THE BIRD

BEASTS THAT
TERRORISED
AMERICA
HOW DO I WHERE DID I
DO THIS? LEAVE THESE?

INSIDE AN RECORD-BREAKING
ESCALATOR TINY TRANSPORTERS
HOW CAR
BRAKES
WORK
WHAT
IS LOVE?
WHY SOME
METALS RUST
HOW MOUNT WHY AEROPLANE
RUSHMORE TOILETS SUCK
WAS BUILT WHO ARE THESE
PEOPLE?

HOW ANIMALS
SEE THE WORLD

ISSUE 199

HOW HUMAN MEMORY WORKS AND WHY YOU AUTONOMOUS

COMBAT VEHICLES
CAN’T ALWAYS TRUST WHAT YOU REMEMBER OF THE FUTURE
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How the brain forgets
over time
HOWITWORKSMAG

54 TERROR BIRDS
Natural-born killers of
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66 REMOTE WORK
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3
 INSIDE
Issue 199

SPECIAL HISTORY
26 Why do we forget?
As we navigate life, we
collect masses of souvenirs in the
52 Age of terror
How terror birds ditched flying
for fast running speeds to become
form of memories. But we can’t keep prolific prehistoric killing machines

56
all of these forever
How Mount Rushmore
was built
TECHNOLOGY This colossal carving of four

34
presidential faces into a stone cliff took
Inside a self-driving
over a decade to finish
combat vehicle
ATLAS is driverless, completely
uncrewed and can navigate the TRANSPORT 50
58
battlefield a step ahead of troops
Micro machines

38 How escalators work

Step into the science behind
How the smallest cars, trains,
tanks and planes in the world still make
these moving staircases a big impression
34
40 Why do aeroplane
toilets suck?
When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go
62 Car brakes explained
This essential safety system
helps drivers stop their cars, even at
– and thanks to toilet technology, this high speeds
is possible in the air

42 How this sponge SPACE

64
syringe seals wounds
Astronaut Samantha
in seconds
Cristoforetti
The pocket-sized device that could
Emergencies, spacewalks and bossing
make a critical difference between life
it: Europe’s first female commander of
and death on the battlefield
the ISS tells us what being charge of a
space station is like
ENVIRONMENT
44 SCIENCE
How animals see REGULARS

68
the world
The science of love
Take a tour of the world through 06 Global eye
Discover what makes
the eyes of animals with a very Science and tech news
humans and other species fall ‘head
different perspective from around the world
over heels’

50 How Earth evolved

Our planet has never stood
still over billions of years. Slowly, the
74 What is rust?
Oxygen has a distinctive effect
22 Wish list
Funky music gadgets

on iron over time, corroding the metal 84 Braindump

continents are shifting under our feet,

76
Your questions answered
with oceans getting wider and Five ways to rebuild
mountains higher our world 90 Book reviews

Win!
Following a world-changing
92 Brain gym
catastrophe, how could you apply
Give your brain a workout
hundreds of years of scientific
with our puzzle pages
knowledge to avert a new dark age?

A SCIENCE 94 How to…

Grow gummy bears

BOX 96 Letters
Have your say
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56

5
6
 Hellcat
turned coral
nursery
At the bottom of the Ferguson Passage in
the Solomon Islands are the remains of a
Grumman F6F Hellcat. Shot down during
World War II, the US fighter plane sank
just nine metres, making it one of the
world’s most accessible wrecks. Several
coral species have colonised
the wreckage because it offers a
surface for coral larvae to
settle and grow.

© Getty

7
8
 The middle
of a mouse
This was taken using fluorescence
microscopy and shows a cross-section of
a mouse embryo. Using fluorescent dyes
highlights organs in the developing body
of the mouse. The circular structures at
the base are the mouse’s small intestine,
which sits beneath the liver. Humans and
mice share lots of genetic similarities
during development, which makes them
a good model for scientific
investigation.

© Shutterstock

9
10
 Butterfly
bonanza
At the end of summer, monarch
butterflies make a 2,800-mile journey
from Canada to Mexico to escape the
chill. The butterflies photographed here
have just arrived at the Monarch Butterfly
Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. Millions of
these orange-winged insects descend on
the fir-tree forests, where they will stay
until spring when they make their
way back to the mountains
of Canada.

© Getty

11
12
 Launching
after lightning
In 1983, NASA launched the Space Shuttle
Challenger for the third time during the
STS-8 mission. Hours before the rocket
thundered into the sky, a powerful
lightning storm touched down near
Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This was
the first time that NASA had launched a
Space Shuttle at nightfall. Along with the
five human crew members, six rats joined
the mission so scientists could monitor
their health during orbit.

© NASA

13
 GLOBAL EYE
Showcasing the incredible world we live in

PLANET EARTH

Drastic Antarctic sea ice loss

could fuel extreme weather
WORDS SKYLER WARE

anishing Antarctic sea ice could surface lost heat nearly one-and-a-half times days in June and July 2023 over a few

V lead to more storms in the

Southern Ocean. Scientists found
that reduced Antarctic sea ice
faster than it had in previous years. This
increase in heat loss could have far-reaching
consequences. For example, heat loss cools
different regions of ice loss, up from an
average of 9.1 stormy days between 1990 and
2015. Some areas, like the northern Weddell
coverage in 2023 caused the ocean to lose water near the ocean surface, causing it to Sea, saw up to seven additional stormy days
extra heat to the atmosphere. That heat loss become denser than in previous years. As per month. Previous research suggests that
could disrupt ocean circulation currents and this dense surface water sinks, it could Antarctic sea ice melting could also affect
cause more frequent storms in areas where disrupt deeper ocean currents and circulation temperatures around the rest of the world.
sea ice coverage has declined. In 2023, ice in the Southern Ocean. “This cooling and “Our research highlights the need to keep
coverage dropped by nearly half compared subsequent sinking of waters previously studying the link between Antarctic sea ice
with the average between 1990 and 2015 in covered by sea ice has the potential to release loss, ocean heat loss and changing weather
four areas: the Bellingshausen Sea and the deeper warm waters that would normally be patterns,” Josey said. “These changes
outer Weddell and Ross seas, where sea ice kept away from ice by an insulating surface could affect weather and climate far
decreased by up to 80 per cent, and Enderby layer. In turn, this has the potential for beyond Antarctica.”
Land, which saw a drop of up to 50 per cent. increasing sea ice melt in future years,”
“It is too early to state whether 2023 and its said Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer
record-breaking sea ice decline marks the with the British Antarctic Survey.
onset of a fundamental shift in the amount Changes in heat flux between the ocean
of Antarctic sea ice,” said Simon Josey, an and the atmosphere could also contribute
oceanographer at the National Oceanography to more frequent storms over Antarctica as
Centre in Liverpool. “However, our study does the atmosphere takes up more heat. By
reveal the extreme conditions to be expected considering the number of days with high
in future years of low ice regrowth, with 2024 winds as a proxy for storm frequency, the
looking like it’s continuing the sharp change researchers found an average of 11.6 stormy
seen in 2023.”
To understand the impact of this drastic
sea ice loss, researchers analysed heat flux
between the air and sea, as well as changes
in ice coverage from Antarctica in 2023.
They found that the newly exposed ocean

Heat loss from the Southern Ocean

to the atmosphere as a result of sea ice
loss could contribute to stormier weather
and changes in ocean circulation

14
 PLANET EARTH

ANCIENT ‘LAND
BRIDGE’ THAT
CONNECTED
SIBERIA TO THE
US WAS A BOG
WORDS STEPHANIE PAPPAS
The Bering land bridge that spanned
The inner lining of the small intestine nearly doubles between Siberia and Alaska during the
in size during pregnancy and breastfeeding last ice age was more of a Bering land
bog. The discovery could help explain
why some animals, such as birds,
H E A LT H easily crossed the land bridge, while
others, like woolly rhinos, didn’t make

The gut ‘remodels’ itself the migration. The land bridge, now
submerged under the Bering Strait

during pregnancy between Alaska and Russia, was above

water from about 36,000 to 11,000
years ago. Scientists thought it might
have looked a lot like the grassy, arid
WORDS EMILY COOKE
steppe landscape in Siberia and
Alaska at the time, but no one had
uring pregnancy, breasts expand, Beyond breast tissue, RANK is also found in the

D
ever investigated the ocean floor.
resting heart rate speeds up and intestinal epithelium, but until now, little was
In 2023, researchers set out to
organs shift to accommodate the known about its role there. extract cores of sediment from the
growing fetus. And now, scientists In the new study, Penninger and his floor of the Bering Sea. It was the first
have added one more item to this list: the gut colleagues used stem cells to grow small attempt to reconstruct the ancient
grows dramatically. According to new research 3D replicas of human and mouse small landscape and climate of the land
conducted in mice and 3D models of human intestines. They grew these ‘organoids’ with bridge. Instead of a grassy steppe,
tissue, the lining of the inside of the small the help of specialised chemicals. They then researchers found a marshy
intestine, known as the epithelium, changes its exposed the cells within the mini-intestines to landscape criss-crossed by rivers and
structure and doubles in size during pregnancy, RANK, which triggered several structural dotted with little lakes. “What we
as well as during breastfeeding. Amid these changes – tiny, finger-like projections that found was evidence of lots of small
pivotal stages of reproduction, pregnant protrude from epithelial cells suddenly lakes and river channels,” said
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Did
people have to eat more nutrients to elongated and flattened out. These
geologist Sarah Fowell. Lake
you know?
support the growth and projections, known as villi, help
development of their baby. increase the surface area of the gut, sediments were apparent in the cores,
The team speculates that these boosting nutrient absorption through as were pollen, small fossils, ancient
There are 100
trillion microbes in DNA and organic matter. The pollen
changes may also enable the parent the tissue. A similar thing happened
the human gut and fossils revealed that the
to absorb more nutrients from the in pregnant and breastfeeding mice,
landscape hosted trees and mosses.
food they do eat and thus channel the team found. However, without
even more towards their babies. RANK, these changes didn’t occur. In
This idea has yet to be confirmed, separate experiments in which they The Bering land bridge may have been mostly
though. “Our team has discovered an amazing genetically modified mice to not produce bog, not a grassy steppe as previously thought
new way how bodies change to keep babies RANK, the intestines stayed the same.
healthy,” said Josef Penninger, a scientific The milk produced by breastfeeding mice
director at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection who lacked RANK contained fewer nutrients
Research in Germany. The team made this than that from RANK-producing mice, and
discovery after studying the role of a signalling the former mice birthed offspring that were
molecule called RANK, which can be found underweight in comparison. Taken together,
in numerous tissues around the body. This these findings suggest that the intestinal
molecule has previously been shown to control epithelium remodels during reproduction to
the formation of the milk-producing mammary maximise nutrient absorption for the
© Shutterstock / Getty

glands in the breasts. Hormones involved in developing baby. “These new studies provide
reproduction, such as progesterone, also ramp for the first time a molecular and structural
up RANK production within these glands, explanation of how and why the intestine
suggesting the molecule helps orchestrate changes to adapt to the enhanced nutrient
body changes associated with pregnancy. demand of mothers,” Penninger said.

15
 SPACE

MARS ORBITERS
SPOT A ‘WINTER
WONDERLAND’
WORDS BRETT TINGLEY
Taken by the Mars Express orbiter
in June 2022 and by NASA’s Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter in September
2022, images showcase what appears
to be a snowy landscape in the
Australe Scopuli region of Mars, near
A gorgonopsian skull on display the planet’s south pole. But the ‘snow’
near Beaufort West in the Central here is quite different from what we
Karoo region of South Africa have on Earth. It’s carbon-dioxide ice,
and at Mars’ south pole there’s an
eight-metre layer of it year-round.
ANIMALS So why does it look like there’s just
a dusting of ‘snow’ in this image?

270-million-year-old predator Did

Those darker areas are layers of
dust that have fallen on top of

looked like a bald dog you know?

the ice. The dust is typically
found deep beneath the ice,
Mars’ atmosphere but a seasonal process
is 100 times thinner brings some of it to the
WORDS PATRICK PESTER
than Earth’s surface. NASA’s Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter also
cientists have uncovered what they Mallorca. In the age of the gorgonopsians,

S
saw winter frost lining the
believe to be the oldest saber- this Mediterranean island would have been sides of dunes on Mars. This frost
toothed animal on record, a furless, part of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea. can prevent erosion, keeping the dust
husky-sized predator from a ‘ghost The fossilised remains included fragments of that makes up the dunes in place until
lineage’ of ancient mammal relatives. This a skull, serrated blade-like teeth, jaw bones, the thawing season in spring. As
strange creature is thought to have lived ribs and a hind leg. From these bones, they sunlight warms the carbon dioxide ice,
around 280 to 270 million years ago and may deduced that the predator would have been the ice begins to sublimate, or turn
help scientists unlock the secrets of our family around the size of a dog. Angielczyk and his directly from a solid into vapour. As it
tree. Researchers recently unveiled the colleagues think that the fossils belong to a does so, pockets of trapped gas form
fossilised remains of the animal, and while they previously unknown species. However, because within the ice. Eventually, the pressure
couldn’t determine its species, the animal they are so fragmented, the team couldn’t find builds enough to create a little gas
belonged to a branch of ancient mammal enough unique features to be sure. “Although eruption, which is powerful enough to
shoot the dark dust found beneath the
relatives called the gorgonopsians. These the specimen has a number of features that let
ice into the air. As the dust falls back
weren’t a direct ancestor of living mammals, us confidently identify it as a gorgonopsian, it is
to the surface, the wind carries it into
nor did they give rise to the saber-toothed cats too fragmentary for us to determine if it is
these swirling patterns.
that existed until around 10,000 years ago. definitely a new species or a member of a
However, they were part of the wider therapsid previously described species,” Angielczyk
group, which had some mammal-like features said. “If we eventually found a more complete
and eventually gave rise to mammals. specimen, it would be great to eventually give
The oldest therapsid fossils are about 270 it a formal species name.”
million years old, but researchers think they Even though there’s uncertainty surrounding
probably evolved around 300 million years ago. where the creature sits on the gorgonopsian
That means there’s a gap in the fossil record, family tree, its discovery helps scientists piece
which scientists describe as a ‘ghost lineage.’ together the origins of gorgonopsians – and
At about 280 to 270 million years old, the newly by extension the larger therapsid group.
discovered gorgonopsian is a member of that The fossils are older than the oldest known
missing lineage. “Our new gorgonopsian helps gorgonopsian and potentially the oldest known
fill in a major time gap in the fossil record of therapsid, Raranimus dashankouensis. This
ancient mammal relatives,” said Kenneth D. gorgonopsian, with its nasty gnashers, would
Angielczyk, a curator at the Field Museum of have been a top predator in its day and The hills in Mars’ Australe Scopuli region,
Natural History in Chicago. demonstrates that therapsids were diversifying located near the planet’s south pole,
Researchers discovered the new into different forms earlier than previously are covered in carbon-dioxide ice
gorgonopsian fossils on the Spanish island of discovered fossils have shown.

16
 TRAPPIST-1b is the innermost
planet of a red dwarf system
40.7 light years from Earth

SPACE

This Earth-
like planet
may have
a carbon
dioxide
atmosphere
WORDS SHARMILA KUTHUNUR “We might be looking at
a type of atmosphere we
he innermost Earth-like planet in result of the unusual characteristics of their have never seen before”
T the famous TRAPPIST-1 system
might be capable of supporting
a thick atmosphere after all.
tiny and cool host red dwarf star, which can
mimic atmospheric signals that are already
weak and hard to detect. Earlier Webb
an expected dip in previous observations.
“One plus one is more than two – having two
Since the system of seven tightly packed, measurements of the planet’s radiation data points for TRAPPIST-1b now allows us
Earth-sized worlds was discovered in 2017, at a single wavelength of 15 micrometers to explore alternative scenarios for its
huddled in remarkable harmony just 40 suggested a thick carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, whether it exists or not,” said
light years from Earth, astronomers have atmosphere was unlikely since carbon Leen Decin of KU Leuven in Belgium.
tried to determine whether any support an dioxide strongly absorbs light at this Such dynamics are known to occur on
atmosphere, which is critical to harbour life wavelength and thus would have noticeably Saturn’s largest moon Titan, for instance,
as we know it. Previous observations from reduced the observed radiation. That led but “the chemistry in the atmosphere of
the James Webb Space Telescope have researchers to conclude last year that TRAPPIST-1b is expected to be very different
suggested all planets in the system would TRAPPIST-1b is most likely a ball of rock from Titan or any of the Solar System’s
be barren, airless rocks thanks to violent, whose dark surface would have been rocky bodies,” said Michiel Min of the
atmosphere-stripping radiation unleashed battered to inhospitality by stellar Netherlands Institute for Space Research. “It
by their host star. However, a fresh analysis radiation and meteorite impacts. is fascinating to think we might be looking at
of Webb data on the innermost planet, In contrast, the new measurements, which a type of atmosphere we have never seen
TRAPPIST-1b, suggests that it may have a were gathered at a different wavelength of before.” The researchers are now tracking
© Getty / ESA;DLR;FU Berlin / Shutterstock

hazy, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. 12.8 micrometers, suggest not only a thick, how heat is redistributed on the planet as it
Alternatively, the measurements also reveal carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, but one circles the host star, which will aid them in
an unexpectedly high temperature for that includes highly reflective haze – akin to determining the planet’s atmosphere. “If
TRAPPIST-1b’s surface, potentially indicating smog seen here on Earth. That haze, the an atmosphere exists, the heat should be
that the world is roiling with volcanic activity. researchers say, causes the planet’s upper distributed from the day side of the planet
Despite the system being the best-studied atmosphere to be hotter than the layers to its night side,” said Michaël Gillon, an
planetary system outside of our own Solar below, creating an environment where astronomer at the University of Liège in
System, detecting atmospheres on its carbon dioxide emits light rather than Belgium. “Without an atmosphere, the
planets has proven challenging. That’s the absorbing it, which could explain the lack of redistribution of heat would be minimal.”

