient Nazca giant astronomical calendar and the animals © Alamy Indians began to create a series of represent clusters of stars in the night sky. cTahrevebdeainuttoifuthl Ue fcfhinaglktohnillWsidheite Horse perfectly straight lines, geometric © Getty shapes and over 70 beautiful plants and During the 1960s, some researchers even throughout England during the 16th and creatures, ranging from a hummingbird, a dog thought that the criss-crossing pattern was a 17th centuries, including the mighty Long and a running monkey to a cactus, a flower and a landing site for visiting aliens, and that one Man of Wilmington, a 72-metre-tall man in tree, across the dry plains between the Pacific image in particular depicted an ancient Eastbourne, and the Cerne Abbas Giant, a coast of southern Peru and the Andean foothills. astronaut. Today people believe that they were 55-metre-tall colossus storming along the created as part of a ritual to the gods in order to countryside in Dorset. Both hill figures were The Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía pray for much needed rain, and that the animal created by scraping trenches into the grass Xesspe was the first to discover the lines in 1926, images are symbols of fertility and water. surface and backfilling the furrows with but it wasn’t until commercial planes flew Whatever their purpose, they are a constant chalk rubble. regularly over the land in the 1930s, catching source of fascination, and in 1994 they were sight of the magnificent images from the sky, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. that the general public were made aware. From the ground the lines are extremely hard to make The peculiar hill out, but by looking down upon them from above, figures of England the geometric shapes, zig-zagging lines and crazy wildlife come into view. The Nazca Lines are not the only archaeological images etched into Earth’s In order to draw the images, the Nazca people surface. The 110-metre-long Uffington White carefully scraped away the top layer of rust- Horse is a magnificent example of a coloured iron oxide-coated rocks, revealing a prehistoric hill figure that can be found in contrasting lighter coloured sand that glows in Oxfordshire, England. The horse, carved into the midday sunlight. Thanks to the hot, dry the white chalk, appears to be galloping climate, the images have remained largely across the green hillside. Others include the undisturbed since the day they were created. Westbury White Horse of Bratton Down and the Red Horse of Tysoe, so-called because No one is exactly sure what the lines were the underlying soil was red clay rather than made for, and many strange theories have been chalk. Later examples were created raised, including the idea that the lines depict a 080 HowItWorks www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? In 2018, a truck driver was arrested after he damaged one of the lines when he accidentally drove over it The red stones were The lines need to be thick to Protected by scraped aside to reveal be seen from above the land lighter ground underneath The lines have stayed largely intact and undisturbed for well over 1,000 years thanks to their location. The dry, dusty plains receive around 20 minutes of rain per year, and with low levels of soft, warm wind, destructive erosion is kept to a minimum. Plaster, found within the soil itself, cools in the early morning mist and acts as a protective barrier to any potential threats. THE HUMMINGBIRD THE ALBATROSS THE PARROT THE MONKEY THE SPIDER THE TREE THE HANDS THE CONDOR THE WHALE Illustration © The Art Agency/Nick Sellers THE ASTRONAUT THE DOG THE TRIANGLES THE RECTANGLES How the Nazca Lines were formed Archaeologists have spent years trying to understand how the people of Nazca created the patterns The Perfect spirals The creature mysterious geoglyphs lines A rope was tied between two stakes To begin with, Lines were kept while a third was small-scale drawings straight by using two pushed into the were made on canvas, stakes tied with rope, ground, forming a which were gradually pulled taut as a guide. triangle. One tied stake increased in size on the The stakes were used was wound around the land and kept in over and over again for other two, creating a proportion using up to 30 miles. perfect spiral. stakes and rope. www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 081

