Welcome to How It Works, the magazine that explains everything you never knew you wanted to know about the world we live in. Loaded with fully illustrated guides and expert knowledge, and with sections dedicated to science, technology, transportation, space, history and the environment, no subject is too big or small for How It Works to explain.

WELCOME • The magazine that feeds minds!

Meet the team…

INSIDE THE POLLEN STORE

ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Newfound collision may be the biggest in Milky Way history

Primeval Greenland lake found under mile of ice

Birth of a magnetic star seen for the first time

Megalodon nurseries reveal the monster shark’s soft side

Coral tower taller than the Empire State Building discovered

Stratolaunch starts building hypersonic plane

Triassic Period ended with a ‘lost’ mass extinction

Hidden bacteria and fungi discovered on da Vinci’s drawings

100 mummies found at Egyptian burial site

WISH LIST • The latest next-gen gadgets

APPS & TOOLS

2021’s HOTTEST SCI & TECH TO WATCH OUT FOR • WHAT DISCOVERIES, INNOVATIONS AND SCIENTIFIC EVENTS CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE?

Making hydrogen fuel • Discover how to turn water into green power

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER WAKES UP

Cicada life cycle • These insects spend more than a decade growing in the ground

THE SUN WILL DISAPPEAR FOR A FEW SECONDS

Witnessing the ring of fire • The type of solar eclipse you can see completely depends on which part of the Moon’s shadow you’re under

HIGH-TECH OLYMPICS • WHAT TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS CAN WE EXPECT FROM NEXT YEAR’S ATHLETIC GAMES?

KEY DATES • WHAT SCIENCE EVENTS SHOULD YOU KEEP IN YOUR CALENDAR?

THE DEEPEST HOLES IN THE WORLD • How deep have we ventured into Earth towards the core?

Inside a 5G smartphone • How It Works deconstructs Apple’s iPhone 12

Downsizing

iPhone 12 teardown • We reveal the components of one of the fastest phones on the market

Record players • How sound is recorded and replayed from vinyl

Birth of the gramophone

World’s most famous record

A-Z OF THE ANCIENT GREEK OLYMPICS • The modern Olympic Games may look very different, but the underlying ethos hasn’t changed in millennia

The Greek Myths

Ancient Olympia • The sacred enclosure and its landmarks

How the slave trade ended • Why the British Empire stopped these harrowing transatlantic shipments and their human cargo

The anti-slavery movement

Wilhelm Röntgen • This man’s accidental discovery provided medicine with a vital tool for diagnosing disease

A life’s work • The mechanical engineer’s route to an unlikely discovery

Spotting X-rays

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT… WILHELM RÖNTGEN

SEA MONSTERS • What makes these animals some of the world’s deadliest underwater hunters?

TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN Killer whales vs great whites • How do two of the largest ocean predators compare?

VICIOUS VENOM Toxic attackers • How these aquatic assassins catch dinner

Australia’s aggressive ‘salties’

The sea’s most venomous • How the Australian box jellyfish stings

TACTICAL TEAMWORK How animals hunt in teams

Interspecies attack

5 FACTS ABOUT • UNIQUE TECHNIQUES

Rocky shores explored • There’s marine wildlife in every nook and cranny of the coast, just waiting to be discovered

Middle-shore madness

Limpet love

The mystery of ball lightning • What’s the most plausible explanation for this rare atmospheric phenomenon?

Ball lightning explained • Here’s how a lightning bolt is made...