17
 GLOBAL EYE Henry (not pictured) is a Nile crocodile
who was caught in Botswana in 1903

ARCHAEOLOGY

MEDIEVAL
FIGURINES THAT
HELD SAINTS’
BONES FOUND
IN BERLIN
WORDS OWEN JARUS
Archaeologists have uncovered the
remains of 188 figurines that were
used as reliquaries, objects that
held the bones of people who were
considered to be saints or worthy of
veneration. They were found during
excavations of the Molkenmarkt, or
‘whey market’, the oldest square in ANIMALS
Berlin. Each of the figures depicts a
female and stands eight centimetres
tall. Some, but not all, wear crowns. Henry the giant crocodile
But the most intriguing features of
these figurines are circular inlays,
some of which still hold the remains
celebrates his 124th birthday
of human bones. During the Middle WORDS JACKLIN KWAN
Ages, it was a common practice for
Christians to preserve and venerate enry, the world’s oldest known sources to regulate their body temperature. “A
the physical remains of saints and
other individuals considered to be
holy. But it’s unclear who the human
H crocodile, celebrated his 124th
birthday at a conservation centre
in South Africa on 16 December
crocodile that was the same size as a person
would only need to eat about four per cent as
much as a mammal like us,” he said.
bones within these figurines belonged 2024. The Nile crocodile has lived at the Crocodiles, like some other reptile species,
to, and it’s also uncertain why so many Crocworld Conservation Centre in Scottburgh, continue growing with age. Henry weighs 700
were placed within this square. South Africa, since 1985. He was originally kilograms and measures five metres long,
The excavation team also found captured in the Okavango Delta in Botswana which is on the larger end for his kind. Their
an 11-centimetre statuette of Saint
in 1903. Henry, now a vigorous senior resident huge size keeps them safe from potential
Catherine of Alexandria that dates to
at the Crocworld Conservation Center, is said predators in their old age. Henry’s life in
the mid-15th century. According to
to have fathered over 10,000 offspring with captivity has also likely helped him reach such
legend, she lived in the 4th century
numerous partners since he arrived there an old age, keeping him well fed and safe from
CE and was a missionary who
converted people to Christianity almost 40 years ago. While his exact accidents and disease. “Animals that, for
and protested the persecution of birthday is unknown, Crocworld Did whatever reason, happen to live in
Christians. The story goes that the representatives estimate he was
born around 1900 and celebrate his
you know? alonger,” safe environment tend to live
Austad said.
Roman emperor Maxentius ordered
birthday on 16 December each year. Nile crocodiles can Reptiles, compared to many other
her tortured on a wheel and killed.
be found in 26
However, scholars question whether “He’s clearly old,” said Steven vertebrates, do not show signs of
African countries
she really existed. Austad, a biologist studying animal noticeable decline in physiological
ageing at the University of Alabama. abilities as they age. Other biological
“Whether he’s 100 or 130, we don’t really traits may also contribute to Henry’s
know. An age of 124 is not inconceivable longevity. Some scientists think that proteins
for a crocodile.” found in the blood of Nile crocodiles may have
Reptiles are known for their impressive antibacterial properties and help them fight off
longevity. Usually, a good rule of thumb for an infections and disease. Similarly, others claim
animal’s life span is to look at their size – that their gut microbiomes could contribute
smaller animals typically live shorter lives to their robust immune systems. Studying
because they have higher metabolisms, the ageing of crocodiles like Henry can be
meaning that they burn more energy and age challenging since researchers have to catch
more rapidly as a result. But even compared them in their infancy, tag them, then follow
with other animals of roughly the same size, them throughout their lives. Because of this,
A few of the reliquaries found during the
excavations. Human bones were placed reptiles tend to be much longer-lived. Austad many theories around the secrets to reptilian
in the inlays within the figurines said that being cold-blooded allows them to ageing are speculative, like the role of their
conserve energy by relying on external heat immune system and microbiome.

18
 New research has shown
that neuronal activity in
certain brain regions
H E A LT H increases significantly

Baby brain
around birth

activity
changes
dramatically
before and
DƏWHUELUWK
WORDS EMILY COOKE

cientists have provided

S unprecedented insight into how

the activity of neurons in the brain
changes across birth. Researchers
analysed 184 brain scans collected from 140
fetuses and infants of gestational ages
between 25 and 55 weeks post-conception.
A typical pregnancy lasts approximately scanner. However, it’s hard to
40 weeks, so these datasets gave the get a clear signal of fetuses’
researchers a good snapshot of what the brain activity, especially given
brain looks like before and after birth. The that they move around a lot in
scans revealed that the activity of neurons the womb. To overcome this
within certain regions of the brain increased challenge, the researchers
significantly across birth. These regions scanned the brains of fetuses using
include the sensorimotor network, which is a soft magnetic coil that they put
responsible for processing external stimuli, directly onto their mothers’
like sights and sounds, and for coordinating abdomens. Then they used
movements. They also include the subcortical various analytical techniques,
network, which acts like a relay hub for including artificial intelligence
information from different brain regions. (AI), to cancel out the effects of
After birth, babies are suddenly exposed to the fetus moving around. With that

© Julia-Marlen Schiefelbein; Berlin State Office for Monument Preservation / Shutterstock

a huge amount of sensory input from the noise removed, they could reconstruct
outside world – often the beeps of hospital the neural activity that was unfolding
equipment, the smells of their parents and in the fetuses’ brains.
lights shining down on them. Their brains Besides the observed effects in the
have to be prepared for and able to adapt to sensorimotor and subcortical networks,
this noisy world beyond the womb. However, the researchers also noticed that brain
until now, little was known about how brain activity significantly increased in the ‘superior Notably, although the researchers observed
activity actually changes across birth. Over a frontal network’ across birth. This network sharp, significant increases in functional
decade, researchers have built up a detailed of connected brain areas regulates more connectivity across birth, the efficiency of
dataset of scans of the brains of fetuses and complex cognitive skills, such as working communication between these neurons
infants using functional magnetic resonance memory, which enables people to remember increased much more gradually. In other
imaging (fMRI). This technique indirectly things in the short term, for example when words, the neurons were connected with
measures brain activity by monitoring how they’re thinking through a math problem. others a lot more, but an efficient network
much oxygenated blood is flowing through “The change in the superior frontal cortex is had yet to be refined. The researchers think
the organ, and thus is being used by neurons kind of beyond our expectation because we the brain may need time to refine its network
in different areas. believe the frontal lobe develops later during structure to optimise efficiency while
Typically, scientists conduct fMRI by having childhood,” said Lanxin Ji, a postdoctoral removing expendable connections, a
a person lie very still inside a tube-shaped research fellow at NYU Langone Health. phenomenon known as synaptic pruning.

19
 GLOBAL EYE
SPACE

The 44-year-old mystery of why

Jupiter’s Io is so volcanic is solved
WORDS PANDORA DEWAN

ASA scientists have revealed orbit it, made two very close flybys of Io in entire surface like a layer of tiramisu.

N the secrets of the most volcanic

body in our Solar System. The
discovery solves a 44-year-old
2023 and 2024, approaching within 930
miles of its bubbling surface. “We knew
data from Juno’s two very close flybys could
However, a recent study suggests that this
is not the case. “If Io has a global magma
ocean, we knew the signature of its tidal
mystery of why Jupiter’s violent moon Io give us some insights on how this tortured deformation would be much larger than a
became so volcanically active. Io is only moon actually worked,” Bolton said. During more rigid, mostly solid interior,” Bolton said.
slightly larger than our Moon and has an these approaches, the spacecraft collected Instead, the team’s data suggested that
estimated 400 volcanoes. Plumes from these data that allowed scientists to measure Jupiter’s volcanic moon has a mostly solid
volcanoes’ eruptions can stretch for miles out Io’s gravity.
Did interior, with each of Io’s volcanoes

you know?
into space, and can even be seen from Earth Io orbits close to Jupiter at an having their own underground
when viewed through large telescopes. This average distance of 262,000 chamber of roiling magma. “Juno’s
dramatic volcanism was first identified in miles, completing its elliptical Jupiter strips a discovery that tidal forces do not
1979 by scientist Linda Morabito in an image cycle once every 42.5 hours. Due tonne of Io’s always create global magma oceans
taken by NASA’s Voyager 1. “Since Morabito’s to the shape of its orbit, the material away does more than prompt us to
discovery, planetary scientists have wondered moon’s distance from its parent every second rethink what we know about Io’s
how the volcanoes were fed from the lava planet varies, and so too does interior,” said Ryan Park, a Juno
underneath the surface,” said Scott Bolton, Jupiter’s gravitational pull. This means coinvestigator and supervisor of the
principal investigator for NASA’s Juno the moon is continuously being squeezed Solar System Dynamics Group at NASA’s
spacecraft from the Southwest Research and released like a stress ball in a process Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Institute in San Antonio. “Was there a known as tidal flexing. “This constant flexing The study findings have implications for
shallow ocean of white-hot magma fuelling creates immense energy, which literally Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon
the volcanoes, or was their source melts portions of Io’s interior,” Bolton said. Enceladus, as well as exoplanets beyond our
more localised?” In the past, it was thought that because of Solar System. “Our new findings provide an
The Juno spacecraft, which was launched in this flexing, Io’s interior might be home to a opportunity to rethink what we know about
2011 to study Jupiter and the moons that large magma ocean, stretching beneath its planetary formation and evolution,” Park said.

Io is the most volcanically active

world in our Solar System

20
 ANIMALS

Dinosaur puke and poo help

reveal how they dominated Earth
WORDS PANDORA DEWAN Only ten high-ranking officers have been
discovered among the 2,000 terracotta
cientists have made a breakthrough other animals from the period and track how

S
figurines that have been found so far
in understanding how the dinosaurs they changed over time.
rose to power by studying dino puke Qvarnström said that he was really excited
and poo. The findings of a new about the variety of different foods that ARCHAEOLOGY
study offer new insights into the diets of these were found in these fossils. “We have seen
prehistoric powerhouses, revealing clues into
how they squeezed out their competition. “Diet
everything from tiny beetles to half-complete
fish, bones, teeth and plant remains,” he said. ARMY GENERAL
and ecology are important factors shaping the
evolution of animals today and in the past,” said
“We found a piece of a temnospondyl
amphibian skull,” said Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki,
AND CHARIOT
Martin Qvarnström, an evolutionary biologist at
Uppsala University in Sweden. “Just analysing
a palaeontologist at Uppsala University. “No
one would have guessed that such massive
UNEARTHED
bone remains won’t cut it if we want to temnopsondyls were attractive to predators. It AMONG CHINA’S
TERRACOTTA
understand the rise of dinosaurs.” was honestly easy to break your teeth on such
The earliest evidence of dinosaurs in the a massive skull.”
fossil record dates to the mid-Triassic period.
However, it took another 40 million years, into
Another piece of puke contained the bones
of a small crocodile. By combining their WARRIORS
the early Jurassic period, for them to take over findings with historical climate and plant data,
WORDS PANDORA DEWAN
the world. During this time, the dinosaurs the team reconstructed these prehistoric food
displaced many of the other large land animals, webs and tracked how they changed over time. Archaeologists studying China’s
but exactly how they did this remains a One defining feature of the dinosaur diets was famous ‘Terracotta Army’ have
mystery. To find out more, researchers the diversity of different foods that they uncovered what they believe to be a
analysed more than 500 fossilised remains consumed, enabling them to adapt to their rare, life-size statue of a high-ranking
from the Polish Basin, spanning the late changing environment. This put them ahead of military officer. The highly adorned
Triassic to the early Jurassic. But they weren’t their more specialised competitors, especially figure, discovered at the mausoleum
interested in the dinosaurs’ bones. Instead, when times were tough. Because they weren’t of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in China’s
they looked at the dinos’ fossilised vomit and picky eaters, plant-eating dinosaurs may have Shaanxi province, is only the tenth of
its kind among the thousands of
poo, known as regurgitalites and coprolites also been able to grow much larger, allowing
terracotta statues that have been
respectively. These can provide vital the evolution of larger carnivores.
unearthed at the site so far. “These
information on the diet, feeding behaviour,
adornments on the high-ranking
physiology and parasites of the creatures they officers indicate how special they
came from. They also enable scientists to are,” said Xiuzhen Li, an archaeologist
compare these dinosaurs’ diets to those of at the University of Oxford and
previously senior archeologist at
the Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s
Fossilised dinosaur poo, also known
Mausoleum Site Museum.
as coprolite, can offer unparalleled
The figure was discovered alongside
insight into dinosaur diets
the remains of two chariots, three clay
horses and two additional figurines,
offering fresh insights into the
organisational structure of the ancient
army. “The arrangement of the
high-ranking officers in the military
formation reflected the military
strategy, such as [the] commanding
system in the Qin dynasty,” Li said.
The Terracotta Army was discovered
in 1974 during the construction of a
well in northwestern China. The find
gave rise to one of the greatest
archaeological discoveries in modern
times: an army of thousands of
life-size clay figurines located
across three pits, dating back to
© Shutterstock

the third century BCE.

21
 WISH LIST
FUNKY MUSIC GADGETS

CORE 2
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AERODRUMS
£199 (APPROX. $245)
AREODRUMS.COM

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PLAYTRON
£115.99 (APPROX. $142.75)
play. It also comes with reflective
SHOP.PLAYTRONICA.COM
panels for your feet that allow
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If you’re looking to make music but only have a bowl
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feel like you’re playing the piano for real.

22
CHORDA
£210 / $249.99
SONOS ACE
£449 / $449 SONOS.COM
ARTIPHON.COM

Whether you’re making music

Like a musical Swiss army
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knife, the Chorda by Artiphon
good pair of sound-cancelling
is an all-in-one instrument
headphones is a must-have.
that acts as a synthesiser to
The Sonos Ace not only
create, layer and loop sounds
offers excellent active sound
seamlessly. A combination of
cancellation, but also fully
a piano, drum kit and guitar,
immersive surround sound. While
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in ‘aware mode’, ambient sound
sensitive pads and a
can be let in to keep you aware
strummable bridge to give
of what’s happening around you
you full control over your
while delivering brilliant sound
music production. There
quality. These headphones also
are hundreds of sounds
come with extremely sensitive
to discover through the
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Artiphon Connect app,
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along with the option to
background noise for crystal-
record and upload your
clear conversations.
own samples.

ML1 TURNTABLE
€7,945 (APPROX. £6,650 /

© MAG-LEV Audio / Aerodrums / Artiphon / Sonos / Playtronica / Soundbrenner Limited

$8,185) MAGLEVAUDIO.COM

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seen one lifting your record into the
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Thanks to the ML1 turntable by
MAG-LEV Audio, you can. Using
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can achieve steady magnetic
levitation that precisely turns the
record platter. The tonearm is
also designed to automatically lift
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23
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 SPECIAL

WORDS AILSA HARVEY

26
DID YOU KNOW? The average person can hold five to nine items in their short-term memory at one time

As we navigate life, we collect masses

of souvenirs in the form of memories.
But we can’t keep all of these forever
ave you ever entered a room, only reaches its limit, your brain is more efficient

H to forget what you went in there to

do? Scientists think that the brain
interprets entering a doorway as a
when it has less to process. It actively forgets
information that isn’t reused, or that hasn’t
induced a significant emotional reaction, by
new place and a new scene, causing you to weakening the corresponding connections
temporarily erase your train of thought – the between neurons. Suppressing unimportant
short-term memory of why you went there in information from becoming active memories
the first place. This is just one of the brain’s prevents the brain becoming overwhelmed.
many memory quirks and tactics. And while In other instances, painful mind-consuming
forgetting can be frustrating, the human memories of traumatic events can be blocked
body can only function with a balance of or rewritten to induce less pain. Suppressing
erased and consolidated memories. these painful memories maintains the
Your memory shapes who you are, emotional stability needed in the brain
connects chronological events, Did for effective daily functions.
provides meaning to your you know? Forgetting also builds creativity.
surroundings and allows you to form If memories were permanent, our
Alcohol temporarily
relationships. Your memory also thought processes and actions
halts long-term
serves as a survival tool, keeping memory formation would be too rigid and our brains
you alive. By learning what’s couldn’t evolve new ways of thinking.
dangerous and remembering simple Creativity provides humans the ability
information such as where you live and to explore new approaches to problems
where to find food, you’re better able to and express themselves uniquely. When you
choose what will benefit you and what to feel overwhelmed or stressed, your brain is less
avoid using your past experiences. able to form new thinking patterns and returns
When you learn new information, whether to more rigid habits and thought processes.
it’s a complex skill or the name of an object, the This is sometimes the reason for experiencing
brain forms new connections between nerve a mental block during creative activities.
cells called neurons. This creates a map Forgetting is often considered a weakness
throughout the brain that makes previously – an indication of intelligence and the level of
encountered information easier to knowledge our brains can store. But at peak
retrieve. The more you revise the name of cognitive ability our memory is ever-evolving,
an object, for example, the stronger that and forgetting should be considered more
connection becomes and the easier it is of a superpower. When you delete the noise
to remember its name. It might seem consuming your memory, more energy can
like the busier this neural map is, the be channelled into focusing, adapting and
more intelligent you will become. But just prioritising the information needed to shape
as a smart phone slows down when its storage your sense of self and mentally thrive.

nrico Marraffa won nine out of ten awards Even tiny fruit flies have the capacity
the 2024 World Memory Championships to remember – as well as to forget

© Adobe Stock / Alamy

27
 SPECIAL

WHAT IF YOU “Your memory also

DIDN’T FORGET?
If your brain had an infinite memory, the organ
serves as a survival tool,
would become inefficient and overstimulated
keeping you alive”
3 HABIT CROSSOVER 1 DECISION PARALYSIS
A group of structures at the centre of The prefrontal cortex
the brain called the basal ganglia would be so overloaded
learns and remembers habits so with useless information
they can be performed with little that you would suffer
conscious thought. If you from decision paralysis.
remembered all versions of a habit, This is the inability to
conflicting methods would slow prioritise an action to
down your motor skills. perform as there is too
much data to filter
through and process. As
4 HALLUCINATING MEMORIES a result, the brain would
The occipital lobe plays a role in lack focus, struggle to
visual memory to remember what problem-solve and use
places, objects and people look like. more energy processing
Holding onto too many memories every trivial memory.
could distort experiences with
old visual memories.

2 CRIPPLING EMOTIONS
The amygdala inside the temporal
lobe processes your emotions and
links them with memories. Usually
the brain forgets highly emotional
and distressing memories, or
relives them through a more
manageable reconstruction.
Without this ability, the
brain would constantly replay
traumatic memories, causing
high stress and anxiety.
Visual elements from photographs can
be incorporated into first-hand memories

28
 DID YOU KNOW? The brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text

Memories form when the connections between

neurons increase in strength or number

FAC T S
THINGS THAT
MAKE YOU
FORGET

1 HIGH STRESS
When you’re stressed,
a hormone called cortisol
is released in the brain.
This can damage the
hippocampus, which
is the area of the brain
responsible for retrieving
information. You also
tend to focus on the
stressful subject, rather
than new information.

2 LACK OF SLEEP
During deep sleep,
neural pathways are
strengthened to
consolidate memories.
5
ERASING CELLS Without a good sleep,
long-term memories
can’t form properly.
Specialised neurons called engram these forgetting cells change their Being in a state of
cells are responsible for making state to make them less accessible sleep deprivation also
changes in the brain as you learn new for storing information. They decrease reduces focus when
information to store memories. But their synaptic strength so that it’s conscious, limiting
5 NEURAL FATIGUE as well as storing memories, these more difficult for the brain to retrieve a memory-making abilities.