HISTORY AR ZONE! Why was built This aerial photograph shows a path built for © Dav d Goddard/ Getty Images tourists to preserve the area as much as possible What can this prehistoric Mapping the Upright sarsens NOW stone circle tell us about monument Neolithic times? Though they seem precariously Piecing together the iconic, positioned, some of these nine-metre- Even today, as you approach this semi- rocky remains tall stone slabs have remained standing collapsed ring of towering stone blocks, for thousands of years. Their exact there is an air of importance radiating Fallen or broken purpose is unknown, but together they from the deserted structure. Powerfully placed bluestones produce an interesting ringing acoustic on the empty Salisbury Plain of Wiltshire, when hit. These ringing rocks were England, Stonehenge has become an iconic These broken stones show believed to have healing properties by tourist attraction for around a million visitors where the bluestone gets its some ancient cultures. every year, those seeking insight into the ways of name. All from the Preseli Hills Britain’s past. 5,000 years since the monument of southwest Wales, these Stone holes began construction, much of its origins remain a stones display a bluish tinge mystery. Why was this ring of rock transported when wet or broken. Stonehenge is incomplete, with to this specific location? And what was this multiple holes in the ground indicating structure used for after being so precisely and Fallen sarsens where these huge blocks used to be. purposefully built? Parch marks were discovered in 2013, The larger stones that make up showing where large sections of The culture that arranged these stones left no Stonehenge are made of silcrete stone had prevented the grass roots written records, making the story of the rock. Weighing up to 30 tonnes from growing. monument much more difficult to resolve. But as each, these were transported a result of ongoing archaeological investigations, across 20 miles of land from www.howitworksdaily.com a largely accepted theory is that within these Marlborough Downs. stone pillars, burial ceremonies took place for those of a high social status. Ditches As more clues are unearthed, it is clear that These were dug with antler plenty of thought, time and effort went into tools. Many historians believe making Stonehenge. Using the available that the outer ditches may resources, prehistoric people ventured far and have held timber posts. wide to bring the stones to this spot on the plains, making it likely that this place has AR ZONE! always held some significance. Twice a year during the summer and winter solstices, the Sun SCAN HERE aligns perfectly with the ‘heel’ stone when viewed from within the circle. This large stone was placed just outside the outer ditch circle. During the two events, people flock to the circle to observe the result of its builders’ precision. The main reasons our ancestors constructed this creation can only be imagined as you observe its beautiful, complex design. As time goes by, the ongoing discoveries that are made by archaeologists in and around the site are slowly helping us to better understand the neolithic culture that built it.. 082 HowItWorks

DID YOU KNOW? In the 1880s, Charles Darwin declared that earthworms in the soil were causing Stonehenge to sink Advanced architecture The construction of such a substantial these huge blocks nearer to the site, the This © Getty Images/Heritage Images structure during the Neolithic Period would most common theory is that people pulled illustration have been much more strenuous with the or rolled these stones from as far as Wales. shows how limited technology of the time. How people These slabs would then be placed into a the joints were able to transport the materials and hole and pulled upright using ropes and a work to create a burial site that still stands tall frame. Once vertical, the hole would be connect today is more impressive than the structure packed tightly with rubble, keeping the the stones itself. It would have taken around 1,500 tower firmly in position. To keep the in the outer years from start to finish, as features were balancing stones secure, mortise and tenon circle added in about six significant stages over joints were carved into the rock. These are this time. protruding pieces of rock pointing upwards THEN from the top of vertical slabs into holes Before the rocks could be positioned, made in the bottom of the horizontal rocks, Illustration © Nicholas Forder they had to be sourced. Although some which keeps them from sliding apart. believe ancient glaciers would have carried How It Works 083 Upright bluestones Within the larger sarsens are much smaller blocks of bluestone. One-sixth of the weight of the larger stones surrounding them, these were arranged in a double arc between the two sarsen stone horseshoes. Post or stake holes Lined up over 15 metres from the northeast entrance, a neat line shows where posts once crossed the path. At the gap in the outer ditch there’s a rectangular and concentrated arrangement of these holes. These could have been created over time to hold scaffolding posts in order to erect the stones, or they may be more culturally significant. Historians think they could have been used to hang bones or offerings for spirits. Cremation sites The remains of cremated bodies have been found in these spots. 58 ancient people were found in 1919, after having been stored in containers that have now decomposed. Scientists now know that they were buried during the early stages of construction, between 3000 and 2480 BCE. Burial sites Stonehenge is older than all the pyramids in Egypt Experts believe those who were Raised banks buried beneath these stones held © Grant Faint/ Getty Images importance at the time. The Serving as a wall surrounding skeletons were originally all the burial chamber at the thought to be adult men, but centre, these raised banks trace further investigations have shown the perimeter. They were them to be men, women and created from displaced earth children, as well as one newborn. from surrounding ditches. www.howitworksdaily.com

2 FREE eBOOK FREE Grab yourself two fact-packed How It Works specials, two PW£A2O25GR5T0EH+S posters and wallpapers for your digital device. Scan the QR codes or type the link into your browser to download 2 DIGITAL POSTERS 5 SMARTPHONE WALLPAPERS Book of Mars Amazing Inventions Explore the mysteries of the Red Planet! Uncover the Roman innovations that Mars, our neighbouring planet, has are still with us today, as well as the terrifying medical tools that fell out of inspired us for centuries, and with the use – and for good reason. Find out who latest generation of rovers, landers invented the first computer, and explore and orbiters we’re discovering even the future of new technologies like more of its secrets than ever before. virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Hop on the Space Shuttle before we In this special edition dedicated to our reveal how NASA has contributed to the planetary neighbour, you can find out everyday objects you can find in your about its landscape and formation, home. Finally, meet the geniuses behind discover the truth about water on Mars innovations throughout history, from and the search for life and explore the Leonardo da Vinci to Hedy Lamarr. possibility that the Red Planet will one day be a human home. CLAIM YOURS: eBooks bit.ly/3pgd4kK Posters & wallpapers bit.ly/3rlZ22P