3
The brain’s neurons engram cells help erase memories memory. Not all the changes in engram
MULTITASKING
would be constantly by weakening the connections of cells are irreversible. Some memories If you are engaging
firing if we didn’t let memory pathways. This makes are weakened and generally your brain in another

Did
go of any information, the memories less accessible forgotten. But receiving activity while trying
over time, and as a result new information about to remember new
you know?
damaging the cells.
This would stop the causes you to forget a suppressed memories, or information, your
brain needs to switch
brain pruning neurons memory. Because of this, There are around experiencing a sensory
its concentration
– removing weaker engram cells are often 86 billion neurons prompt related to the between the two
neural connections given the title ‘forgetting in the human brain memory, can reorganise and tasks. This reduces its
and strengthening cells’. Chemical changes in strengthen a fading memory. memory efficiency.
more essential
memory signals.
4 RELIANCE ON
TECHNOLOGY
You can remind yourself
of facts with a quick
online search or set
IS YOUR MEMORY ACCURATE? your phone to give you
automatic reminders.
Have you ever witnessed a story travel around out parts or subdue them to make them more But this stops your brain
emotionally manageable to recall. from practicing memory
your friendship group, becoming more dramatic
retrieval and weakens
or having different elements emphasised the more Scientists used to think that memories this ability.
it’s retold? This too can happen internally, as your were fixed. But as you recall memories, you can
brain recalls a memory. If you have gaps in your
memory of an event, you may create new
strengthen, weaken and even reshape them.
Memories become temporarily unstable after they 5 DIET AND
DEFICIENCIES
B vitamins, omega-3
information subconsciously to complete the have been retrieved, making it possible to alter
missing timeline. Another reason you may invent them. Memory reconstruction can be influenced fatty acids, zinc and iron
are all key nutrients for
a memory is if it’s a highly emotional one. The by your emotions, thoughts and the environment memory function. They
© Alamy / Shutterstock

brain protects you from experiencing painful and at the time of memory retrieval. For example, if you increase the production
stressful feelings, so if you’re thinking back to a are calm when revisiting a stressful time in your of neurotransmitters and
highly emotional time in your life, you may skip life, the emotional weight it holds can be reduced. boost synaptic plasticity.

29
 SPECIAL

MEMORY FORGOTTEN
DREAMS

THROUGH While you are fast asleep, your brain

gets to work sorting and filtering your
memories. Any excess information
that reduces the efficiency of
thought-forming is discarded, while

THE YEARS
beneficial information learned during
the day is consolidated into your
long-term memory so that it can be
retrieved later. There are four main
sleep stages. The first three are
non-rapid eye movement (NREM)
sleep stages and the third is REM
sleep. It’s during NREM sleep that you
purposely ‘forget’ some of the day’s
information, preventing trivial things
occupying too much of your mind.
Memory processing continues into
REM sleep, including that of emotional
memories. It’s during this deep sleep
that you also experience dreams.
However, you are only likely to
remember a small fraction of most
dreams. For others, you may wake up
fully invested in the dream, only to
have completely forgotten its plot an
hour later. This is because by the time
you reach REM sleep, the neural
pathways responsible for storing
CHILDHOOD AMNESIA PEAK MEMORY information in your long-term memory
The average person can recall their earliest Your ability to remember new information is are less active. Short-term memory
memory from around 3.5 years of age, with at its highest when you are in your 20s. Your still functions relatively well in this
females more likely to have an earlier first short-term memory continues to improve up unconscious state, but most dreams
memory. But why is there a blackout in until around age 25, when your brain fully that you have while asleep are
memories of our first experiences? It’s because develops. Then it remains at a consistent level
forgotten within 30 seconds. To
the brain hasn’t fully developed yet, and the for the following decade. At 30 years old, your
remember them for longer, you usually
ability to store long-term memories is reduced. ability to remember a person’s face is greatest.
have to wake up while the dream is
still being formed.

Memory-strengthenin
g deep
sleep declines in your
late 30s
Did
you know?
Sleep improves
memory retention
by 40 per cent

DECLINING EFFICIENCY AN AGEING BRAIN

At around the age of 45, your brain’s memory Naturally, the memory-making part of the
begins to lose its sharpness. This isn’t a brain deteriorates gradually as you age. This
sudden change, but you may find it takes can make elderly people more forgetful than
longer to recall a name from the past. One children and younger adults. Older brains
study carried out by University College London become less able to repair brain cells and
found that between ages 45 and 49 your stimulate new neural pathways, as there are
mental reasoning declines by 3.6 per cent, less of the hormones and proteins needed
and up to 9.6 per cent at ages 65 to 70. for these roles being produced.

30
DID YOU KNOW? After turning 60, you lose more than 0.5 per cent of your brain volume every year

THE RATE OF FORGETTING

In his ‘forgetting curve’, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus showed that
80 per cent of learned content is lost within one month

20 MINUTES
Soon after you learn new information, 42 per cent
24 HOURS
If the information isn’t revisited, around 67 per cent
is forgotten. At 20 minutes, your brain undergoes of the new information you have learned will be
its initial sorting process and the most forgotten after one day.
dramatic loss of learning is made.

31 DAYS
At the end of a month, you will retain only 21
60 DAYS
If you don’t revise the information, which strengthens
per cent of this new information. Some of this neural connections and consolidates the memory,
will be placed into your long-term memory. 90 per cent of the information you learned will
be forgotten after 60 days.
© Shutterstock

31
 SPECIAL

MEMORY DAMAGE
AND DISEASE
Dementia is an umbrella term for conditions of
memory loss caused by neuron damage
MRI scans show any changes in the
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE brain’s structure and function
This illness is the most common following a severe injury
cause of dementia. Memory loss
worsens over time and is caused
by a buildup of two proteins –
amyloid and tau – in the brain.
Amyloids are abnormal proteins A HIT TO THE
that build up along brain cells.
The second protein, tau, causes MEMORY
tangles inside brain cells. This A knock to the head causing a
combination prevents the traumatic brain injury (TBI) holds
usual formation and retention more risk than many other physical
of memories. accidents, as the organ compromised
is responsible for your mobility,
FRONTOTEMPORAL personality and memory. A mild TBI
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) can temporarily affect your brain cells,
occurs in the frontal and
while a serious one has the potential
temporal lobes of the brain.
to cause more long-lasting memory
When nerve cells here become
issues. Head trauma can cause
damaged, connections can’t be
tears or damage to the brain cell
made between these lobes and
the rest of the brain. Damage connections that send memory
to the frontal lobe causes signals. This connection disruption
behaviour and personality can cause retrograde amnesia
changes, while temporal lobe Did – the loss of long-term
damage makes language you know? memories from before the
more difficult to remember. accident – and makes it
Ten per cent of more challenging to form
LEWY BODY over 65 year olds new memory connections.
This form of dementia is a have Alzheimer’s
A severe concussion,
result of clumps of proteins disease
which results from a blow
called Lewy bodies forming to the head that causes the
inside brain cells. One in ten brain to bounce against the inside
dementia sufferers have of the skull, can result in brain tissue
Lewy body dementia. These
swelling. In these cases, the increased
proteins prevent cells from
pressure in the head restricts blood
communicating with each
flow and the lack of oxygen hinders
other to recall memories as they
memory. Finally, when cells are
get in the way of the chemical
messengers needed to do so. damaged during a head injury, the
brain can’t regulate its release of
chemical messengers like glutamate.
VASCULAR Usually, glutamate helps send
This is the second most messages between nerve cells to
common form of dementia, aid memory. But too much can
caused by reduced blood overstimulate the cells, damaging
supply to the brain. Vascular them and increasing forgetfulness.
dementia can occur as a result
of blood clots in the brain or a
narrowing of blood vessels. As

“When you feel stressed,

a result, oxygen levels in brain
cells are reduced, causing
damage and impairing
memory circuits. your brain is less able to
IRUPQHZSDƔHUQVŪ
32
DID YOU KNOW? Temporarily forgetting something you know is called ‘blocking’
BEES

HOW ANIMAL Bees’ short-term memory

helps them navigate maze-
CROWS
MEMORIES COMPARE
Animals can remember key survival information
like environments

THREE DAYS 30 SECONDS

Most bird species forget
Bees remember the location of
for a lifetime, but how long before they forget short-term memories after half
a hive for days at a time
trivial events in their working memory? a minute has passed

17 YEARS
Crows held a grudge against a
human captor for nearly
CHIMPANZEES two decades

20 SECONDS
This suggests humans’ short-term
memory developed after we evolved
from our shared ancestors

25 YEARS
Chimpanzees can retain
memories of faces for
25 years

ELEPHANTS HUMANS DOGS

FIVE MINUTES 48 HOURS TWO MINUTES
27 Information is quickly dropped
to keep their social and
Humans can recall random
events for over two days
A dog will only remember
the last couple of throws in

SECONDS environmental memory strong

INDEFINITE
a game of fetch

The average short-term

memory of 25 species
12 YEARS Our large brains can store TEN YEARS
Elephants can remember some memories Ingrained tricks stick with
of birds, mammals
and bees
a relative’s scent for for a lifetime canines after a decade
over a decade

DO PLANTS HAVE MEMORY?

When prey touche
s the hairs
of a Venus fly trap,
the plant
releases calcium sig
Plants don’t have brains, which means they leaves, which are bent when a fly lands on nals
can’t have memory in the same way humans top of them. So that it can conserve energy,
remember and forget. However, most plants when a raindrop stimulates the plant’s hairs,
possess complex signalling systems that the trap isn’t triggered, but the movement of
enable them to communicate with each other a fly activates the snap. To achieve this, the
and learn from environmental events and plant has a short-term memory of 30 seconds,
triggers. One example of a plant deemed to during which it remembers the first point of
have short-term ‘memory’ is the carnivorous contact with an object. A live insect will then
Venus fly trap. The Venus fly trap has a jaw-like crawl across the leaf, knocking another hair.
mouth made up of two sets of leaves that The plant, knowing this is the second trigger by
clamp shut when an insect enters. a potential meal, closes to secure its prey. In a
To detect the presence of an object, the sense, the plant is remembering a pattern
© Shutterstock

Venus fly trap has sensory hairs lining its corresponding to food.

33
 TECHNOLOGY

ATLAS is driverless, completely

uncrewed and can navigate
the battlefield a step ahead
of troopsWORDS AILSA HARVEY

28
DID YOU KNOW? ATLAS can drive sideways on slopes with angles up to 30 degrees

he latest development in the best response action in

T autonomous combat has

emerged from the R&D
department of defence
real-time encounters. Armies that
use this technology can redefine
their tactics and develop more
company BAE Systems, with a intelligent ground forces.
driverless vehicle that’s packed with ATLAS has been described as
cutting-edge technology rather a ‘combat wingman’, as its main
than a human crew. This ten-tonne role is to work alongside human

ROB
unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) crews to increase their capabilities.
goes by the name of ATLAS, an This includes transporting
acronym for Autonomous Tactical ammunition, fuel and other
Light Armour System. The light
armour mentioned in its name is
a feature made possible by the
supplies or protecting an area from
an aerial attack while personnel
embark on a wider mission. In the
MERRYWEATHER
BAE Systems’ technology
absence of crew, who would require most dangerous environments,
heavier armour for more protection. ATLAS uses its intelligent computer director explains how ATLAS
Being uncrewed, ATLAS can scout vision to assess its surroundings could transform the battlefield
ahead of soldiers, reporting its and seek out any potential threats.
What are the biggest challenges for fully
findings in real time. It can either report coordinates
autonomous vehicles?
With the introduction of UGVs like for soldiers to attack, or it can
The land domain is definitely the most complex
ATLAS, the battlefield is evolving engage in combat itself. For its gun
and challenging for autonomy. For aircraft
to combine human and machine to fire, it needs remote-controlled
there’s not much that’s out there that’s
intelligence while removing people input from a human.
from dangerous situations they However armies choose to utilise Did going to get in the way. For a ship on
don’t need to be in. The vehicle’s the eight-wheel-drive vehicle, the you know? the surface of the sea, there’s more
[to navigate]. But on land you’ve
cameras and sensors report to vision of its design is to stay one Self-driving got different terrain, trees, bushes,
its computer, which can identify step ahead, keeping soldiers as vehicles can react vehicles, children, animals – and
objects in its surroundings, classify informed as possible before in 0.5 seconds
the vehicle has got to be able to
them and interpret their position entering new territory and helping
choose and identify what all of
and threat level. Using its mission reduce the number of personnel
those things are and act accordingly.
objectives, it is capable of deciding putting their lives at risk.
To drive at 43 miles an hour over unproven
ground is a really significant challenge, and to
be able to do that safely in all environments.
We test by driving over different types of
terrain and giving the autonomy extra levels of
authority and seeing how it copes. There’s a lot
of learning and feedback from trial and error.

How has this testing improved

ATLAS’ autonomy?
We have got to a point where, in a lot of
situations, the vehicle can work out whether
the thing in front of it is a bush that it can drive
over or a tree that it needs to drive around. To
humans that’s a really simple judgment choice,
but to a computer with machine vision that’s
really quite complex. The extent to which a
computer can understand the context of the
environment around it is the core technical
challenge that will unlock all the other
elements. It won’t be black and white. There
won’t be a day that it suddenly understands
everything. We will incrementally show that we
can understand more and more with higher
levels of confidence. And as you do that, you’ll
be able to use the vehicles with more freedom.

“To drive over unproven

ground is a really
© BAE Systems

VLJQLƉFDQWFKDOOHQJHŪ

29
 TECHNOLOGY
Cameras are positioned at different
heights
to capture all explored surroundings
Why were wheels chosen over tracks?

METHODS OF
The vehicle’s top speed is about 43 miles per
hour, which is enough to keep up with tracked
fighting vehicles. It doesn’t quite have the
mobility performance of a tracked vehicle, but MOVEMENT
it’s really close. The suspension on this system ATLAS is designed to
is phenomenal. It has world-leading mobility navigate new
performance for a wheeled vehicle, which environments by being
allows it to keep up with a tracked vehicle. controlled remotely or
Because of how muddy the ground can be by following a series of
preplanned waypoints. The remote-

WONDER
and how rough the terrain is, we’ve gone for a
wheeled vehicle as they’re much easier to look control method is performed in real
time, relaying camera footage to a

WINGMAN
after. You’ve always got to bear in mind
crew member’s computer while they
that it has got to help the crew that
Did observe and control ATLAS from a
they’re with and not be a
hindrance to them. If the tank
you know? distance in a safe location. What makes ATLAS an agile,
Crab-walking In other cases, the vehicle intelligent and fearless
loses a track, that’s a really big doesn’t need any human input comrade-in-arms?
problem that takes a lot of people vehicles emerged
in the 1970s beyond planning. The key areas the
to fix. If ATLAS loses a wheel, it vehicle needs to explore are input
will drive on seven wheels. That into its database, and the vehicle 1 360 VISION
resilience has been a big factor. can then choose its own path to Day cameras, night cameras
get there. Along its mission route, and lidar sensors scan
When will ATLAS be ready for deployment? ATLAS’ computer can process its
complex environments.
It depends on what for. I think for the simple- live surroundings, avoid any
use cases, you can see this being used in 18 unexpected obstacles and
months or two years. For more complicated- defend against threats.
use cases, you’re probably still looking at four
or five years before overcoming the challenges. 2
But so much of it will come down to what the
operational need is and the priority that
1
customers put on its capability. Part of our role
is to show our customers what could be done,
then have them feed back to us what is most
useful, and they’re the things that get the real
momentum behind them. ATLAS allows our
customers to see that potential and possibility.

What benefits can ATLAS bring to

the battlefield?
The two biggest benefits, without a shadow of
a doubt, are the ability to deploy more combat
mass, so you can have more guns in more
places, and that you’re keeping people out of
harm’s way when you do that. You can deploy
that capability into riskier places without
putting people’s lives at risk. They’re the two 3
game changers in terms of the capability this
kind of platform provides you.

3 POWERPACK
ATLAS is 2 STEREO VISION
powered by a Multiple cameras allow
6.7-litre Cummins it to see more angles
diesel engine. than a human can.

30
DID YOU KNOW? Each soldier in Afghanistan in 2013 cost the Pentagon about $850,000 a year

ATLAS can link up with other

OPERATING AS A SWARM
ground and aerial vehicles
7
Just as human troops work together on missions, multiple vehicles
can be deployed and communicate with each other for a single shared
mission goal. By manoeuvring in a swarm configuration, ATLAS UGVs
share their status, location, position and mission goal with other
vehicles. In sharing a goal, the vehicles can approach a waypoint from
different angles, cover larger areas and assist each other by dividing
responsibilities. This means a large payload can be shared across the
swarm and any unexpected threats or encounters are communicated
in real time. If there is an issue with a path, the vehicle’s computer can
reroute and share this data with others in the swarm. ATLAS works
well in a swarm with other crewed vehicles, driving ahead to keep
personnel aware of the situation they’re driving into.

8
9

7 MODULAR WEAPON
The vehicle can swap out its gun for
another piece of kit. The weapon
can’t fire without human input.

9 TURRET
A low turret keeps the vehicle
6 compact so it can keep a low profile
and be transported easily in aircraft
and containers.

8 COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
ATLAS can receive remote commands
from crew via radio communication. If
the connection link is lost, the vehicle’s
5 autonomy keeps it functioning.

5 CRAB-WALKER
All the wheels rotate outwards so that
the vehicle can move diagonally while
the vehicle stays forward-facing.

4 6 PAYLOAD SPACE
Six tonnes of
ammunition, fuel,
rations and other
equipment can be
stored inside.
4 RUNNING GEAR
The eight wheels each

ALL-TERRAIN
have a self-inflating
system and a solid ATLAS has a turning circle
run-flat support ring to of 13 metres
ATLAS is designed to air in and out of the eight
hold ATLAS’ weight if a
take on almost any tyres as they move across
wheel loses air.
environment. It can drive different terrain. For
© BAE Systems / Alamy / Cummins

over two-metre gaps with example, when driving over

ease and up hills with an sand, it can lower the
angle of 60 degrees. As pressure in the tyres to
well as this, it can climb up increase the surface area
a one-metre-vertical step of the tyre footprint,
and adapt to the ground helping it better distribute
beneath it. The automatic its weight and avoid
tyre-inflation system lets sinking into the sand.

31
 TECHNOLOGY

Step into the science behind these moving staircases

WORDS AILSA HARVEY

o climb to a new level on an transported when standing still in pairs on

T escalator, you only need to stand

on a single step. These moving stair
conveyor belts carry people
the escalator. Standing side by side fits more
people onto the steps’ surface area and eases
congestion for crowds waiting at the end for a
upwards and downwards and have place on the escalator.
become practical necessities in Did Modern escalators have infrared
places such as airports and
you know? sensors that detect when a person
shopping centres. In areas where steps onto it. This is used to speed
people are required to move The shortest up the escalator when it’s being
escalator has
between different levels, a smooth ridden and slow it down when it’s
five steps
system of escalators can keep large vacant. Doing this reduces energy
volumes of people ascending and consumption. To increase safety,
descending quickly at the same speed, today’s escalators also have automatic
increasing the efficiency of pedestrian travel shutdown sensors. When clothing or debris
in densely populated areas. gets caught between the steps and the plate
Their widespread use has led to an often covering the landing at the top or bottom of the
unwritten rule to stand on one side of the escalator, the increased pressure triggers a
moving stairs, allowing those in a rush to pass switch that turns off the electric motor.
others and ascend more quickly. Despite this
social etiquette, researchers have found that
overall, it’s more efficient for people to be 7 RIDGED EDGE
The steps have gaps in 4
their sides so that when

ESCALATING
the steps level out, they
can slot together securely.

ENGINEERING
Discover the sophisticated mechanism
7

that operates beneath your feet

4 LOWER WHEELS
The second set of wheels
remain securely inside
their track, keeping the
stairs at a consistent
6 and level position.

6 INTERNAL COMPONENTS
All of these mechanical
components are housed in a
protective steel structure, with An emergency stop button
an attached moving handrail cuts the power when pressed
for passengers to hold onto.