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Because enquiring minds need to know… SPACE Do you think we will see humans landing on Mars in our lifetime? And will we ever attempt to terraform it? Kareem Dennis requires. We won’t see terraforming in our lifetime, n NASA’s 2024 mission to the Moon is a stepping stone to a human mission to Mars. It’s possible that Mars will unfortunately. NASA recently sponsored a study that happen within 50 years, but there’s a huge difference between going to the Moon and going to Mars: three days concluded Mars terraforming isn’t possible with present- compared to seven months in travel time, let alone the extra supplies and other considerations a Mars trip day technology and that “there is not enough CO2 [carbon An artist’s impression of dioxide] remaining on Mars to provide significant Mars as we think it might greenhouse warming… most of the CO2 gas is not have been billions of years © NASA ago, when it had oceans and accessible and could not be readily mobilised.” BB a thicker atmosphere ANWSWANETRS?Send your questions to… How It Works magazine @HowItWorksmag [email protected] 086 HowItWorks www.howitworksdaily.com

© Getty SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT How is energy stored in normal batteries Why do different herbs you can buy in the shops? taste different? Louise Tyndall Ellie Meredith Q A common battery, like the AAs you can buy in the shops, has three parts: a positive electrode, a negative electrode and an electrolyte – a chemical Q Although all herbs come from the leaves of medium that separates the electrodes. A chemical reaction between the positive and negative parts generates an electrical charge with the help of the aromatic plants, they all taste different because chemical reagent. When the reagent runs out, it stops producing the charge. of their chemical composition. For This means that a battery doesn’t store the energy itself, but rather the potential to produce it. A rechargeable battery typically uses lithium-ion as a example, thyme has a chemical chemical reagent, which allows the process to be reversed, turning charge back into chemical potential. SD called thymol to give it its unique DID YOU flavour, whereas basil contains KNOW? a chemical called estragole. SD © A amy Rainforests produce 28 per cent of Earth’s oxygen supply Archie Swain © Getty Q Black can be created in paint using a combination of all © Getty shades, so it’s often classed as a colour. However, because SCIENCE physics describes colour as a range of visible light, and black is an absence of light, scientifically it is not a true colour. AH If a vaccine is 95 per cent effective, what www.howitworksdaily.com happens to the five per cent it doesn’t protect? Stephen Conn Q The efficacy of a vaccine like the coronavirus vaccine is whether it protects a group of patients under controlled conditions, like in a laboratory. The effectiveness of a vaccine is how it performs in the real world. In your example, 95 per cent effectiveness would mean that 95 out of 100 people who are given the vaccine wouldn’t be infected by the virus if they were then exposed to it. The other five could be infected. BB How It Works 087

The pipes used in glassblowing are 1.2 metres long © Getty SCIENCE © Getty How does ENVIRONMENT glassblowing work? Why is atropine so deadly? Jeff Jacobs Q Glassblowing involves Catherine blowing air into molten glass and Q Atropine can be prescribed to manage shaping it before it cools and heart rate, clear airways for surgery or as an solidifies. Using a long pipe to antidote for some overdoses. To do this it separate the glassblower from interferes with the parasympathetic the heat, it is dipped into a nervous system, which conserves energy. furnace of molten glass. Due to High doses of atropine increase the heart the extreme heat, the mouthpiece rate to deadly levels. is submerged in cold water until the blower takes position. As air It is a white powder that comes from the travels into the ball of molten roots of the deadly nightshade plant, and glass at the bottom of the pipe, it can be dissolved in water in equal volumes. expands from the middle, 100 grams of the odourless powder can hide creating a growing bubble. While in 100 millilitres of water, maximising its blowing, the glass is rolled and deadly potential. AH shaped depending on the desired design. Timing can make or ENVIRONMENT break these glass artworks, but if the temperature drops to the How do different point where glass is unworkable, coloured plants it can always be reheated. AH photosynthesise? DID YOU © Alamy Ellie Meredith KNOW? Q Green-leafed plants are filled with a pigment called chlorophyll that converts Atropine is named sunlight into a food source and reflects after a Greek goddess green light. Yellow and red-leaved plants have a higher concentration of pigments who chose how called carotenoids, which work with people died chlorophyll to achieve photosynthesis. These carotenoids reflect other © NASA SPACE wavelengths of light than green and appear in different colours, predominantly red or How many atoms are yellow. There is another pigment called there in the universe? anthocyanin which turns leaves purple. It works in the same way as carotenoids do, Max Hall but reflects purple light. SD Q Scientists estimate there are between ten quadrillion vigintillion and one hundred thousand quadrillion www.howitworksdaily.com vigintillion atoms in the observable universe. That’s between 1078 and 1082 atoms. BB 088 How It Works