38
DID YOU KNOW? Shopping centre escalators travel at 0.5 metres per second Artist’s impres
sion
of Seeberger’s
escalator

“Escalators can keep 3 DRIVE GEAR

The wheels attached to
large volumes of the top of the steps slot
into the drive gear, which

people ascending and rotates them around to

the opposite side.

descending quickly” 5 MOTOR

The electric motor keeps
the gears spinning
around and the wheels
and stairs in motion.

5
3 WHEN WERE
THEY INVENTED?
The first moving stairs patent
was for a steam-powered version,
designed in 1859 by Nathan Ames of
Massachusetts. However, he didn’t
make a working model of his design.
Later, in 1892, Jesse Reno patented
1 CHAIN his version of moving stairs – which
Each chain section were part of a funfair ride in New York.
has two small wheels The ride carried passengers on stairs
attached to it. at a 25-degree angle. More modern
versions of escalators, like the ones
2 used today, were engineered by
1 Charles Seeberger. This inventor also
named the escalator, combining
the name of the elevator with the
2 SHAFT Latin word for stair – ‘scala’. In 1899,
The wheels are attached to the first commercial escalator was
shafts horizontal to the built in the Otis elevator and
steps. When the wheels escalator factory in New York.
move, the steps are pulled
upwards or downwards.

FAMOUS ESCALATORS

1 ATOMIUM, BELGIUM 2 NATURAL HISTORY 3 GINZA SIX, JAPAN 4 CENTRAL TO MID- 5 PARK POBEDY, RUSSIA
This Brussels landmark MUSEUM, ENGLAND Tokyo’s Ginza Six LEVELS, HONG KONG At Moscow’s Park
© Alamy / Shutterstock / Illustration by Nicholas Forder

is shaped like an iron In this London museum, shopping centre houses This is the longest Pobedy train station,
crystal, with nine an escalator has been a series of escalators covered outdoor 84 metres underground,
spheres, representing decorated to transport that cross over its escalator in the world. It there’s a steep
atoms, connected by visitors through a giant nine floors. The design was built for commuters escalator to assist
tubes. Escalators take model of Earth’s core. is meant to mirror and spans over 800 passengers. It can
passengers up these The journey takes you Japan’s alleyways. metres across the city’s carry a person 126
large metal tubes. The through the planet and uneven landscape. It metres upwards in
longest is around 35 displays Earth’s geology operates downhill in three minutes.
metres, making it the across 30 metres. the mornings for
longest in the world at commuters and uphill
the time of its building. the rest of the time.

39
 TECHNOLOGY
The toilets are kept empty
during takeoff and landing

1
TOILETS IN 1

When you’ve got to THE SKY

Where is waste stored and
released after you flush?
go, you’ve got to go
– and thanks to toilet
technology, this is
possible in the air
1 TOILET
An aeroplane toilet has
no water filling the bowl,
reducing weight and
water usage.

4 GROUNDED PLANE
When the plane lands, the waste tank
is emptied. Ground crews connect
a hose to the tank to remove waste safely.
WORDS AILSA HARVEY

n your home, toilets are filled toilet is flushed, a valve in the pipe to the lower at bay and the toilet doesn’t rely

I with water that drains away with

any waste as they are flushed.
However, when designing aircraft,
air pressure environment is opened and the air
rushes rapidly from the toilet to the tank. The
bigger the difference in pressure, the faster and
on gravity to carry waste water
away – the strong suction in the
system means that pipes can be built
saving space and reducing weight is crucial. more effective the flush system is. To enable in any direction underneath the lavatory,
Instead of filling up toilet tanks with liquid, aircraft toilets to function properly at all connecting it to the tank while fitting the
vacuumed air carries the contents of an altitudes, the low pressure system is produced plane’s shape.
aircraft’s toilet bowl down to a tank that is mechanically by a generator.

“The toilet doesn’t

emptied when the aeroplane returns to the There are a number of benefits to this
ground. The difference in pressure between vacuum design: the toilet doesn’t splash water

splash water during

the low air pressure at high altitudes and the during flight turbulence; the pipes don’t need to
cabin air that simulates high air pressure at low be as wide as a standard toilet’s, which makes

ƊLJKWWXUEXOHQFHŪ
altitudes causes the toilet air to move naturally more precious internal space available to other
down the pressure gradient. As an aeroplane systems; the one-way air system keeps odours

40
DID YOU KNOW? Smoking on flights is banned, but plane toilets have ashtrays to prevent fires if someone smokes illegally

FORCEFUL IN-FLIGHT FLUSHING

What makes an aeroplane toilet so loud? This noise is produced by the vacuum
drawing air and waste through the pipes, with a contributing mechanical noise
from a high-speed turbine breaking up waste before it enters the tank. The Pressing the
turbine helps fit more waste into the holding tank, while reducing the chance flush button
of a clogged-up pipe. When the flush button is pressed, a valve opens to create releases a
the pressure differential. As a result, the instant and powerful suction whisks trap door at
waste away. As the toilet roars, sound waves bounce off the walls in the the bottom
confined space of the lavatory, amplifying the noise further. of the toilet

1 2 VACUUM GENERATOR
The generator creates a
much lower pressure in
the pipes relative to the
cabin. This sucks waste
through the pipes.

3 3 WASTE TANK
The waste is emptied into
this odour-proof tank.
This secure tank ensures
Did
you know?
hygiene during the flight.
5
Airbus A380 toilets
5 AIR OUTLET move sewage at
The air released from the 130 miles per hour
plane’s vacuum system is
filtered before being recycled
back into the aeroplane.

Today, specialised sewage

EVOLVING LAVATORIES
vehicles empty aeroplane
lavatory tanks at airports

In 1927, aviator Charles Lindbergh flew from the plane after landing. By 1945, fixed bowls
New York to Paris before meeting with King were installed to planes, and the tanks were
George V. On his way there, he urinated into collected by wagons at the airport before
a container before dropping it over France. being cleaned and returned.
© Shutterstock / Illustration by Adrian Mann

This is because before 1930 there were no As aeroplanes became larger and reached
toilet facilities on planes, or they were in the higher altitudes, the need for concealed
form of empty buckets as toilet bowls at and fixed tanks became essential, and the
the plane’s rear. At the end of the 1930s, the process of removing waste post-flight has
first plane to have a separate toilet area become increasingly efficient. The vacuum
was built. The Douglas DC-4 had removable toilet seen in today’s aircraft was invented
toilet bowls that the crew carried away from by James Kemper in 1975.

41
 TECHNOLOGY

XStat enables a medic to insert the

sponges deep into a bullet wound

HOW THIS SPONGE

SYRINGE SEALS
WOUNDS IN SECONDS
The pocket-sized device that could make a critical
difference between life and death on the battlefield
WORDS GRAHAM BARLOW

larmingly, the immediate treatment every time and be simple to use in high-

A for a gunshot wound hasn’t

changed a great deal since the
time of the American Civil War.
stress situations, required several designs to
get right.” For example, RevMedx went
through numerous different prototype
Tourniquets are usually applied to limbs to concepts before landing on a locking
stem the blood flow. But for bullet injuries to mechanism for the telescoping handle that
the shoulders or pelvis, gauze is still stuffed provides tactile feedback to the user,
into the gaping wound and pressure applied to indicating it’s ready for use.
curb the bleeding. It’s a painful procedure Since the sponges are being injected into a
that usually needs to be repeated several open wound, the choice of material is
times, and survival rates are poor. Did important. “Every material in XStat The sponges enter the gunshot
Fortunately, a low-cost syringe you know? had to be biocompatible, resistant wound and expand, sealing it
called the XStat could change all Men have more to high-energy sterilisation methods
that. Costing $100 each, XStat red blood cells and able to withstand extreme
releases tiny sponges that expand in the same volume environmental storage and usage
rapidly to plug a life-threatening
wound in 15 seconds. XStat is
of blood conditions,” said Longo. The
sponges are made from wood pulp
BLOOD FAC TFILE
designed to be as easy to apply as possible coated with chitosan, which is a blood-

15 SECONDS
– you pull back the plunger, place the syringe in clotting antimicrobial substance derived from
the bullet hole and slam the plunger down to the shells of shrimp.
deliver the sponges to the wound. On contact Once in a wound, the sponges need to be
The time it takes the XStat to stop the bleeding
with blood and fluids, they immediately start removed manually when the patient has been
to inflate and stem the bleeding.
“Optimising the performance of the XStat
transferred to a hospital, which means that
X-ray-detectable tags have to be secured to 7% Less than a tenth of your body weight is
blood. The average adult has five litres

150,000 to 450,000
required months of rigorous testing,” said each sponge pellet so they aren’t left in the
Paul Longo, product developer at RevMedx, the body. RevMedx has also designed a thinner
© RevMedX

company that developed the XStat prototype. applicator for smaller gunshot wounds, offering The normal amount of platelets per microlitre
“The applicator, which must work perfectly even more versatility for medics. of blood. These tiny cells help form blood clots

42
DID YOU KNOW? Poisonous plant extracts can be therapeutic when used correctly. Curare, for instance, has been used as a muscle relaxant

WHY ARE PLANTS

POISONOUS?
They look beautiful and emit alluring fragrances, but not Oleander is a common
evergreen shrub and is
one of the world’s most
all plants are as innocent as they appear – some produce poisonous plants

a host of chemical compounds that are toxic to humans

WORDS STEVE PARIS

tep into any supermarket and the punishment is one of the nastier ways in which

S vast array of food on display could

easily make you think that the world
is our oyster and we, the species at
poisonous plants have been put to ‘good’ use.
The Greek philosopher Socrates, for example,
drank a fatal dose of poison hemlock after
the top of the food chain, can gorge ourselves
on anything we can find. But this is far from
being sentenced to death. But we can also
unwittingly fall prey to plants’ dangerous toxins, MOS T TOXIC
the truth. We haven’t got the digestive system
to process some plants, while others could
as Abraham Lincoln’s mother discovered when
she drank some milk from a cow that had
PLANT S
put us in mortal danger if ingested. feasted on white snakeroot. The lethal lait led
So why are certain plants dangerous? To
avoid being eaten. And while some plants have
to her death, leaving the future president
motherless at nine years old. OLEANDER
evolved thorns to ward off hungry herbivores, Of course, if plants evolve poisons to avoid (NERIUM OLEANDER)
others produce toxins that incapacitate or being eaten, then animals in the surrounding A garden plant with toxins that affect the heart.
Bees that visit it may make poisonous honey.

MANCHINEEL
even kill any animal foolish enough to munch area are likely to evolve a resistance to such
on them. Some of these potential assassins toxins. But this in turn is likely to lead to the
look surprisingly benign. Take oleander, a
common garden plant with delicate pink
plant developing stronger toxins. Again, the
animal would have to adapt. In this way, the
(HIPPOMANE MANCINELLA)
This plant is so poisonous that even standing
flowers. It contains oleandrin, a cardiac two species evolve in a kind of arms race. But beneath it in rain may be harmful.

ENGLISH YEW
glycoside. If you happen to eat some oleander, don’t be alarmed – the number of accidental
it can cause an irregular heart rate, seizures human deaths from poisonous plants each
© Shutterstock

and possibly even death. year is small. It’s so small in Europe as a whole (TAXUS BACCATA)
Being ingenious creatures, we’ve exploited that separate statistics aren’t kept. In the US, This is toxic due to its taxine alkaloids. Eating it can
such poisons for our own purposes. Capital it’s less than five people a year. lead to heart arrhythmia, abnormal heart rhythm.

43
 ENVIRONMENT

Take a tour of the world through

the eyes of animals that have a
very different perspective
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD

44
DID YOU KNOW? Mantis shrimp can see ten times as many colours than the human eye

ust like humans, in

J animals the ability to

see comes from cells
called photoreceptors,
which are found in a light-sensitive
layer at the back of the eye called
the retina. When excited by light,
these cells generate an electrical
signal that travels along nerve
cells to the brain to create an
image. Among these are two
types of photoreceptors, called
rod and cone cells. Rod cells are
responsible for communicating
brightness and the contrast
between light and dark. Cone
cells, on the other hand, perceive
a wide array of colours. Within
the human eye, there are around
6 million cone cells, of which there
are three types: blue, green and
red. Rod cells, however, dominate
the retina, with around 120 million
cells in each eye.
When the photoreceptor cells
are excited by photons of light,
it triggers the cells to release a
neurotransmitter molecule
Did called glutamate. These
you know? molecules then travel
across a short junction
Ostrich eyes to reach an adjacent
are bigger than bipolar cell, generating
their brains
an electrical impulse
that is sent to the brain
for the translation and
formation of an image.
Not all animals have eyes, but
many can still ‘see’ the world
around them. For example, sea
urchins use light-sensitive cells on
the tubular feet covering their
bodies. The photoreceptors
© Shutterstock

across the sea urchin’s body

provide a 360-degree ‘view’ of
changes in light levels around it.

45
 ENVIRONMENT

THE ANATOMY
OF SIGHT
How rod and cone cells perceive
colour and brightness

1 DISCS 1
Flat discs that are
densely packed
with light-sensing SEEING THE
molecules to
absorb light. POLAR OPPOSITE
Ordinarily, ambient light travels
in wavelengths that move in every
possible direction and orientation.
1 6 LIGHT However, light is ‘polarised’ when its
A pigment called wavelengths all travel in the same
rhodopsin in the
rod cell discs is 6 direction. The polarisation of light
can be caused by a lot of things –
responsible for
sometimes when it’s scattered by the
perceiving light
and dark. atmosphere or reflected by a surface
– but only certain groups of animals
5 are able to see it. Among those are
mantis shrimp, bug-eyed crustaceans
2 living in coral reefs. Unlike our single-
lensed eyes, mantis shrimp have
‘compound eyes’ with thousands of
individual lenses and photoreceptors.
2 Within each photoreceptor are tiny
projections called microvilli. Some of
5 COLOUR
A pigment called Did the microvilli can align in such a way

you know?
that they can act as a polarising filter
photopsin in the for light. They work similarly to how
cone cell discs is
3 A dragonfly’s eye sunglasses can filter polarised light.
responsible for has 28,000 lenses Mantis shrimp are thought to have
detecting different
evolved this ability to spot prey at
wavelengths of light.
greater distances. Scientists have
also found that certain parts of the
shrimp’s bodies can reflect polarised
2 MITOCHONDRIA 3 NUCLEUS light as a way to communicate with
As they do in any This organelle houses one another.
cell in the body, all the genetic
mitochondria information needed for
supply the rod and cone and rod cells to HUMAN EYESIGHT MANTIS SHRIMP EYESIGHT
grow and regenerate
cone cells with 3
chemical energy when damaged.
to function.

4 SYNAPTIC ENDING
When the cell is stimulated
by light, a series of
chemical reactions within
the cell cause it to release
CONE
ROD

a neurotransmitter called
glutamate from the
synaptic ending, to bind
with adjacent nerve cells.

4
4

46
DID YOU KNOW? A moth’s eyes are covered in a water-repellent and anti-glare coating

X MARKS THE SPOT SPIDER EYESIGHT

With the same number of eyes as legs, spiders have an array of sight
organs in their head to spot potential prey and any incoming predators.
There are two types of spiders in the animal kingdom: those with two rows
of eyes, such as wolf spiders, or a single row like jumping spiders. Of their
eight eyes, the two largest are set in the front of the head and are used for
focusing on an image, but each only has a narrow boomerang-shaped view.
The remaining eyes gather information from their peripheral vision. The
front principal pair of eyes can observe the full range of colours humans
can and more, including ultraviolet light. However, the secondary adjacent
eyes lack colour-sensitive cells. They can only see in black and white and
don’t have the same high acuity the two primary eyes have. All eight eyes
work together to create an almost-360-degree view of the world.

EIGHT-EYED
Having more than two eyes gives these animals
3 ANTERIOR
LATERAL EYES
2 1
an advantage when it comes to hunting These are highly
sensitive to
movement and
can focus on the
1 POSTERIOR fine details of
LATERAL EYES 1 stationary
Sat at the back of
objects. 4 3
the head, these
monitor the rear
4 ANTERIOR
view of the spider.
MEDIAL EYES
High-resolution,
forward-facing
principle eyes
that see in colour.
2 POSTERIOR
MEDIAL EYES 3
Found on the
sides of the head,
these are highly
sensitive to 5
low light. 5 PHOTORECEPTORS
Photoreceptor cells 6
in the retina within
4 the primary eye face
2 towards the light, 6 TAPETUM
but are inverted A reflective tissue found at the back of the
within the secondary eyes used to increase the amount of light
eyes in some species detected by the inverted photoreceptor
of jumping spiders. cells in the secondary eyes.

HUMAN EYESIGHT HORSE EYESIGHT

A GREEN WORLD
Unlike humans, horses only have two of the
three colour cone cells in their eyes. Without any
red-light cone cells, our equine pals can only see
blue and yellow wavelengths, with all the variety of
shades associated with those colours – mostly greens.
© Alamy / Shutterstock / Illustration by Ed Crooks

But what they lack in their ability to see colour, they make up for in
night vision. Horses have a ratio of around 20:1 rod to cone cells. For
comparison, a human eye has a ratio of about 9:1 rod to cone cells.
As rod cells are responsible for detecting light at low levels, having
so many rod cells gives horses excellent night vision. Horses also
have a layer of reflective tissue called the tapetum lucidum at the
back of the eye, something our eyes aren’t equipped with. It reflects
light through the retina to enhance the horse’s night vision, but
it can blur images whenever the eye is overloaded with light.

47
 ENVIRONMENT

ULTRAVIOLET HUMAN
SIGHT EYESIGHT
Many insects, including the humble
bumblebee, have a talent for seeing
in a range of light wavelengths much
narrower than we do. Our vision allows
us to see light in wavelengths of
around 380 to 700 nanometers.
However, insects like bees can observe
light wavelengths of around 300 to
650 nanometres. While bees miss out
on longer wavelengths of light, such
as red light, they can see shorter BEE EYESIGHT

INFRARED VISION
wavelengths of ultraviolet light. As an
important pollinator, bees rely on their
ultraviolet vision to locate flowering
A snake’s vision is dichromatic,
feeding sites. Many flowering plants
meaning they have just two types of
have evolved ultraviolet patterns on
cone cells in their retinae that allow
their petals to grasp the attention of
them to see blue and green. However,
passing pollinators. Bees use these
snakes have evolved another organ
patterns as landing sites to locate
that assists their eyes and creates a
delicious nectar within the flower,
thermal image in their heads. Between
gathering pollen along the way.
a snake’s eyes and nostrils are
heat-sensitive depressions called
the pit organ. Scientists still aren’t
completely sure how, but this organ
can pick up on the infrared waves

SEEING EVERY ANGLE

emitted from the snake’s environment
and nerve impulses to create a
thermal image of the world around it
The ability to see the whole world around
in the snake’s brain.
you without needing to move a muscle is
As fearsome predators, this
an ability few animals have. Chameleons,
gives these animals an advantage
however, have evolved a pair of eyes that
over their prey during the dark of
can do just that. The cone-shaped eyes
night. The warm bodies of prey such
of these reptiles have adapted to move
as small rodents or birds emit a lot of
individually and can pan around their
infrared, which the snake is sensitive
surroundings to create a 360-degree
to, allowing them to detect their
view of their environment. They can also
prey’s movements in the darkness
switch between binocular and monocular
to ambush them.
vision so that they can see an object with
both eyes or using just one.
Chameleons see the full spectrum of
HUMAN EYESIGHT light that humans do, as well as viewing
extras, including ultraviolet and infrared. to see ultraviolet light is the only way
Ultraviolet light in particular is a handy they can see in the dark. Studies have
way to spot pollinator prey at nighttime. also shown that chameleons have
Chameleons have no rod cells in their ultraviolet patterns on their bodies,
retinae, which means they are almost which might be used for attracting
completely blind at night. Their ability a mate.