© Getty Çatalhöyük’s first residents would DID YOU ENVIRONMENT © Gettyhave settled around 7400 BCEKNOW? What is HISTORY The average-sized the world’s human is made up of most toxic Where was the first around 37.2 trillion plant? village settled? individual cells Katie Langley Mike Cooley Q Oleander is often regarded as Q It’s believed that the first evidence of a human the most poisonous plant. settlement is in Turkey over 9,000 years ago. Containing several types of Known as Çatalhöyük, the ancient village was poison in all parts of the plant, it uncovered by archaeologists on the Konya Plain affects most animals and back in the 1960s. It housed a Stone Age society of humans. Eating a single leaf can as many as 8,000 villagers. Homes were not as kill, and even ingesting honey we recognise them now: they had no doors and from a bee that has taken windows and would have been accessed oleander nectar is enough to through their roofs. Villagers would have been poison you. The main signs that keen farmers and agriculturists, beginning you have been poisoned by this humankind’s journey to modern-day life. SD flowering plant include vomiting, stomach pain, drowsiness and TECHNOLOGY changes to heart rate. AH What Oleander flowers can be pink, red, is the orange, white or yellow smallest © CERN thing ever seen? How It Works 089 Imelda Ortiz Q The smallest thing the unaided human eye can see is about 0.1 millimetres – about the width of a human hair. The smallest thing with mass we’ve observed are electron neutrinos, which are about 0.000000000000005 the width of a hair. The only way to ‘see’ these miniscule particles is using very large detectors that are often situated deep underground, like Fermilab, to isolate them from background radiation. BB The ProtoDUNE detectors at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory, will attempt to define the nature of the elusive neutrino www.howitworksdaily.com

The latest releases for curious minds Planes FROM THE WRIGHT BROTHERS TO THE SUPERSONIC Q Author: Jan Van Der Veken Planes explores the full breadth of aviation Charles Q Publisher: Prestel Publishing theory with explanations of GPS, runway design, Darwin Q Price: £15.99 / $19.95 the different levels of the Earth’s atmosphere, Q Release: 4 March cloud formations and how the experienced pilot MEET THE MAN WHO might react to various weather conditions. UNCOVERED THE Belgian author Jan Van Der Veken is both a Unless you’re flying a NOAA hurricane-hunting SECRETS OF EVOLUTION pilot and an award-winning newspaper aircraft, you’ll probably want to avoid flying into and magazine illustrator, who has put his those billowing storm clouds. Jan Van Der Veken Q Author: Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara two passions together to create Planes: an has illustrated every page with drawings of Q Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books illustrated history of human flight with a strong aircraft or infographics in a retro style that’s Q Price: £9.99 / $15.99 science angle. It’s as slick and beautiful as a appropriately reminiscent of Biggles comics, Q Release: Out now Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit. with a simple but striking colour palette. He’s one of the most important figures in the Charting the history of flight from the Wright It’s been pitched by publisher Prestel as a book study of natural history and evolution, but brothers to the age of supersonic jets, with each for aviation fans, but Planes is both an eye- how well do you know his past? As one of the turn of the page the reader will advance an era catching and fascinating read that anyone latest editions in the critically acclaimed and discover the next step that engineers and would enjoy. Little People, Big Dreams series of children’s pilots made to advance aviation. books, Charles Darwin tells the story of the life and work of one of the most brilliant Even the basics of aerodynamics are a scientists who ever lived. complicated subject, so it takes some expertise to distil that into a few simple, comprehensible From digging worms in his Shrewsbury paragraphs. A page on the mechanics of flight is garden and almost venturing down the path followed by an example of an aircraft that of medicine to finally boarding the Beagle highlights its generation. The concept of and setting sail to discover the world, this ground effect, for example, was compact book tells Darwin’s story in utilised by Russia’s Caspian Sea bite-sized chunks that are perfect for a Monster, a massive Cold War-era young audience. Short and snappy text is aircraft that took advantage of the accompanied by the beautiful and bright reduced drag experienced when artwork of illustrator Mark Hoffmann, which flying close to the surface of the water. really brings Darwin’s story to life. If you’re looking to educate your little ones on one of Sometimes there’s some science the biggest heroes of science, then this book that Planes describes in putting these is well worth reading. aircraft under the spotlight, but other times there’s just a good story behind www.howitworksdaily.com them – like the mystery of Charles Lindberg’s double-propellor Lockheed P-38 Lightning, which went missing with its pilot over the south of France in 1944. Planes explores the breadth of aviation theory 090 HowItWorks

Chemistry BOOK REVIEWS ART, WONDER When Brains AND SCIENCE Dream Q Author: Philip Ball THE SCIENCE AND Q Publisher: The MIT Press MYSTERY OF SLEEP Q Price: £36.54 / $49.95 Q Release: 11 May Q Author: Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold Q Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co Q Price: £20.77 / $26.73 Q Release: Out now From the beauty of bubbles to the profusion of the beauty of precipitation. Who knew that patterns in nature, this aesthetically pleasing dropping different chemicals into water would book takes the reader on a journey through the yield such photogenic results? weird and wonderful world of chemistry. It’s a book that chemists and science A far cry from any chemistry textbooks you enthusiasts alike would enjoy, but it’s so expertly might have read in school, this book is a written, without burying the reader under stunning collection of photography that will complicated jargon, that anyone can appreciate leave you in awe. However, it’s not just a pretty its insight and imagery. picture book for the coffee table – it's also packed with scientific knowhow. One of the most surprising takeaways from this book might be INSPIRING A NEW patterns, but also the inspiring environmental Most of us have found ourselves confused GENERATION OF pioneers, and that they are equipped with the by a dream. If you’ve ever woken up ENVIRONMENTALISTS tools to take action if they decide they want to. wondering ‘why did I dream that?’, or ‘what goes on in my head while I sleep?’ Q Author: Catherine Barr With stories of influential characters who have then this is the book for you. Written by Q Publisher: Haynes Publishing made a difference, from Charles Darwin to Greta two experts on the science of sleep, this Q Price: £6.99 (approx. $9.50) Thunberg, combined with important tips for book is an exceptional combination of our Q Release: Out now accurately researching and effectively ancient perceptions of dreaming and the communicating their views, this book sets the latest scientific discoveries. Learning about our unsustainable impact on the reader up to become the next eco warrior. planet can be quite overwhelming for young Presented in an engaging tone, each people. They may feel like they want to help in chapter helps you understand a different some way, but where can they start? This area of the unconscious mind. What pocket manual is a helpful guide for those impact do traumatic events have on our wanting to understand the big issues dreams? And what more are we looking surrounding the environment and take the to better understand, such as seemingly next steps to improvement. Ten of these prophetic dreams of future events? In ‘big issues’ are categorised in the first section, addition to science’s most recent findings, with key topics to cover all angles. After tackling Zadra and Stickgold present a new model all-important environmental tragedies, this which explores further how dreams manual goes on to inspire the next generation utilise our memories and experiences in with vibrant pages and impactful fast facts. new and fascinating ways. Care has been taken to ensure that young Presented in readers are aware of not just the worrying an engaging www.howitworksdaily.com tone How It Works 091

GIVE YOUR BRAIN A PUZZLE WORKOUT QUICKFIRE Spot the difference QUESTIONS See if you can find all six changes between the images below Q1 How much of the Solar System’s total mass is in the Sun? 33 per cent 50 per cent 70 per cent 99 per cent Q2 Tiny ‘water bears’ can survive which extreme condition? Deadly radiation The vacuum of space Severe drought All of the above Q3 A fig tree with a world record had roots that went how deep? 11 metres 122 metres 489 metres 3,800 metres Q4 About how effective is the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine? 33 per cent 50 per cent 70 per cent 99 per cent Q5 The metal-hulled steam warships first built in the 1850s were known as what? Steelwakes Metalcruisers Plateships Ironclads Q6 What was Cray-1? A supercomputer An endangered shrimp A criminal gang boss A Royal Navy rank 092 How It Works

Sudoku Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9 EASY DIFFICULT 41 96 872 96 1 4 © Getty 4 75 597 1 346 2 89 52 4 13 942 6 781 359 64 7 92 421 9 7 51 What is it? 23 5 79 6 14 Hint: You shouldn’t count them before 983 they hatch… 65897 2 A 87 42 6 1 15 D I P E A Z N OW S O L L E C Check your answers ARK I BBASA LNOAPO Find the solutions to last issue’s puzzle pages I WU N EMS P A C T R OMU SPOT THE DIFFERENCE UO H I F O A B RMA DQ I N FNHCDL OKTOV YOAH R S ROY E NGDRY UDOA I A VMA X L I S NQ A U V Y CO U R T B I B L L E S LMA AH J I OE SABT F R I NB S EMF URN I BUGNODU QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS AF R I GAT E L L BUBPS Q1 Smallpox Q4 Styling their hair P E L S B E CANRU FOHA Q2 A solar nebula Q5 Dwarf planet Q3 Ten tonnes Q6 Hippocrates UB F RAP ANA S E L L D I WHAT IS IT? …RING PULL MAME D I C I N EWON X U I R C E CO UN E QU J P AM Wordsearch FIND THE FOLLOWING WORDS… FRIGATE NASA MAP © Alamy ROYAL BUBBLE COURT SNOW CELL FURNACE MEDICINE HAYABUSA DRUID How It Works 093