SNAKE EYESIGHT

48
DID YOU KNOW? Colossal squid have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, measuring up to 27 centimetres wide

THE SHARPEST SIGHT IN NATURE

If you find yourself scoring 20/20 vision at your
next opticians appointment, don’t be too smug,
because there’s a group of animals that are sure
to have you beat. Eagles have 20/4 or 20/5
vision, meaning these birds can see things at
around six metres that a person with normal
vision could only see at around 1.5 metres. This
talent comes in handy when soaring high in the
sky looking down to spot unsuspecting prey.
What separates human and eagle eyes are
the many ‘foveae’ within them. Within the
retinae are depressions of these tightly packed
photoreceptor cells, responsible for creating the
sharpness, or ‘high acuity’, of an image. The
human eye has a single fovea in each eye,
whereas an eagle has two. The number of
photoreceptors within each fovea is also
worlds apart for humans and eagles, with just
200,000 cone cells per millimetre in a human
fovea and around a million cone cells in an
eagle’s fovea. Their collection of cones also FAC T S
allows them to see a wider range of colours than COLOUR-BLIND
humans can, including ultraviolet light. CREATURES

HUMAN EYESIGHT EAGLE

EYESIGHT
1 WHALES
Living in oceans and
waterways made up of
different shades of grey, all
Did species of whale swim

you know?
without the ability to see
colour, but they can
distinguish between
Butterflies have
light and dark.
15 different types

2
of cone cells SEALS
Like most other marine
mammals, seals can also
only see in black, white and
grey. Their vision is well
suited to life underwater,
but less so on land.

3 SNAILS
Known to have poor
eyesight, snails have a
very blurry image of the
world that is completely

HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT ANIMALS SEE? black and white.

When it comes to estimating what colours animals

might be able to see, peering into the anatomy of
could see polarised light used food containers
that reflected polarised light and others that
4 PRIMATES
Many primates have
trichromic vision similar to
their eyes is crucial. While examining the cellular didn’t. The shrimp were more likely to interact our own. However, some
composition of the animal’s retina, scientists can with the containers that reflected polarised light. nocturnal monkeys, such
locate and count the number of colour-sensitive as the owl monkey, have
cone cells. If the retina is missing these cells, then monochromatic vision.
With more rod cells than
scientists know that the animal is most likely
cone cells, these monkeys
colour blind. The same conclusion can be drawn Scientists use a combination have excellent night vision.
al
by scanning the brain activity of animals to see of anatomical and behaviour
how the activity changes when the animal is
exposed to different colours. When it comes to
studies to determine an
animal’s sight 5 SHARKS
With only one type of
cone cell and one type of
identifying the perception of different light
rod cell in their retinae, it’s
wavelengths, such as ultraviolet or polarised light,
thought that sharks are
scientists often set up experiments for animals to monochromatic seers.
interact with objects that are known to reflect or Scientists have found that
emit those wavelengths of light. For example, one at least ten species of
© Shutterstock

of the first experiments to prove mantis shrimp sharks have no cone

cells at all.

49
 ENVIRONMENT

The jagged peaks of the Himalayas are

still rising as the Indian plate moves north

Our planet has never stood still

AGES OF EARTH
In its 4.6-billion-year lifetime, our planet has
gone through significant changes
over billions of years. Slowly, the
continents are shifting under our 1 HADEAN
4.6 TO 4 BILLION YEARS AGO
feet, with oceans getting wider Hot and constantly bombarded by space
rocks, including a massive impact that
created the Moon, the surface of the early
and mountains higher Earth was molten rock. But liquid water
may have existed on the planet due
WORDS IAN EVENDEN to the high atmospheric pressure.

ur planet didn’t always look the way

2 LATE ARCHEAN TO EARLY PROTEROZOIC
O it does today. And if you’ve ever looked
at a globe and wondered if eastern
South America would fit into the
2.8 TO 2.2 BILLION YEARS AGO
Oceans, continents and plates were
all formed by this point. However, an
western edge of Africa, then you’re right – it did. If atmosphere of methane and nitrogen with
you wanted to walk from Nigeria to Brazil without virtually no oxygen and no ozone layer made
the Atlantic Ocean in the way, however, you’d need Earth a harsh place for the microbial life
to travel back 140 million years when weak spots that was beginning to flourish in the seas.
in the Earth’s crust began to pull apart as the
tectonic plates beneath it moved. Seawater
poured into the gap, creating the immense 3 NEOPROTEROZOIC
ocean we know today, and magma from
1 BILLION TO 538.8 MILLION YEARS AGO
In this era, a supercontinent known
Earth’s mantle rose to the surface, making as Rodinia had gathered all the land
the seabed. But it took a very long time. on Earth into one huge chunk. Life
These plates – rigid sections of Earth’s crust had still not left the oceans, but this
that slowly move and shape the continents we is the earliest time we find complex
know today – are in constant motion. It’s a process fossils from, in the form of
known as plate tectonics, and they have been undersea sponges.
moving for most of the planet’s 4.6-billion-year
history. The plates drive the evolution of Earth
through their motion, especially when they grind
against one another or push their neighbours
downward into the hot mantle, causing Did
volcanic activity and earthquakes. you know?
This process is also responsible for Plate tectonics may
pushing India into Asia and throwing up also occur on
the Himalayan mountain range, and it is Jupiter’s moon
heat from the mantle that powers it. Early Europa
on in its history, Earth was a much hotter
planet, with asteroid bombardment melting the
surface. But as life has evolved on Earth, we’ve
been fortunate not to be on the receiving end of
4 SNOWBALL EARTH
such an onslaught. The Atlantic is still getting 650 MILLION YEARS AGO
wider by as much as ten centimetres every year, Scientists don’t know if only the land was
many millions of years after it started to form. A capped with ice while the oceans were open water,
new ocean could be about to form as the East or whether the oceans froze to the seabed, too.
African Rift Valley slowly pulls apart, showing that We do know that this was an era when Earth
the planet remains geologically active and in a experienced an extreme ice age, and glaciers
constant – if slow – state of change. spread all the way from the poles to the equator.

50
 DID YOU KNOW? Plate tectonics was theorised in 1912, but it took 60 years for scientists to decide this was right

MOVING ISLANDS
The movement is too slow for us to
see happening, but by placing sensors
on the volcanic islands of Hawaii,
scientists have been able to use GPS
to track them. Over a period of 14
years, the island of Maui shifted FAC T S
48 centimetres in latitude and 84 A CHANGING
centimetres in longitude as the Pacific PLANET
plate takes the archipelago towards
Japan. This motion carries the plate

1
over a volcanic hotspot, so new
CONTINENTAL
islands are created by the lava. These DRIFT
organise into distinctive island arcs. Plate tectonics is the
modern term for the
process of Earth’s moving
8 HOLOCENE plates, but it was called
‘continental drift’ when
NOW first hypothesised.
We live in a warm

2
interglacial epoch, LAYER CAKE
with polar ice caps and Earth is made up of
currents in the ocean layers. The solid plates
and atmosphere are on the lithosphere,
creating a variety of riding on top of the more
climate conditions fluid asthenosphere.

3
across the planet.
RIDGE RACER
The caldera of the dormant Haleakalā However, average The Mid-Atlantic
volcano on the island of Maui temperatures are Ridge is spreading the
rising, which may lead seabed as fast as your
to dramatic changes fingernails grow, while the
in our lifetime. Nazca plate is moving at
the speed your hair grows.

5 CAMBRIAN
500 MILLION YEARS AGO
4 BOUNDARIES
Plate boundaries,
where tectonic plates
Famous for its ‘explosion’ of meet, can see mountains,
undersea life, the Cambrian period saw volcanoes, ridges and
Rodinia break up and the climate trenches created. They
are often the site of
warm. Early plants may have begun
earthquakes due to
to move onto land, which at the their movement.
time was mostly located in the
7 PLEISTOCENE ICE AGES
5
Southern Hemisphere. SAN ANDREAS
18,000 YEARS AGO The famous San
Another jump forward and the Andreas Fault in California
continents were where we know is where the Pacific and
North American plates
them today. Ice sheets covered meet, rubbing against
much of the north and south. each other. It has been
The sea level was much lower, the site of many
and ice age animals such as strong earthquakes.
mammoths dominated the
land along with humans. © Shutterstock / Illustratiobns by Nicholas Forder

6 MIDDLE JURASSIC
170 MILLION YEARS AGO
Fast forward a couple of hundred
million years and another
supercontinent, Pangaea, was
breaking up. Dinosaurs, early
mammals and the first birds lived one
ns, such as this
on land covered with ferns and Volcanic eruptio
take place at the
conifers, while the seas were full in Iceland, often es.
een tectonic plat
of fish and marine reptiles. boundaries betw

51
 HISTORY

dit c he d
bir ds
w te rr or n ing
Ho a st r un c
g fo r f p ro lifi
flyin e co m e es
s to b a ch in
speed ric killing m
reh is t o
p DUTFI
ELD
OT T
S SC
WORD

52
 DID YOU KNOW? Feathers first evolved 250 million years ago

hen the world was rocked by a giant they lacked in flying ability was replaced

W asteroid 66 million years ago, the

dominion of the giant dinosaurs
came to a swift end. No longer did
by running speed. It’s estimated that these
feathered sprinters could top speeds of up to
60 miles per hour to catch prey and evade
the thunderous footsteps of the Tyrannosaurus predators. The first time evidence of these
rex echo through prehistoric forests. Earth had, birds was discovered was in 1887 by
for a time, lost its tyrannical predators, allowing Argentine palaeontologist Florentino
an era of mammals and birds to follow. But Ameghino. Since then, the remains of
A model skeleton of a
among the species that survived the aftermath many of these flightless furies have been terror bird at the Houston
of the asteroid impact were small avian unearthed, including the first fossilised Museum of Natural History
dinosaurs – the ancestors of modern-
Did footprints in 2023.
day birds. In an odd evolutionary
twist, some of these avian species
you know? In November 2024, researchers
uncovered the latest evidence of
slowly started to look more and Terror birds are terror birds in the Tatacoa Desert, Purussaurus – an extinct group of giant
more like the dinosaurs they had thought to have Colombia, at the northernmost tip caimans up to 12.5 metres long, belonging to
outlived. Ditching the ability to fly –
emerged in the the crocodile family. Fending off these powerful
of South America. Researchers
Eocene epoch
a talent that saved their ancestors found a fossilised leg bone that predators was a feat: their bite pressure of
from extinction – the wings of some of belonged to a species up to 20 per 11.5 tonnes was twice that of a T. rex.
these birds became smaller and smaller even cent larger than other known phorusrhacids. Terror birds dominated the grasslands and
as their bodies grew bigger, developing huge Like a human tibia or shin bone, the discovered woodlands of South America until around 2.5
feet and large hooked beaks. By around 62 tibiotarsus bone was part of the bird’s lower million years ago. The closest living relative to
million years ago, these birds became a new leg and dates back to around 12 million years these birds is the red-legged seriema (Cariama
family of ‘terror birds’ called Phorusrhacidae. ago. Markings along the bone also revealed cristata), a small terrestrial species also native
Stomping around the South American clues as to what may have killed the bird. There to South America. The two share some
continent, there were at least 25 different weren’t many species in the world that would similarities, such as the preference to forage
species of terror birds, some of which could take on the fury of a terror bird, but the marks on foot and run. However, seriemas can fly
grow to heights of up to three metres. What appear to have come from the teeth of a when they have to.

A GIANT FAMILY
Terror birds were some of the largest
predators of their time
1 KELENKEN GUILLERMOI
This species is the largest
described terror bird,
growing up to three
metres tall. It had a skull
that measured around
71 centimetres long.

2 3
1

3 PHORUSRHACOS
2 TITANIS LONGISSIMUS
Similar in size to
WALLERI T. walleri, this
This terror
terror bird is
bird stood at
also believed to
around 2.5
have been around
metres tall and
2.5 metres tall,
weighed around
but likely
136 kilograms.
weighed a little
© Getty / Alamy

less, under
130 kilograms.

53
 HISTORY
2

1 BEAK 1 BENEATH THE

Fused to the skull, a
terror bird’s beak
was hooked and
FEATHERS
What makes these birds
sharp to cut natural-born killers?
through flesh.

2 SKULL
The robust skulls of these birds
supported hatchet-like blows
to kill their prey.

4 NECK MUSCLES
Terror birds used their heads to strike
prey down, so their neck muscles had
to be strong and robust.

r
The seriema is a fraction of the size of its terro
hunt er
bird ancestors, but is an equally keen

THE REIGN OF 3

TERROR ENDS
For around 60 million years, terror birds were at the top of
3 WINGS
Without the need
to fly, these birds
the food chain, not only in South America but in many other evolved small wings
parts of the world. Their large size, fearsome hunting skills that they may have
and appetite for a range of food ensured their survival for used for balance and
millions of years and allowed them to venture to new parts manoeuvrability.
of the world. Terror birds such as Titanis walleri found their
way to North America at least 5 million years ago, possibly
hopping across the islands that eventually formed the 5 FAST RUNNING
Having short thigh bones and
Isthmus of Panama. There’s also a fossil record of terror
long lower leg bones helped
birds in both Africa and Europe. However, scientists aren’t these birds to run fast.
sure if the birds somehow crossed the prehistoric Atlantic or
if their existence is an example of convergent evolution,
where two similar species in two different places evolve 5
similarly. The end of these incredible birds was likely
brought about by the rise of mammal predators such as the A Kelenken terror
saber-toothed tiger. Along with being a potential meal for bird hunting small
these predators, the two would have likely competed for Eurohippus prey
other prey and the terror birds likely lost out.

UNFUSSY FOWL
As one of the top predators of their time, terror birds
weren’t picky about their prey. From small lizards to large
mammalian herbivores, they chased and chowed down
on a whole host of animals, including other birds. To find
their prey, terror birds may have relied on their hearing turns out that terror birds might have been able to hear
rather than hawk-eyed vision. Using computed much lower frequencies than humans. Human hearing is
tomography scans of the fossilised remains of a terror most sensitive at 4,000 Hertz, but terror birds might
bird found in 2010, researchers compiled a 3D model have had a hearing sensitivity of 2,300 Hertz. This ability
of its body, including the length of the hearing organ in its may have helped the predators hunt down smaller and
ear, called the cochlea, to estimate its range of hearing. It quieter prey.

54
 DID YOU KNOW? The Aepyornis elephant bird was the largest bird ever, weighing up to 1,000 kilograms

TERROR BIRD TERRITORY

Texas France
THE LATEST TERROR
BIRD DISCOVERY
Dr Siobhán Cooke, an associate professor
at Johns Hopkins University and a member
of the research team that uncovered a
potential new terror bird species, sheds
some light on the discovery
How were you measurements that tell you what
Florida able to identify the estimated size of an extinct
Switzerland
the leg bone animal would be. But all of that is
Colombia Algeria as a terror predicated on the availability of a
Argentina bird’s bone? good comparative sample, and for

Did
For one, that it’s something like a terror bird, we

you know?
large. There is a don’t, unfortunately, have terror
size component birds wandering around South
There are around as a major contribution for America. So coming up with a
11,000 bird species understanding which group of really good comparative sample
on Earth today birds it’s related to. Second, to create those regression
there are a couple of anatomical equations is tricky.
landmarks on the specimen that
6 are unique to terror birds. There’s What can the anatomy of these
a small pitch in part of the bone birds tell us about their diet?
that is a site for the attachment Things like stable isotopes can tell
of tendons and muscles which is us about an animal’s diet. If they
unique to this particular group. are nitrogen rich, then they are
The presence of that anatomical higher up on the food chain, as well
landmark ties it to the terror as anatomy, of course. Their big
bird lineage. beaks would have been capable of
tearing and crushing food items.
How large might the new There’s some interesting recent
species have been based work looking at stable isotope data
on your discovery? that may indicate that some of the
6 FEATHERS It’s difficult for species that don’t
have modern analogues [a similar
North American terror birds were
not as predatory as originally
Terror birds may have
had hair-like feathers, living species] to get really good thought. The stable isotopes get
much like modern- estimates of size. To do a scientific incorporated into bone and can tell
day ostriches. estimate of size, generally what we you things like the trophic level
do is take measurements of things [where in the food chain] an animal
like joint surface areas or cranial is at. The recent isotopic work on
7 FEET length. We would take those North American terror birds has
A terror bird’s large feet measures for the extinct animal indicated that there are some that
were not only beneficial and a very closely related living have been hypothesised to not be
to support their weight taxa [animal group]. Then you can as predatory as other species.
while running. They may create a regression equation Those are recent papers, so
also have been used [which estimates the relationship the data is still being interpreted
to stamp on prey. between measurements] to plot and processed.
© Shutterstock / Alamy / Getty / Illustration by Nicholas Forder

The skull of a
Phorusrhacos
longissimus
terror bird
found in South
America

55
 HISTORY

This colossal carving of four

presidential faces into a stone
cliff took over a decade to achieve
WORDS AILSA HARVEY

Did
n the Black Hills region of heights, but agreed to hang over the

I South Dakota, four stony-

faced presidents gaze out
from Mount Rushmore.
153-metre drop to secure a job.
The largest of the stone heads is
George Washington’s, measuring 18.3
you know?
450,000 tonnes
This national monument depicts metres tall with a hefty 6.4-metre-long of granite was
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, nose. Each of his eyes is 3.4 metres removed from
Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham wide. To create depth in the eyes, the the mountain
Lincoln, representing the US’ birth, pupils have holes carved deep
growth, development and preservation enough that there are always
respectively. Not only do these shadows cast inside.
sculptures embody these themes of Not everyone views Mount
past events, they also encourage Rushmore’s contemporary
tourism, with nearly 3 million people creation as a positive
visiting the mountain’s mighty contribution, however.
features each year. The idea for Mount The Black Hills are sacred to
Rushmore came from South Dakota the Lakota Sioux, the tribe
state historian Doane Robinson. who had their land taken
The project was no easy endeavour, from them by the US
as it required 400 workers to complete. government in the
Because construction began in 1927 and late-19th century. Large
continued through the Great Depression, portions of the mountain
when unemployment levels were were removed and cut
extremely high, many of the workers into to form the faces,
were desperate for any job available, and many see it as the
including this high-risk and strenuous desecration of a
task. Some reported being scared of spiritual site.