A SPHERO ROBOT This month we are giving you the chance to win a Sphero RVR, the all-terrain robot created for makers, hackers and coders. This fully programmable £2W4O9RT9H9 robot boasts onboard sensors, an accelerometer and gyroscope to give you the freedom to go anywhere and do anything For your chance to win, answer the following question: Which of these scientists discovered the radioactive element radium? a) Marie Curie b) Charles Darwin c) Brian Cox Enter online at howitworksdaily.com and one lucky winner will win! Terms and Conditions: Competition closes at 00:00 GMT on 11 February 2021. By taking part in this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions and the Competition Rules: www.futuretcs.com. Entries must be received by 00:00 GMT on 11/02/2021. Open to all UK residents aged 18 years or over. The winner will be drawn at random from all valid entries received, and shall be notified by email or telephone. The prize is non-transferable and non-refundable. There is no cash alternative. 094 HowItWorks

HOW TO… Get in touch Practical projects to try at home Send your ideas to… How It Works magazine [email protected] @HowItWorksmag howitworksmag How to make your own speaker This simple sound system will show you the physics behind your audio equipment 1Collect your equipment 2Wrap the wire SUMMARY For your speaker you will need to find a copper wire, Place the magnet onto the top of the upside-down packing tape, a plastic cup and a strong magnet. These are cup, then wrap the wire around the magnet. Aim for seven Your homemade speaker the components for the speaker, but when finished you will loops, and leave plenty of wire either side, as this will be demonstrates how electrical need an auxiliary cord to connect it to your music. needed later. Tape the wire down and remove the magnet. signals from the wire can be converted into sound. The 3D il 4Add the place it within the two coils. You music on your device is stored Fi Take the as an electronic file, providing round object, such as a bottle cap, and data on how the sound varies in pitch and volume over time. By make another coil. Using the ends of the copper wire, need the wire to be touching the magnet as much as building a speaker, you are controlling the path of this repeat the previous step on top and make sure there is possible, but you can adjust your components again after information through the copper wire. about 30 centimetres of wire remaining on each side. hearing what the music sounds like coming from your When the electrical signal Secure this with more tape. speaker to get the best result. reaches the magnet, a magnetic field is created. This turns the signal into sound waves. The more coils you make around the magnet with your wire, the stronger this magnetic field becomes. Instructions in the audio file constantly change the magnetic field, creating vibrations. These vibrations move the air molecules surrounding them, which are pushed and directed by the cup to your ears. HAD A GO? LET US KNOW! If you’ve tried out any of our experiments – or conducted some of your own – then let us know! Share your photos or videos with us on social media. NEXT ISSUE… © Illustrations by Ed Crooks 5Connect the tunes 6 party Make a The best way to connect your music source is through ave made your own speaker! Find and play water clock an auxiliary cord. You can wrap one end of the wire around your favourite songs and make sure the auxiliary cord is the top of the metal input and one around the bottom. If connecting your two devices. How is the quality of your Disclaimer: Neither Future Publishing nor its employees you have gator clips this process is easier, as they just need sound? Using stronger magnets and tightening the coils can accept any liability for any adverse effects experienced to be clamped at these two points. will help you to improve the quality. during the course of carrying out these projects or at any WwWwWw..HhOoWwIiTtWwOoRr kKSsDdAaIi lLyY. cCOoMm time after. Always take care when handling potentially hazardous equipment or when working with electronics and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. HoHwowIt IWt Worokrsks| 009955