THE HILLS HAVE EYES

From choosing the site to the final chisel blow

1SITE SELECTION
The Black Hills of
South Dakota were
2PREPARING
PLATFORMS
Before the sculptors
chosen for Mount began, infrastructure
Rushmore as they was built so that
are made of durable artists had access to
granite that erodes all points across the
more slowly than mountain’s great
the surrounding height. This involved
rocks. The light scaffolding to keep
colouring of the workers safe and a
Harney Peak granite rope-and-pulley
in the area had system to hoist
aesthetic appeal chairs and platforms
to the artists. up the vertical face.

56
DID YOU KNOW? Jefferson’s face was meant to be to the left of Washington’s, but quartz found in the rock there couldn’t be carved

WHO DESIGNED IT?

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum was the main artist in charge of
Mount Rushmore’s design, commissioned for the project by 14 YEARS IN THE MAKING
the state of South Dakota. Upon visiting Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore was a sizable piercing winds to sweltering heat.
today, you’ll be greeted with four looming 18-metre-tall creation, so it couldn’t be completed To reach the top of the mountain,
stone faces that protrude from the rock face. However, in a day. Instead, the carving time to every day the workers needed to
Borglum’s original model included full torsos, clothing and produce this giant sculpture was six climb 700 stairs. During the six
arms. There were also plans for words detailing nine years. Due to weather delays and a years of carving, sculptors were
historical events between 1776 and 1906 to be etched lack of funding, the full project took attached to steel cables and lowered
into the monument. 14 years to complete. During the down the sheer cliff face. Despite the
Borglum’s model, featuring 1.5-metre-tall faces, was time that sculpting was taking place, danger of being winched to such
scaled up for the actual carving. The positioning of each face the workers were exposed to a range heights while inserting dynamite
was based on the mountain’s natural contours. Borglum of temperatures as the seasons into the cliff face, there were no
died on 6 March 1941, just changed, from extreme cold and fatalities during this time.
seven months before Mount
Rushmore was completed.
This, along with the depletion
of funding, is why his full
design was never completed.

Borglum’s mod
el sculpture
was 1/12th the
size of the
final monumen
t

Workers, photographed in
the 1930s, cutting the rock
into the shape of an eye

3MARKING
THE ROCK
A pointing machine
4DYNAMITE
BLASTING
90 per cent of the
5FINE CARVING
AND DETAILS
Hand tools and
was used to mark carving involved jackhammers were
the features. This dynamite. It was used to carve fine
device kept the faces used to blast away details into the rock.
to scale by giving excess rock until When the sculptors
measurements of there was just eight were happy, the
a point’s angle, its centimetres to carve granite was sanded
horizontal distance away. Workers then and polished to
and vertical distance drilled holes into the make smooth
from its position granite to weaken it surfaces, giving the
© Shutterstock / Alamy

at the top of and remove sections granite a whiter

the mountain. with simple tools appearance.
like hammers.

57
 TRANSPORT

MICRO CAR MARVEL

Peel’s P50 was originally In 2007 the P50 appeared on Top

In 1963, the Peel

P50 was driven
P manufactured between
1962 and 1965 on the Isle
of Man. It was described
Gear, in 2010 it earned a Guinness
World Record as the world’s smallest
production car and in 2011 two
around the top of as a city car for ‘one adult and one entrepreneurs appeared on Dragon’s
Blackpool Tower shopping bag’, and it continued that Den to revive the P50 – and now, petrol
as a publicity stunt theme by only including one door, and electric models are produced
wiper and headlight. The original’s alongside coupé versions, with prices
4.2 brake horsepower engine hit a tiny starting at £15,799 for a finished model
top speed of 37 miles per hour, had or £12,577 for a self-assembly kit.
three six-inch wheels and no reverse In 2021, car enthusiast Alex Orchin
gear. Want to turn around? Use the drove his P50 from John o’ Groats to
handle on the back instead. At 99 Land’s End to raise money for Children
centimetres wide and 59 kilograms in Need. His 1,488-mile, 21-day journey
on the scales, it was about as wide as included stints at Blackpool Tower,
a doorway and the same weight as a Warwick Castle and racing circuits – he
large dog. raised a phenomenal £11,500.

The P50 originally

cost £199 – £2,124
today. Its successor,
the Trident, included
a detachable
shopping basket
© Alex Orchin

The P50 is a collector’s item today – in

2016, one sold for $176,000 at auction

58
 DID YOU KNOW? Sven Yrvind is 85, but still plans more voyages, publishing YouTube videos about his boat building

at was called
Yann Quenet’s bo
ng ‘bundle’
Baluchon, meani

LITTLE LIFTER
The GEN H-4 is another Guinness handle that hangs down from the
World Record Holder, but this tiny rotors, like the system used on hang
helicopter struggled to get off the gliders, and it has a top speed of a
ground. It weighs 70 kilograms and has frankly terrifying 55 miles per hour.
two main rotors that sit above four ten In 2000, a test flight was halted
brake horsepower engines. There’s no when the H-4 was blown into a building
cockpit to speak of – the pilot sits on by a gust of wind, injuring the pilot, but
an open chair beneath the engine with the craft still made it into production
four tiny wheels on the underside for with a price of ¥7,500,000.00, which is
landing. Pilots steer by pivoting a about £39,000.

1 SPINNING
INTO ACTION WE HAVE LIFTOFF
The two contra-
rotating rotors have a
Take a deep dive into the GEN H-4 and see what
makes the world’s smallest helicopter tick
LITTLE BOATS,
four-metre diameter
and rotate at 860
BIG HORIZONS
rotations per minute. Bigger is better when it comes to
boats, right? Not necessarily – ask
Yann Quenet. Between 2019 and
2022, he sailed around the world in a
1 four-metre boat that’s no longer than
a Ford Fiesta. He took a smartphone,
solar charger, sleeping bag and cans
of food to cover 30,000 miles in three
years, tackling tornados and electrical
2 ENGINEERED failures. Meanwhile, micro-yachting
Did 2 FOR LIFTOFF legend Sven Yrvind travels with 1,000
you know? Including four
engines isn’t overkill
kilograms of supplies and 111 litres of
water and eats one daily meal of
One P50 owner because even if one porridge and sardines.
uses it to navigate fails, there’s still British sailor Andrew Bedwell aims
his apartment enough power to to break the trans-Atlantic record in a
pilot the H-4 safely. boat that’s so tiny it only contains 40
minutes’ worth of air when sealed.
During his trip, he’ll survive on vitamin
3 PILOTING drinks, beef jerky, raisins and fat

6 SAFETY FIRST 3
PRECISION
The handlebar
moulded into the walls of the boat. His
2023 attempt was unsuccessful due
A parachute is included
pivots the rotor for to his ship letting in water, but he’s
behind the pilot, above the
fuel tank – a necessary and 6 basic movement busy rebuilding and will try again this
welcome addition. and the control year. Micro-yachting enthusiasts like
panel has yaw Bedwell and Yrvind love the simplicity
adjustment for left and sense of achievement, and the
and right turns. lure of the ocean shows no sign of
slowing down for these adventurers.
um
eoretical maxim 4
The H-4 has a th
y 3,000 metres
5 CRASH LANDING Bedwell seen holding a jar of food, which
altitude of a loft Four tiny wheels enable is moulded below the waterline to add
landing, but expect a strength, soundproofing and insulation
bump as there’s no
room on board for
suspension.
© Alamy / Getty / Illustration by Adrian Mann

4 FUELLING FLIGHT
© Andrew Bedwell

The fuel tank behind the

pilot has a 19-litre
capacity, giving the
aircraft a 49-mile range.

59
 TRANSPORT

ũ'XULQJLWVWKLUGƊLJKW
in May 1988, the engine
TINY SKY The original Bumble Bee sits

failed at 121 metres”

FLIERS
safely at Pima Air & Space
Museum in Arizona

Robert Starr’s Bumble Bee II made

its maiden flight on 2 April 1988 in
Tucson, Arizona, and it still holds
the Guinness World Record for the
smallest biplane. That’s no wonder: it
has a 1.68-metre wingspan and only
weighs 260 kilograms with fuel and
pilot added, about the same weight as
a large lion. The Bumble Bee II was
born from a decades-long rivalry
between two World War II veterans.
Starr had previously held the record
with his Bumble Bee I and a craft
dubbed Sky Baby that he worked on
with an aviator called Ray Stits. But
then Ray and his son Don snatched the
record with an even smaller plane

© Afcrna / Pima Air Museum

known as Baby Bird. Starr eventually
got his record, but Bumble Bee II
wasn’t exactly a success. During its
third flight in May 1988, the engine
failed at 121 metres and the plane
crashed, destroying it completely
and severely injuring Starr.

7 MATERIALS 2 SITTING COMFORTABLY?

FLIGHT OF THE The fuselage was made
from welded steel
The tiny one-person cockpit has
to cram rudder pedals beneath

BUMBLE BEE
It’s tricky to build the world’s
covered with sheet
metal, with wings
covered in plywood.
the engine, with a central
joystick used for steering.

smallest plane – here’s how

Robert Starr did it

7
2

3 ENGINE ROOM
Bumble Bee II’s 85 brake
horsepower engine was 3
used in many more
conventional planes;
this was the most powerful 1
version available.
4
1 SPREAD YOUR WINGS
Bumble Bee II’s
4 SPINNING AROUND 1.6-metre wingspan is
The propeller helped Bumble 0.3 metres narrower
Bee II reach a top speed of 190 than Starr’s first
miles per hour and a maximum
6 record-breaking plane.
height of 4,270 metres.
5
6 TWO WINGS
5 CRASH LANDINGS Bumble Bee II is a biplane,
The conventional landing gear and Guinness modified
included two front wheels and a its records to accommodate
small rear wheel, but it only Stits’ monoplane, too,
worked during two flights. because they kept bickering.

60
DID YOU KNOW? To reverse a railway speeder, sometimes you had to get under the bonnet and adjust the onboard spark plug

These tiny tanks fell

Honda’s Z100 was so popular that a out of favour
consumer version, the CZ100, was
produced until 1966

SMALL AND
MIGHTY
WHEELY SMALL BIKE You’ve heard of a tank, but what
about a tankette? These mini marvels
How small do you think the world’s smallest the 1960s and 1970s, with bikes like the Fox
motorbike is? A metre long? Half of that? Doodle Bug and Honda CZ100 perfect for became a military fad in the early
Think again. In 2003, Swedish off-roading and casual use. The 1920s. The British Army’s Carden
inventor Tom Wiberg built Did CZ100 was based on a prototype, Loyd emerged in 1927 when tank
Smalltoe, a motorbike that you know? the Z100, that was used for strategist Lieutenant-General Giffard
Le Quesne Martel built a prototype in
weighs just 1.1 kilograms. Its
The Smalltoe bike people to ride around a circuit at his shed. It sparked imaginations, and
front wheels have a jaw-dropping seat sits 65 Honda’s own theme park. These
diameter of 16 millimetres and it days, tiny electric bikes are a tractor company produced a model
millimetres off
hits a monster top speed of 1.2 available for less than £1,000. known as the Carden Loyd.
the ground
miles per hour. But while it works, They fold, often weigh under 20 The two-person, 1,500-kilogram
it’s hardly practical. But there are kilograms and they’re perfect for short vehicle was used for gunning, mortars
options if you’d like something you can journeys, with sub-60-mile ranges from and smoke projection – and the British
actually use. Minibikes were popular in quick-charging batteries. Army sold them to Poland, Russia,
Italy, Canada and India. Japan based
its Type 94 tankette on the Carden
Loyd, doubling its weight. However,

RIDING THE RAILS operators complained of motion

sickness and exhaustion, and
If you ever see a railroad speeder, light, and some had handles so they tankettes were vulnerable to anti-
you’ll probably be surprised, because could be lifted off the tracks when tank weapons. After World War II,
most people don’t expect to spot a toy proper trains approached. Larger the concept was abandoned in
train on a real track. These tiny trains models had enclosed cabs for use in favour of faster, stronger and more
are important because they help cold climates, and innovative versions manoeuvrable armoured trucks.
workers repair and inspect rails. included multi-wheel designs for Interestingly, though, they’re making a
They’ve been around since 1893, are uneven rails. The Sheffield Velocipede comeback – remote-controlled,
usually up to three metres in length Company produced the first model, tankette-style vehicles like the US
with enough space for a couple of and others soon got on board, making Army’s M5 Ripsaw boast 59-mile-per-
passengers and are often powered by tens of thousands over the next hour maximum speeds, 360-degree
engines that wouldn’t look out of place hundred years. But by the 1980s and cameras and artificial intelligence.
in a lawn mower. Despite the name, 1990s, speeders were replaced by
their speeds rarely exceeded 40 miles pickup trucks with special wheels that
per hour. It was essential to keep them allowed them to drive on tracks.

Speeders were open to the

elements if the weather
© Getty / Illustration by Adrian Mann

allowed, saving weight

and improving speed

The Carden Loyd used the 22.5

brake horsepower engine from the
groundbreaking Ford Model T car

61
 TRANSPORT

CAR BRAKES EXPLAINED

This essential system helps drivers stop their cars, even at high speeds
WORDS AILSA HARVEY

odern vehicle brakes are more vehicles, the force is delivered to each wheel

M technologically advanced and

smoothly operated than those
built for the first cars. But the core
via the simple push of a pedal. The driver
doesn’t need to use as much force as the
wheels require to stop them. This is because WHAT IS
mechanism has remained largely the same.
The first car brakes involved the driver’s
the fluid used in the brakes is pushed out
from a small cylinder, amplifying the force.
BRAKE FLUID?
muscle power, as they were required to pull a The two main types of car brakes are disc There is a glycol or silicone-based fluid
in the braking system that acts as a
lever that pressed wooden pads against the brakes and drum brakes. These have similar
medium to transfer the force from the
wheels. If they didn’t apply enough force, methods of bringing a car to a halt. The
brake pedal to the wheels, causing
the wheels wouldn’t stop. Today, hydraulic difference is that drum brakes have an inner
them to stop moving or slow down.
systems are in place, but they rely on the ring component that pushes outwards
When the driver presses their foot
same physics – using friction to slow the against a moving wheel, while disc brakes onto the brake pedal, a piston is
movement of the vehicle’s wheels. In modern clamp onto the wheel’s inner metal disc. pushed into the master cylinder. This
cylinder is filled with brake fluid, and
this movement forces the fluid along

BRAKE BREAKDOWN
How a disc braking system slows wheels down
6 WHEEL BOLTS
The rotor is
secured to the
5 CALLIPER
This is a
metal housing
tubes towards each wheel’s brakes.
This is a hydraulic system caused by
changes in pressure. As the piston
rim with wheel for the brake enters the cylinder, the space inside
bolts, keeping pads that helps the cylinder is reduced, pushing the
1 TYRE the rotor apply force to fluid out. The fluid can’t be
This toughened aligned. the brake rotor. compressed, so the force
rubber outer ring proportionally matches
grips the road that which is applied at
surface while the pedal. However, it
braking.
5 is amplified by the
fluid before it’s
transferred to
the brakes. The
pressure from the
1 4 fluid causes the
brake pads to
press against the
spinning rotor.
Did
2 WHEEL RIM
you know?
This metal 6 F1 cars can brake
component holds from 120 miles per
the shape of the tyre 2 hour to a stop in
and the braking seven seconds
system in place.

3 4 BRAKE PADS
These are usually
30 to 70 per cent metal,
bound with organic
3 ROTOR resin. They squeeze the
Connected to the wheel and rotor when the driver
tyre, the steel-and-iron rotor presses the brake pedal,
rotates. When the braking creating friction that
system clamps onto the slows the wheel’s turn. A car’s brake fluid should be replaced
© Shutterstock

rotor, it converts kinetic every two years or every 24,000 miles

energy into heat, bringing
the moving wheel to a stop.

62
 UNCOVER HOW BRITAIN BEAT THE
WORLD IN THE RACE TO INDUSTRIALISE
Immerse yourself in a rapidly changing Britain as you explore how factories,
machines, railways and steamships fuelled an empire and transformed life
across the globe as nations rushed to unleash the potential of mechanisation.

ON SALE
NOW

Ordering is easy. Go online at:

Or get it from selected supermarkets & newsagents

 SPACE

64
DID YOU KNOW? Cristoforetti was the first person to make a TikTok video on the ISS

ESA ASTRONAUT

Emergencies, spacewalks and bossing it: the first

female European commander of the ISS tells us what Above: The expedition

it’s like to be in charge of a space station patches Cristoforetti

has earned for her
INTERVIEWED BY BEN BIGGS missions into space

amantha Cristoforetti joined the What would you have done if you weren’t selected to be

S
Opposite:
Italian Air Force in 2001, gained her an ESA astronaut?
Cristoforetti floating
Like every astronaut, we kind of all have a job or a career
fighter pilot wings in 2006 and flew from which we are then selected to become an astronaut.
in microgravity
fighter jets until 2009, when she passed So when I was selected, I was a combat pilot in the Italian
Left circle: Like all
astronaut selection and joined the European Air Force, and so it’s pretty clear that I was quite early on
ESA astronauts,
Space Agency. As an astronaut, Cristoforetti in my career, and I would have continued to pursue that
Cristoforetti was
career, I would say, for at least another ten years or so. I
was a flight engineer on her first mission to trained for spacewalks
don’t know what I would be doing now, but I would say for
the International Space Station (ISS), 2014’s the next decade or so I would have continued, I think, my
on Earth in NASA’s
Neutral Buoyancy
Expedition 42/43, and served as commander career as a combat pilot.
Lab – a specialised
for Expedition 68 in 2022. Since her diving pool
return to Earth, Cristoforetti has What’s the difference between being an ISS
crew member and being commander?
co-authored The Astronaut Multiple aspects. I guess you’re a little bit
Diaries, a book about a young of a team leader. You need to make sure
girl’s journey into space based that if people have any issues that
on her own experiences. they’re struggling with, or they have

Did
concerns, they would normally
In The Astronaut Diaries, Andi Futura come to you. Then you have to
fantasises about going into space. make sure that communication you know?
Were you dreaming about the same among the team functions in a Cristoforetti
things as a child? smooth way if there are can speak six
Yeah. I mean, there was no ISS when I was problems. In the end, you’re the languages
11 years old. I guess that’s going to give away one who has to coordinate the work
how old I am since the ISS has been around for a of the team to come up with a solution.
while, but I did dream about going to space – at that There’s an aspect of being like the point of
age, for sure, even at a younger age. When I was growing communication with the ground. Because we are this very
up, it was the time of the Space Shuttle and things like that. small team in orbit, but then there is a gigantic team on the
You know, there was no social media, the communication
was more about the mission and the adventure part of it,
and that’s what was appealing to me more than any
“You have to be careful about this whole
thoughts about all daily life concerns. I thought going into
space would be like this majestic, great adventure. And I
idea of control because in orbit we are
was very adventurous as a child. I wanted to do cool stuff
not too much in control in general, right?”
© ESA

and go to cool places.

65
 SPACE
4 CONDUCTING EXPERIMENTS
1 FLUID SCIENCE LAB In 2015, she worked on an experiment
This is where astronauts that investigated the effects of
can study the dynamics microgravity on immune cells.

REMOTE of fluids in space in a

controlled environment.

WORKER
Being an ISS astronaut
1

doesn’t mean you get to lark 3

around in microgravity. The
station’s science module,
the Columbus laboratory, 4
is where astronauts
conduct experiments 2

2 INSTRUMENT UPKEEP
Cristoforetti replaced

2
components in the
lab’s centrifuge – a
device that spins very
quickly to separate
5
test tube solutions.

3 SPACE FOOD
3 PRODUCTION
On Expedition 67, 5 SPACE SCIENCE
Cristoforetti collected Columbus is permanently
microbe samples attached to the Harmony module,
from the Vegetable is nearly seven metres long and
Production System weighed nearly 13 tonnes at launch.
space botany facility.

ground, and so you are kind of like the activities that need to happen on the space Opposite centre:
primary interface for the communications station. But if you’re talking about a situation in After spending 200
with the teams on the ground. And on the which I felt like I was in danger and I didn’t know days in space,
ground there will be a lead flight director, which is what to do, then no, that wouldn’t be the case. Cristoforetti took
like the equivalent for the ground team, then we’ve got all this photo inside
the flight controllers and everyone. You’ve got the flight Did you feel claustrophobic in the smaller modules? the ISS’ Cupola
directors, and then there is a lead flight director, which is No, the ISS is actually really big. I mean, the only place that
assigned to your crew. It’s like this communication between is cramped is the Soyuz, the Russian vehicle that we used
Below: Expedition 42
the US commander and the lead flight director on the on our first launch on my first flight, we launched in Soyuz.
crew members
ground that you know that you have to take care of. That’s cramped to be there. You barely have enough space
Samantha
Then there is a case of an emergency, which doesn’t to fit the three people in there. I’m kind of small, so I guess
Cristoforetti, Anton
happen every day, thankfully – quite rarely – but it’s a big it’s okay. But some people who are taller, they really sit with
Shkaplerov and
chunk of our training in how to react to a situation where their knees almost up in their chest. But other than the
Terry Virts were
you’ve got a fire in orbit, or you’ve got a depressurisation Soyuz, for the rest I never had the feeling that it was
immortalised as LEGO
when you’re losing air or you’ve got a toxic spill in the cabin. cramped. The space station… it’s like this long axis of
Minifigures in 2015
That’s something that typically doesn’t happen. That’s why modules attached one to the other. We call it the stack,
we call them emergencies. But we spend a lot of time on the and from the forward side of the stack to the aft, it’s 100
ground training for those kinds of situations. Even before meters. It’s quite long, and then you have modules
you leave, then you would be kind of in charge of the crew protruding to the sides. So yeah, it might look [cramped]
response, also during all those simulations on the ground. when you see pictures, especially if there’s a lot of stuff
Then, of course, in orbit, should something like that happen, around. Sometimes we get issues with storage and that
you would be the one ultimately responsible for the there’s just a lot of, maybe bags, big
response of the crew. bags stowed in the front of the rack.
Maybe in the pictures it looks like it’s
Although there was never an emergency when you cramped, but in reality it’s not the way
were on the ISS, was there a situation where you didn’t I felt about it. You also have to imagine
feel like you were in full control? you’re weightless, so all of that volume
You have to be careful about this whole idea of control is available to you – you’re in three
because in orbit we are not too much in control in general, dimensions so all of that volume is
right? Outside of an emergency, the vehicle is very much available to you.
© ROSCOSMOS

under the control of the ground controllers. The schedule is

determined from the ground. You don’t have to imagine that Did you get excited about
you’re in space and you do what you want – it’s quite the spacewalks?
opposite. You’re there to execute tasks that are part of the Oh, definitely. That was something

66
DID YOU KNOW? As a child, Cristoforetti was a huge fan of Star Trek

that I was really looking forward to doing. I had the chance Did
of doing an EVA [extravehicular activity, or spacewalk] on you know?
my second mission. I didn’t on my first – that was a big
Cristoforetti was
disappointment for me on my first mission that I didn’t selected from
have a chance to go out on an EVA. But hey, I had something 8,000 astronaut
to look forward to for my second flight. It’s the one really, hopefuls
really special thing that you do on board as an astronaut. I
think everyone wants to have that experience of actually
going out on an EVA.

Would you say that’s the peak of being an astronaut?

Yeah, I would say so.

When you return to Earth, what’s it like to wait for the

rescue crews to pop the hatch, open the module and
take all the astronauts out?
Well, it goes very fast. Both my flights went very fast. I
guess it would be different if they’re not waiting for you
for some reason, like you don’t land in the right place or
whatever. That’s an emergency landing and so people are
actually not expecting you. But you know, in both of our
cases, we landed when and where we were supposed to,
so people were there for us. I remember landing in the
Soyuz, you know, we were just in there, and I was peeking
out from the window and I would see people outside. And
it was very quick. They had that hatch open within a few
minutes, I think.
And then on the Dragon it was very, very similar. I can’t
remember exactly, but I don’t have any recollection of
having waited for a long time. They were on the vehicle very
quickly from a boat. On the Soyuz in Kazakhstan, they
literally set up a camp: they have a big hospital tent and
they’re there with the helicopters and the rescue team and
everything. And in the water is kind of like the same thing.
I’ve got the rescue boat that is standing nearby and then
they have these speed boats with the divers that come close
to the vehicle to secure it. They don’t get you out in the
water. They just secure the propulsion system and make
sure that there’s nothing toxic going around. And then they
will actually hoist you onto the ship, and then you get onto
the vehicle on the ship. It’s actually nice.

THE ASTRONAUT DIARIES

by Samantha Cristoforetti and
Emma Roberts, published by
DK, is on sale now

RECORD BREAKER
In early May 2015, the Russian space agency’s The crew had supplies for many weeks, so their
Progress M-58 resupply freighter burned up health and wellbeing aboard the ISS wasn’t
in Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled affected. With her return to Earth postponed
re-entry. As a result, subsequent launches to for a month, it meant Cristoforetti’s stay on
the space station were put on hold until this the ISS beat the previous record holder, Sunita
failure could be properly investigated. This Williams, by four days. Cristoforetti is still the
An uncrewed Progress resupply vehicle meant that the six astronauts on board, record holder for longest time spent on the ISS
© ESA / NASA / DK

undocking on its return to Earth including Cristoforetti, were effectively in a single mission for a female astronaut at
stranded on the station until further notice. 199 days and 16 hours.

67
 SCIENCE

Discover what makes humans and many

other species fall ‘head over heels’
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD

68
DID YOU KNOW? The phrase ‘butterflies in the stomach’ first appeared in the 1908 book The House of Prayer by Florence Converse

CREATING CHEMISTRY
he concept of love has tormented

T the minds of philosophers, artists

and musicians for millennia, but this
cheek-flushing feeling can be boiled These hormones are the driving force
down to simple chemical reactions. Behind the behind the three phases of falling in love
romantic gestures, the human body is paddling
through a whole host of chemicals that make
us feel infatuated with another person. In the
same way that melanin makes you sleepy or
cortisol causes stress, this gravitation to
1 LUST
The initial desire or lust
to find a partner is driven by
another person is an emotion piloted by two hormones: testosterone
molecules in the body called hormones. and oestrogen. Regions of
They help ignite the initial spark of lust, fuel the brain called the
hypothalamus and pituitary
attraction and supply the cosy feeling of
gland are responsible for
attachment. And it all starts in the brain.
'LG
triggering the production
Throughout the body are glandular of these hormones in men
cupids waiting to release love \RXNQRZ" and women.
hormones straight into the body’s
Dopamine was
bloodstream as soon as the brain gives first described

2ATTRACTION
them the order. When the moment in 1910
presents itself and someone finds
themselves face to face with a potential While lust and attraction
might seem the same, the
love interest, these glands flood our system
two are driven by different
with hormones that make us feel euphoric, hormones. While lust is
such as dopamine, and activate the ‘reward specific to sexual desire,
circuit’ – a complex network in the brain that attraction is a broader feeling
controls our sense of pleasure and decision- and is driven by different
making. While science can determine how the euphoria-inducing hormones
body experiences love, what causes its spark called dopamine and
is a little more difficult to pin down. What one norepinephrine.
person finds attractive in a partner can be
completely off-putting to someone else.

3ATTACHMENT
Psychologists have condensed why we find
someone attractive into a few key factors, After lust and attraction,
what follows is the release of
the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin
ũ7KLVFKHHNƊXVKLQJ and vasopressin. The two
supply feelings of happiness,

IHHOLQJFDQEHERLOHG calmness and security,

encouraging pair-bonding.

GRZQWRVLPSOH
Oxytocin is also released
following childbirth and
while breastfeeding.
FKHPLFDOUHDFWLRQVŪ

Unfortunately, love at first sight

might be more fiction that fact
FALLING AT FIRST SIGHT
Is it possible to be struck with a sudden attractiveness. What the researchers
bolt of love when your eyes lock? If the found was that while many people –
silver screen is to be believed, there’s no mostly men – had a strong initial
denying the power of falling in love at first attraction and reported experiencing
sight. Studies have shown that as many as love at first sight, the scientists concluded
60 per cent of people have experienced that the cornerstones of love, such as
the phenomenon. In 2017, researchers in intimacy and commitment, are not
© AdobeStock / Shutterstock / Getty

The Netherlands put the concept to the experienced to the same degree in the
test by introducing 400 men to 400 first moments of meeting. However, it was
women and observing whether or not they found that those who claimed love at first
would form a romantic relationship with sight were more open to these emotions
each other immediately after meeting, than those who did not claim to have
along with rating them on physical experienced love at first sight.

69
70
including how often we see that person,
their physical appearance, similarities to our
interests and reciprocity – the fact that we THE ANATOMY
like people that like us.
One way to fan the flames of attraction OF ATTRACTION
may be to release chemical signals called
SCIENCE

From head to heels, the biology behind

pheromones. In the animal kingdom, the body’s reaction to attraction
pheromones are essential for some species
4
to find mates. By releasing these chemicals,
often through bodily fluids such as sweat or
urine, pheromones can let another animal
know vital characteristics about themselves
and entice a mate. Although many mammals 4 UNIQUE BRAIN WAVES 3 BATTLING BUTTERFLIES
use pheromones to flirt with each other, Just the thought of someone you Feeling the flutter of
scientists aren’t entirely sure if – or how – love romantically is enough to turn stomach-trapped
humans use them to attract each other. your brain into a hive of activity, butterflies is a common
However, it might not just be pheromones unlike any other type of love. In occurrence in the early
that we’re smelling. Scientists have long 2024, researchers in Finland found stages of falling in love.
studied the array of smells that humans give that different regions of the brain This is a side effect of
off and have found a possible link between become much more active when the rush of adrenaline
our scents and our genetic compatibility thinking about a romantic partner coursing through the
with another person. In 2019, researchers than when envisioning pets, bloodstream, causing
at Université Paris Diderot, France, found that friends or everyday situations. blood to be diverted away
humans may be able to detect a group of Using brain-imaging technology from the gut to other
genes called the major histocompatibility called magnetic resonance vital organs such as the
complex (MHC), which play an important role imaging, researchers found liver. This makes the gut
in the immune system, through scent. They that activity was higher in wall contract and creates
also found that people who have dissimilar brain regions linked to social the oh-so-familiar feeling
MHCs were more attractive to each other, cognition when thinking about of butterflies. With
which likely comes from the prospect of romantic loved ones than in reduced levels of blood
producing healthier children with a any other scenario. and oxygen, the gut is
stronger immune system. effectively telling you
to calm down.

2 SKIPPING A HEARTBEAT
Is it love or an arrhythmia? It can
sometimes feel like your heart
has quite literally skipped a beat
'LG
and the world stops when you see \RXNQRZ"
someone captivating. And while 90 per cent
your heart hasn’t quite missed of serotonin
an entire beat, high levels of production is
adrenaline can rapidly increase in the gut
heart rate and temporarily
cause irregular rhythms.

2
 5 IMMUNITY BOOST
Along with getting a
boost of endorphins,
some studies have
found that our
DID YOU KNOW?

1 SWEATY PALMS immune systems also

Along with a rush of 3
happiness, love can also get invigorated by
flood the brain with love. In 2019,
cortisol, a stress researchers from
hormone, in those initial Tulane University and
anxiety-inducing the University of
moments of attraction. California, Los
It’s associated with the Angeles,
body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ showcased that
response and helps women who fell in
convert proteins into love during their
sugar for energy. This study had
has several side effects, increased activity in
including increased blood ‘antiviral defence’
pressure and infamously than those who did
sweaty palms. Although not fall in love.
sweaty palms might not The researchers
be the desired reaction, suggested this may
it’s believed to be a be due to preparing
leftover mechanism from the body for physical
5 touch and the
our prehistoric cave-
dwelling days when in the potential for
moment of fight or flight, contracting a virus.
sweaty palms gave a
person extra grip to
escape a threat.
The world record for longest marriage is 86 years and 290 days

Our love hormones are

predominantly produced
in a region of the brain
called the hypothalamus
1

ũ:KDWRQHSHUVRQƉQGVDƔUDFWLYH
LQDSDUWQHUFDQEHFRPSOHWHO\
RƈSXƔLQJWRVRPHRQHHOVHŪ
© Shutterstock

71
 SCIENCE

A 3D illustration of the ‘love

hormone’ oxytocin

FAC T S
THE HEALTH
BENEFITS
OF LOVE

1 INCREASED LIFE
EXPECTANCY
A 2020 study found

ũ,QIDFWVFLHQFHVXJƐHVWVWKDW
that married men and
women between 65
and 85 tend to live 2.2
RSSRVLWHVUDUHO\DƔUDFWŪ years longer than their
unmarried counterparts.

2 HAPPY HEARTS
Studies have shown
that those in happy
This may be one of the few instances where compared to made-up ‘phantom’ participants with relationships are at a
opposites really do attract. The old Hollywood different attributes to themselves. lower risk of developing
notion that two people with nothing in
'LG The evolutionary explanation as to why two cardiovascular diseases

\RXNQRZ" their genetic information to the next generation,

common or who have polar-opposite people fall in love is to reproduce and pass on than those in a stressful
relationship.
opinions can come to realise their

3
differences in some way and fall in love is There are 62 for companionship and for survival – having BETTER SLEEP
likely as fictional as the movies. In fact, million married close connections to members of the same People in loving
couples in the US relationships are more
science suggests that opposites rarely species for protection and support. Of course,
likely to sleep well. Some
attract. For example, a 2017 study found that love isn’t just romantic. Platonic love can come studies have suggested
participants of the survey reported feeling more in the form of close friendships or the strong bond that happily married
attracted to people who had similar attitudes when between parents and their children. couples are ten per cent
more likely to have a
restful night’s sleep.

THE PHYSICAL PAIN 4 PROTECTION

FROM PAIN
Researchers have shown
OF HEARTBREAK that love can distract from
pain. One study revealed
Despite all the joy and happiness that love can bring, it can quite that participants felt less
pain from being poked
literally break a person’s heart. Known as takotsubo or ‘broken
when they were gazing at
heart syndrome’, when a person experiences a stressful event, a picture of a loved one.
such as the loss of a loved one, the muscles of the heart can
weaken. The rush of stress hormones such as adrenaline and
noradrenaline can cause the narrowing of the small arteries, 5 DECREASING
ANXIETY
While stress levels can
restricting blood flow to the heart, as well as interfering with the
be high during initial
way heart cells function. The effects of broken heart syndrome
attraction, MRI scans
are typically temporary and reversible, and the heart will usually of those in long-term
make a full recovery within weeks. However, in some rare cases, relationships have shown
the condition can lead to life-threatening complications, such as less activation in the
congestive heart failure and low blood pressure. regions of the brain
associated with anxiety.

72
DID YOU KNOW? A 2022 study found that, on average, it takes men 108 days and women 123 days to say “I love you”

ANIMAL ATTRACTION
Other species have their own ways of showing how they feel about each other
1 COURTSHIP
Like humans, animals have to
feel the pull of attraction in
order to find a mate, and
there’s no beasts better at
showing off than birds. From
the elaborate plumage of birds

1 2
of paradise to the gift-giving
antics of bowerbirds, they
have evolved a myriad of ways
to draw attention in the hope
of sparking a connection.

2 TOUCH
Signs of affection are
commonplace for many
mammals. Lions, for example,
are some of nature’s best
nuzzlers. As a way to form
social bonds, male lions
typically rub heads with other
males, and females nuzzle
with other males and females,
especially their cubs. The
physical connection keeps the
pride in sync and maintains
the hierarchy within.

3 GRIEF
Feeling the loss of a loved one
isn’t exclusive to humans.
Some animals, such as
3 elephants, have the ability to
mourn as intensely as we do.
Along with crying over the
death of other elephants,
these emotional animals have
been witnessed holding
‘funerals’, kicking up dust over
the fallen elephant, picking up
their bones and burying their
bodies in mud.

4 EMPATHY
4 Primates are known for having
emotions similar to humans,
including empathy. In a 2017
study of our closest
evolutionary relative, the
bonobo, researchers found
that they’re willing to share
5 their food with strangers
without getting anything in
return. Some species, such
as chimpanzees, also extend
that empathy to other
species than their own.

5 IMPRINTING
As a survival technique,
imprinting is a fascinating
behaviour where the offspring
of an animal – typically birds
© Getty / Alamy / Shutterstock

– intensely bonds with the

first animal they see. Although
this is intended to be their
parents, it means that they
can form attachments to
any animal they first
catch sight of.

73
 SCIENCE

ship hulls, staying dry isn’t an option. Instead,

an anti-corrosive method called ‘cathodic
protection’ is often used to fight off the
effects of rust. During the formation of rust,
electrons move around the metal and create
two electrically charged points called the
anode (positively charged) and the cathode
Oxygen has a distinctive effect on exposed (negatively charged). Corrosion occurs at the
anode side of the metal. One way to stop iron
iron over time, corroding the metal corroding at the anode site is to introduce
Did a sacrificial metal, such as zinc. The
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD
you know? zinc dummy anode is more reactive
than iron – the cathode – and free
Five per cent
ust is the mortal enemy of iron When water and atmospheric from rust and corrosion. Ships with

R
of Earth’s crust
and the destroyer of nuts, bolts and carbon dioxide combine, they is iron iron hulls can also pass an electrical
bicycle handles around the world. create a very weak carbonic acid. current through the metal as a form
Just a touch of water and any When carbonic acid sits on iron of cathodic protection. The electrical
metal that contains iron is slowly corroded, metal, it begins to dissolve it, and the current interrupts the movement of
transformed into a brittle orange ghost of its iron atoms are then free to bond with electrons between the anode and cathode
former self. On the surface, rust is simply the oxygen atoms in the acid to form rust. and prevents rust from forming.
formation of iron oxide. It’s created in an The best way to prevent rust from forming
oxidation reaction, where iron and oxygen is to keep iron away from any moisture and
bond together. However, the reaction needs prevent iron and oxygen from finding each It can take mere days for iron to start
a little help from water to get things going. other. However, for things like pipelines and feeling the corrosive effects of rust

THE RUST FACTORY

How a dash of water and sprinkle of oxygen
can turn iron metal into iron mush

1 ANODE 2 CATHODE 3 EXPOSURE

This is located on the As iron flakes away, it
At the site where water
iron’s surface, where continually exposes a new
becomes acidic with the
corrosion occurs and metal surface to the reaction
help of carbon dioxide, it
iron is oxidised. between oxygen and water.
creates a cathode.