INBOX Get in touch AMHAWANYUINNAEL!SFertHxooataamhncryiedntnclpgyeeaasvsrhiseraoMnapawnaanthdnrdttheu,mseasMkylahysiiwoslntlwceatoarnkratienknhpiaaeuetlnhmrlrsdeesmaotFhoadro.tlegcwsraoolnaf,xies Speak your mind… If you have any questions or comments for us, send them to: How It Works magazine @HowItWorksmag [email protected] howitworksmag Letter of the month oTfhheecaorminpglexities Source: Wiki/Unknown author © Haynes Q Hi HIW, voice expressing their thoughts. This is A long time ago I lost my hearing in my left ear due believed to be connected to the auditory to a fall. Since then, not only have I been able to system. When you speak, your ears pick up the compensate for the loss, but seem to be able to noise made, but internally another copy of your hear (maybe feel, or sense) far better than ever, voice is being generated at the same time. albeit one-sided. Why? How? Scientists speculate that your internal speech can sometimes happen even when no external Also, when you talk in your head, is this sounds are being made. processed by the same part of the brain that Cathal Brugha lived from 18 July 1874 to 7 July 1922 normally deals with hearing from your ears, or is it something entirely different? The Irish patriot Love the magazine, and I have been a long-time Q Dear HIW, subscriber for a while now. I have learnt more about stuff that I never even knew existed than Who was Cathal Brugha and why was he famous? ever before. Cathal Ò Reilly Glen Cathal Brugha was a prominent figure in Hi Glen, thanks for your message. The Ireland’s fight for independence, serving as a human brain is a fascinating organ, and it Teachta Dála, the Irish equivalent of a Member can show its skills at the most surprising of Parliament, from 1918 to 1922. Before times. The phenomenon you might be becoming an Irish nationalist, he went out of experiencing is due to brain plasticity. This his way to avoid anything that wasn’t from is the brain’s ability to adapt after an event Ireland. This included not drinking any beer which has altered its function. Many people from England. have claimed that losing one sense has enabled their other senses to improve. The It is his involvement in the Irish War of brain can remodel itself as part of a natural Independence of 1919 to 1921 and the Irish Civil evolutionary process – this would have War of 1922 that he is most remembered for. given our ancestors a better chance when During the Irish Civil War he fought competing against other people. passionately against the Anglo-Irish Treaty, as he wanted separate governments. It was this As for your other question, this is an cause he died for. On 5 July 1922, in a weak internal monologue that many people have. position, Brugha ordered his men to surrender. For some these are just inner thoughts, but But as he approached the enemy troops, he for others it’s as if they can hear their own was shot and later died. © Getty Your right ear is more responsive to speech, © Gettywhile your left can detect emotion better Rainbows typically remain in the Winter rainbows when you least expect it. You are right in sky for less than an hour noticing that this seems to happen more QDear HIW, during the summer months. The weather The other day I was looking out my window and dictates a rainbow’s emergence, and during noticed a beautiful rainbow. I stood and watched it winter days it’s much more likely to be until it disappeared and it got me wondering when cloudy. Rainbows are still common during the last time I saw one was. I don’t think I’ve seen the colder seasons, but when cloud one in a long time. Are rainbows more common in coverage spans across a large area of the summer than winter, or am I just outside more in sky, it blocks any sunlight that is needed for the summer? a rainbow to appear. Also, during icy winters Christine Jenkins the clouds form ice crystals, which scatter light instead of refracting it. Thanks for your letter Christine. Rainbows have a tendency to brighten up your day 096 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

Powerful protein Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA QDear HIW, © Getty Editorial I was thinking of going vegan at some point in Editor Ben Biggs 2021, but I want to make sure I get all my 29 per cent of a broccoli’s dry Senior Art Editor Duncan Crook nutrients. What are the best foods to get weight is protein Research Editor Baljeet Panesar protein from? Production Editor Nikole Robinson Chloe Rothwell you include dark-green vegetables. The Staff Writer ³ƬȒɎɎ(ɖɎˡƺǼƳ best vegetables for protein include Staff Writer Ailsa Harvey It’s a good idea to consider how your broccoli, spinach and asparagus. If you Editor-in-Chief JƺȅȅƏnƏɮƺȇƳƺȸ nutrient intake can vary when changing to want to guarantee that the protein comes a new diet. Vitamin B12, Omega-3 and with all the amino acids your body needs, Contributors protein are three nutrients that you will some foods to aim for are tofu, edamame Lauren Davis, Laura Mears, Andrew May, Mike Jennings need to make an effort to incorporate into beans, quinoa or a combination of rice and your food. For protein, if you’re introducing beans or pitta bread and hummus. Cover images more vegetables into your diet, make sure Alamy; Getty; US Navy; MoD; Rolls Royce; Sphero Allergies through © Getty social media?What’s happening on… Photography the ages Alamy, Getty Images, NASA, Science Photo Library, This month on social media Shutterstock, Wikimedia Q Dear HIW, we asked you: What do you All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected I have been wondering for a while about allergies, like lactose intolerance or nut allergies, and if they have think has been the best Advertising been around for a long time. Have allergies always discovery or invention to Media packs are available on request been around or have they developed and evolved along UK Commercial Director Clare Dove with humans through time? come from space C.B. exploration? ƬǼƏȸƺِƳȒɮƺ۬ǔɖɎɖȸƺȇƺɎِƬȒȅ Senior Advertising Manager ȅƏȇƳƏ ɖȸȇɀ This is a very interesting question. Through @sparkellium documented evidence, we know allergic ƏȅƏȇƳƏِƫɖȸȇɀ۬ǔɖɎɖȸƺȇƺɎِƬȒȅ reactions existed in some ancient Greeks and How much our bodies need gravity to 0330 390 6036 Romans. However, modern study of allergies behave normally. We need up and down!! Account Manager Garry Brookes only began in the 1800s, so we’re unable to say  ǕƏȸȸɵِƫȸȒȒǸƺɀ۬ǔɖɎɖȸƺȇƺɎِƬȒȅ for certain when they originated. @aesthetically_aj +44 020 3970 4176 Allergy cases are increasing. Scientists think The discovery of our planet’s past and what International Licensing that pollution, dietary changes and less caused some of its features. By comparing How It Works is available for licensing. Contact the exposure to germs have played a part in our Earth to other worlds we understand our International department to discuss partnership growing sensitivity to certain allergens. opportunities own better. RƺƏƳȒǔ¨ȸǣȇɎnǣƬƺȇɀǣȇǕ Rachel Shaw Tree nut allergies are one of the eight most ǼǣƬƺȇɀǣȇǕ۬ǔɖɎɖȸƺȇƺɎِƬȒȅ common allergies @maia_h3 Subscriptions Finding out there are planets that could Enquiries ǝƺǼȵ۬ȅƏǕƏɿǣȇƺɀƳǣȸƺƬɎِƬȒȅ support life! UK orderline & enquiries 0330 333 1113 Overseas order line & enquiries +44 (0)330 333 1113 @Duttrz Online orders & enquiries ɯɯɯِȅƏǕƏɿǣȇƺɀƳǣȸƺƬɎِƬȒȅ CRM Director nȒɖǣɀƺ(ɖƳˡƺǼƳ I think memory foam mattresses! I couldn’t sleep without mine. Circulation Head of Newstrade Tim Mathers @merle.haha Production Views of our planet as we’d never seen it Head of Production Mark Constance before. A new and true perspective, we are Production Project Manager Clare Scott Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby dots on a marble! Digital Editions ControllerhƏɀȒȇRɖƳɀȒȇ Production Manager Vivienne Calvert Management Brand Director Evan Kypreos !ǝǣƺǔ!ȒȇɎƺȇɎ…ǔˡƬƺȸƏȸȒȇɀƏƳǣ Commercial Finance Director Dan Jotcham Head of Art & Design Greg Whittaker Printed by William Gibbons & Sons Limited 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV13 3XB Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: 0203 787 9001 ISSN 2041-7322 All contents © 2021 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in 0ȇǕǼƏȇƳƏȇƳáƏǼƺɀِ«ƺǕǣɀɎƺȸƺƳȒǔˡƬƺ‫ي‬ªɖƏɵRȒɖɀƺًÁǝƺȅƫɖȸɵً ƏɎǝً ‫׏‬ 1UA. 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We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from ȸƺɀȵȒȇɀǣƫǼɵȅƏȇƏǕƺƳًƬƺȸɎǣˡƺƳǔȒȸƺɀɎȸɵƏȇƳƬǝǼȒȸǣȇƺ‫ٮ‬ǔ ȸƺƺȅƏȇɖǔƏƬɎɖȸƺِ The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill ǝȒǼƳɀǔɖǼǼI³!٢IȒȸƺɀɎ³ɎƺɯƏȸƳɀǝǣȵ!ȒɖȇƬǣǼ٣ƬƺȸɎǣˡƬƏɎǣȒȇ and accreditation. INSESXUTE… Issue 148 Available in print from all good newsagents and on sale magazinesdirect.com, or as a digital edition for 18 FEB iOS and Android. To enjoy savings on the RRP 2021 and to make sure you never miss an issue, check out our subscription offers on pages 20 (UK) and 71 (US). www.howitworksdaily.com

Amazing trivia to blow your mind 1817 8,178 METRES DEEP THE MARIANA SNAILFISH HMS TRINCOMALEE IS THE HAS BEEN FOUND LIVING AT WORLD’S OLDEST WARSHIP INCREDIBLE OCEANIC DEPTHS THAT STILL FLOATS 23,000 BCE 84,000 CAVE PAINTINGS IN EUROPE SHOW MPH EVIDENCE OF PREHISTORIC DRUIDS IN 2014 THE ROSETTA SPACECRAFT’S 4,250 SATURN’S PHILAE LANDER SUCCESSFULLY MOON TITAN LANDED ON A SPEEDING COMET SQUARE IS THE ONLY MILES OTHER WORLD KNOWN TO ICEBERG B-15 IS THE WORLD’S HAVE LIQUID BIGGEST RECORDED ICEBERG – ON ITS IT'S LARGER THAN THE SURFACE ISLAND OF JAMAICA POTATO PLANTS IN 2006 THE ‘Z MACHINE’ SET A WORLD RECORD CAN GROW BERRIES FOR THE HOTTEST TEMPERATURE ON EARTH THAT LOOK LIKE TOMATOES BUT ARE HIGHLY TOXIC MILE 1606CANADA'SCARCROSS DESERT, IN THE YUKON PROVINCE, IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE WORLD'S SMALLEST DESERT ONE GPS SHOES SQUARE ARE USED FOR TRACKING PEOPLE WITH THE FIRST EUROPEAN ALZHEIMER’S SET FOOT IN DISEASE AUSTRALIA OVER 400 YEARS AGO 098 HowItWorks www.howitworksdaily.com



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