02
2
3

Fe2 02 2+
Fe
6
1

Fe
4

4 ELECTRONS 5 ELEMENTS MEET 6 MAKING RUST

Electrons move from the Having lost electrons, iron The newly formed iron
anode site to the cathode ions are released into oxide settles on the
site through the electrically the water, where they surface of the metal
conductive iron metal. bind with oxygen. as clumps of rust.

74
DID YOU KNOW? Icicle-like ‘rusticles’ of oxidated iron have formed on the wreckage of the Titanic

OLD PROBLEM,
NEW POWER
Rust isn’t just an agent of destruction – it
could also be a new way to store energy. From
smartphones to electrical vehicles, the majority
of batteries are powered using lithium ions.
However, lithium is a finite resource and demand
continues to grow. As the fourth most
abundant element on the planet, iron could
be a potential replacement to solve a lull
in lithium. First developed in the 1960s
by NASA, iron-air batteries could be an
alternative to lithium-ion batteries. The
batteries work by harnessing the energy
released while rust forms and when it’s
converted back into iron and oxygen.
Within the battery is an iron electrode and an
air electrode, separated by a water-based
Chromium is the key to stainless
electrolyte. During charging, rusted iron pellets
steel’s anti-rust powers
in the battery are converted back into iron and
oxygen and head to their electrodes. When the
THE SECRET OF battery discharges energy, oxygen reacts with

STAINLESS STEEL
the water electrolyte, crossing a permeable
membrane to react with the iron atoms,
generating electrons and an electrical current. An example of an iron-air battery created
Iron is the only metal that can rust. by energy company Form Energy
Even its alloy, steel, is susceptible
to oxidation and the buildup of rust.
However, stainless steel has been
created to curb corrosion and prevent
“It’s created in an
rust from forming. Unlike steel alloy,
stainless steel is made up of around oxidation reaction, where
10.5 per cent chromium. Chromium
reacts with oxygen to create a iron and oxygen bond”
protective layer of chromium oxide
across the entire surface of the metal.
Just nanometres thick, this layer
stops any other substances or
atmospheric oxygen from leaching
their way through the layer and
reacting with the metal.

© Getty / Shutterstock

75
 SCIENCE

76
DID YOU KNOW? Nine countries have nuclear weapons: the UK, US, India, Russia, France, China, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea

You’re a member of
a small community
of survivors
following a
world-changing
catastrophe. How
can you apply
hundreds of
years of scientific
knowledge to avert
a new dark age?
WORDS DR LEWIS DARTNELL

he world as we know it has ended.

T A particularly virulent strain of

avian flu has killed most of us
before quarantine orders could be
implemented. Or maybe a rocky asteroid a few
miles across has slammed into our planet,
fatally changing the atmospheric conditions. Or
tensions between two countries have reached
breaking point, and one or both have taken the
nuclear option. In the end, it doesn’t really
matter how – the world as we know it is over
and the crucial question is, what now?
Post-apocalyptic worlds are the stuff of
so many novels and films. The immediate
aftermath is often portrayed as barren and
violent, with roving bands of scavengers
hoarding supplies of food and preying
Did ruthlessly on those less well
you know? organised or armed. For a period
of time, this may not be too far
Waterborne from the truth. Eventually,
diseases kill more
however, rationality would
than 3.4 million
people per year ultimately prevail, and settlement
and rebuilding would begin.
But with the total collapse of the
infrastructure that had previously ruled
our lives, this would be no easy task. What
knowledge would we need to recover as
rapidly as possible?
This is a survivor’s start-up guide. One that
will teach you how to use science to resurrect
a technologically advanced civilisation. There
are five key steps you’d need to take to ensure
that humanity doesn’t have to endure a long,
© Getty

miserable dark age…

77
 SCIENCE

“Ensuring that all water

to pass your lips has
EHHQSXULƉHGZLOOGR
1 SECURE YOUR more to keep you alive
IMMINENT SURVIVAL
Scavenging food and purifying drinking
than anything else”
water are your first priorities
With the sudden death of the vast majority of the you don’t allow waste to contaminate your water
human race, you’ll not be in any immediate danger source and that you keep your hands clean will
of starving. Although civilisation has collapsed, do more to keep you alive and well than any
all of its trappings are still left lying around. other nugget of information.
Supermarkets are stacked with well-preserved Water can be sterilised by filtering it through
items like dried pasta or rice, as well as canned sand and charcoal and then boiling it for a few
food that will keep for decades without spoiling. minutes. This consumes a lot of fuel, though,
A much more immediate concern will be and you can also cleanse water using chemicals
clean drinking water. Waterborne diseases have – as is done today with tap water. Just a single
been the scourge of humanity throughout our bottle of household bleach – five per cent sodium
existence, but some basic knowledge will help hypochlorite solution – is enough to treat 500
save you from pestilence – a few key principles gallons of water. You’ll need to be careful to only
that weren’t understood even as late as the add tiny amounts of it to your drinking water,
mid-19th century. Ensuring that all water to however, as adding too much could burn your
pass your lips has been properly purified, that mouth and throat, or even kill you.

2 REINTRODUCE MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY

Tin cans won’t last forever; you need the means to make your own food

Nowadays, we take our daily bread the grain beneath a handheld stone,
for granted, forgetting the effort that such as with a pestle and mortar, but
goes into making it. Farming cereal this is exceedingly slow, back-breaking
crops, grinding their grains to work. Some of the first mechanical
produce flour and then baking it into technologies you’ll want to redevelop
bread is the method that humanity are a means of harnessing natural
has invented to unlock the nutrients forces to turn millstones for you.
offered by fast-growing grass species Waterwheels and windmills were
– since we lack the ruminant digestive employed throughout our history,
system possessed by cows and sheep. and would be ideal technologies
Without it, there would be no cities to fall back on after an apocalypse.
or civilisation. And with the application of modern
The millstone is a critical step here, scientific understanding, these basic
acting like an external set of molar designs can be improved to spin
teeth, mechanically crushing the grain much faster and more efficiently to
to make its contents available for our produce electricity – creating a wind
digestion. The simplest way is to grind turbine, in other words.

78
DID YOU KNOW? Spanish flu was responsible for more than 50 million deaths between 1918 and 1920

3 RESTORE THE KEY Did

you know?
MEASUREMENTS
Now you’re not working on an empty
The Romans were
the first to develop
transparent glass
stomach, you can get back on the clock

Once you’ve secured your imminent survival, society

needs to regain basic capabilities. The absolute
fundamentals of civilisation rely on being able to
measure aspects of the world: assessing distances,
areas, volumes, weights and timings. How do you
reconstitute a system of standardised units? It’s more
difficult than it sounds. Take distance – you can’t base
a metre on any physical object as you can’t be sure
anything is always the same size. So let’s hope we’re at
least left with a ruler. You can then build a cube-shaped
receptacle ten centimetres on each side, and its
volume would be one litre. Fill it with ice-cold water
and the litre will have a mass of exactly one kilogram.
Construct some rudimentary scales by suspending
a rod by its middle and you can use the kilogram to
create fractions or multiples.
You can also use distance to recreate the base unit
of time: the second. A string one metre long, with a
bob on the end to make a pendulum, will swing each
way in almost exactly one second. These units are
critical for both the functions of civilisation and
scientific investigation.

4 BRING BACK OUR MOST

VALUABLE MATERIAL
The unusual properties of glass enable
numerous scientific breakthroughs
The basis of science lies final attribute enables you
in spotting patterns in the to actually see the changes
behaviour of the universe that happening in your test tube
reveal underlying laws. Then or thermometer, and even to
when something doesn’t fit, it manipulate light using lenses.
can hint at a previously unknown It was therefore essential for
phenomenon. But you can’t do our own path of discovery and
any of this without using reliable would prove the same when
measuring units or instruments. rebooting civilisation.
Besides ancient tools like rulers To make glass, you need to
and scales, the five pieces of melt silica (white sand, quartz or
kit critical to the scientific flint) in a kiln using potash (an
revolution were the barometer, alkali extracted during soap-
thermometer, clock, microscope making) with some quicklime
and telescope. And vital for all (roasted chalk or limestone)
but the pendulum clock is glass. stirred in. Your super-material
Glass is relatively strong, can then be blown into flasks,
chemically unreactive and, formed into thermometer tubes
crucially, transparent. This or ground into lenses.
© Getty

79
 SCIENCE
Did
you know?
15 per cent of the
UK population lived
in towns in 1750

5 REBUILD THE WORLD AROUND YOU

With the basics restored, you have everything you need to restore civilisation

Once you understand how the world works, particular discovery – the machinery The fact that someone has already
you can apply this knowledge to control that emerged at the very beginning of the dreamed up these inventions means
different situations and produce a useful Industrial Revolution, for example, was that the recovery of civilisation after an
outcome. The exploitation of knowledge born as a result of practical craftsmanship apocalypse would be accelerated greatly
is the essence of technology, and today rather than theoretical considerations. from the time it took to build things up
science and technology exist in a mutually Other inventions popped up throughout the first time around. Our prior knowledge
supporting symbiosis. Discoveries enable our history whenever someone happened will give us a few hints. And there are
new inventions to be built, which allow for to think of them. The wheelbarrow, for gateway technologies that would open
the investigation and testing of the world in example, is an enormous labour-saver up wide-ranging benefits that you’d
novel ways. This in turn supplies further and combines the ancient principles of want to make a beeline for, such as the
revelations about how the universe the wheel and the lever, but its creation printing press. There would also be
© Getty

behaves, and so on. Of course, inventions seemingly didn’t occur to anyone in key scientific areas to prioritise, such
aren’t always directly contingent on a Europe until around 1250 CE. as electromagnetism.

80
DID YOU KNOW? Washoe the chimp was the first non-human to learn how to communicate using American sign language

FIVE CHIMP
EXPRESSIONS
AND WHAT
THEY MEAN

Chimpanzees are social creatures and live in large groups.

They communicate using a form of sign language HAPPY
Lips pulled back over
teeth, mouth closed.

HOW CHIMP CHAT

WAS DECIPHERED
From leaf-nibbling to stamping, the finer
EXCITED
Lips pursed, mouth
slightly open.

points of ape gestures revealed

WORDS ALICE LIPSCOMBE-SOUTHWELL

F
or the first time ever, researchers “The gesture system is ‘language-like’ in
managed to decipher what that it’s purposeful communication produced
chimpanzee gestures mean. with a goal in mind. But it’s not language – for
Scientists figured out what’s example, we don’t see any evidence of CURIOUS
behind 66 gestures, providing an insight into grammar or syntax that would allow the Mouth closed,
chimp society. Psychologists at the University creation of new meanings,” explained head cocked.
of St Andrews spent over two years studying Professor Catherine Hobaiter, who was
80 chimpanzees from the Sonso community also involved with the research.
in Uganda’s Budongo Forest. “It has been Chimpanzees aren’t the only apes to carry
known for over 30 years that chimpanzees out such movements. Bonobos have been
communicate in this way,” explained Professor found to perform a specific arm motion when
Richard Byrne. “But nobody has attempted to requesting sex. The team also investigated
answer the obvious question: what are these gorillas and orangutans to see if they
apes actually trying to say?” communicated in the same way. Byrne also
The scientists captured over 4,500 gestures thinks that different populations would
using video cameras. Meanings include ‘climb understand one another. “I’d take a bet a PLAYFUL
onto my back’, displayed by showing the sole chimpanzee from another group would Mouth slightly open,
of one foot to another, and ‘flirt with me’, understand the basic meaning, if not bottom teeth visible.
which was signalled by nibbling on a leaf. The some subtle local nuance.”
researchers discovered that several gestures
appear to mean several things, and the next
stage of the research will lie in understanding
these more. “We’re puzzled that most gestures
“I’d take a bet that a
can sometimes be used for more than one
purpose,” says Byrne. “We’d like to know
chimpanzee from another
group would understand
© Alamy / Shutterstock

whether they are genuinely ‘ambiguous’, like

some words are, or whether there are subtle
FRIGHTENED
differences in delivery that enable the apes to
realise that the same gesture is really two
the basic meaning” Mouth wide open,
teeth bared.
different signals.”

81
 This month we’re giving you the chance to win a bundle of curious items and extraordinary
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Find out more about Matter WORTH

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What is the largest continent on Earth?
A: ASIA B: EUROPE C: SOUTH AMERICA
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82
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 BRAINDUMP
Amazing answers to your curious questions
HOWITWORKSMAG
[email protected]
@HOWITWORKSMAG

Are toucans
related to
HOW IT WORKS MAGAZINE

woodpeckers?
They belong to different families, but the same order:
Piciformes. Woodpeckers make up about half of the
400 species of Piciformes, but toucans form a much
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO:

smaller family of around 40 species. Woodpeckers and

toucans share an arrangement of toes that have two
pointing forward and two pointing back to help them
grip branches. Piciformes are also unusual in not
having down feathers, even as chicks. But belonging to
the same order isn’t an especially close relationship.
Toucans do use their huge beaks to reach into holes in
hollow trees, but this is to steal eggs from other nests.
They don’t drill through the bark and mostly eat fruit,
unlike woodpeckers which are insectivores.

84
 WHY IS TITAN SO ACTIVE?
Astronomers think that the Saturnian moon Titan’s unusual
geological activity is down to a combination of its size, its
composition and its position in Saturn’s system of moons.
The second-largest satellite in the Solar System, Titan is
composed of rock and ice with a much lower melting point
than the rocks of the inner planets – low enough for
‘cryovolcanic’ activity to gradually reshape the surface
over time. Titan’s size also allows it to retain a substantial
amount of heat from the collisions that formed it. Until
recently, astronomers thought that this was the main
driving force behind Titan’s activity. But in 2012, maps of
the moon’s gravity field from the Cassini probe showed its
shape is ‘squashed’ rather than spherical. This means that
different parts of Titan experience different tidal pulls from
Saturn and other nearby moons as it orbits the planet over
a 16-day cycle. This constant tugging at the interior is now
thought to generate much of Titan’s internal heat.

WHEN WAS CUTLERY INVENTED?

Stone knives date back around 2.5 million years, in
contrast to the fork, which came much later – around the

WHAT IS time of ancient Greece. Early knives had a much broader

use than just as a kitchen utensil, being used as weapons
BITCOIN and tools, as well as to spear food. The first forks were
AND WHO originally used to pull food out of large boiling pots and

CREATED IT?
not considered for putting food in your mouth – spoons,
knives and hands were preferred for this. One of the
earliest known uses of forks as dining utensils was in
Bitcoin is a digital
Tuscany, Italy, in the 11th century, but this practice didn’t
currency first described
catch on in the rest of Europe until the mid-1600s. After
in 2008 by an
forks had found their place at the table, it was no longer
anonymous developer
necessary to make table knives with such pointed tips.
with the pseudonym
Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin was created as a
way of transferring funds

Can CPR
internationally without
having to pay bank

break bones
charges or currency
conversion fees.
Independent of a central
bank, the currency relies
on peer-to-peer file if it’s done
sharing and is released
into circulation by any
computer running an
correctly?
application known as
a Bitcoin miner. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) involves
Bitcoin are being repeated chest compressions about five
traded by an increasing centimetres deep, but doesn’t always cause
number of online broken bones. About 30 per cent of patients
merchants around undergoing CPR will end up with a fractured rib
the world, and as of or, in four per cent of cases, a broken sternum.
December 2024 the Some patients are more vulnerable than
value of the total in others. The person performing the CPR also
circulation is around $2 makes a difference: one study showed that
© Shutterstock

trillion (£1.57 billion). laypeople are more likely to break ribs than
doctors. In any case, fractured ribs are a small
price to pay if the CPR saves a life.

85
 BRAINDUMP
WHAT IS A STUTTER?
Stuttering, or stammering, is a disorder
that can affect the flow and fluency of
our speech. Common symptoms are the
repetition of sounds, words or phrases
– sometimes accompanied by rapid eye
blinking and other facial tics. Although
HOWITWORKSMAG

many young children stutter, only one per

cent of adults have the disorder, and men
are four times as likely as women to stutter.
Speech language pathologists apply
behavioural therapies to help stutterers
slow their speech and breathing patterns
to suppress the tics, although certain
situations tend to aggravate the symptoms.
When speaking with someone who stutters,
[email protected]

don’t attempt to finish their sentences –

just be patient and calm.

How did Google

Glass work?
ARE THERE
Before it was discontinued in 2023, Google Glass ANY STARS
brought all of the functionality of a smartphone to a THAT ORBIT
lightweight pair of glasses. The concept was called
augmented reality. Looking through the head- PLANETS?
mounted display, you saw your normal world, but
@HOWITWORKSMAG

The official definition of

also a small high-definition screen in the upper-right
a planet is an object of a
corner of your vision. While wearing Google Glass,
certain size that forms in
you could use voice commands and gestures to take
orbit around a star but
photos and videos of what you were seeing, launch a
isn’t big enough to
Google Hangout video chat with friends, conduct a
become a star itself,
Google search, get directions, chat using voice-to-text
so barring accidents,
and even translate a conversation in real time. Google
planets nearly always
Glass was released to the public on 15 May 2014, with
orbit their more massive
developers creating apps in advance to provide
‘parent stars’. Because
hands-free recipes in the kitchen and browse
HOW IT WORKS MAGAZINE

the less massive object

headlines from newspapers and magazines.
is usually said to orbit
the heavier one, the
planet always revolves
WHERE WAS THE SILK ROAD? around the star.
However, there’s a slight
The Silk Road was a series of land and sea trade routes complication. In reality,
that stretched for more than 4,000 miles to link the Far the two objects actually
Eastern cultures of China to India, Persia, Arabia and as far orbit around their shared
west as the Mediterranean. The Silk Road earned its name ‘centre of mass’, or
from the lucrative Chinese silk trade between the Chinese barycentre – normally
and Roman empires, which began around 200 BCE. well inside the star.
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO:

For the next 1,500 years, the Silk Road would not only Although the star isn’t
transport silk and spices, but share knowledge, culture really revolving ‘around’
and customs across unimaginable distances. Historians the planet, it is being
believe that algebra and other higher mathematics first pulled around by it, and
arrived in the West via this route, as did the printing press the resulting ‘wobbles’
and the magnetic compass. For safety and security, most are one of the clues
traders travelled in caravans along established routes that astronomers seek to
linked towns and oases dotting the Central Asian steppes. discover new planets.

86
How many
dwarf
planets are
in the Solar
System?
Officially, there are five dwarf planets, though there are some other
objects that probably deserve this title, and almost certainly many
more to be discovered. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union
invented the category ‘dwarf planet’ to encompass objects that follow
independent orbits around the Sun and are massive enough to pull
themselves into a spherical shape, but which unlike proper planets
don’t have enough gravity to ‘clear out’ smaller objects from around
their orbits. The known dwarf planets are Ceres – the largest body in
the asteroid belt – Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris. The last four
are all icy bodies orbiting in the outer Solar System beyond Neptune.

WHY ARE PIXELS SQUARE?

Pixels are commonly square because squares fit together without leaving
gaps, have sides of equal length and can be mapped to a grid with two axes
– horizontal and vertical. If pixels were circles, there would be gaps when
surrounded by neighbouring circles – not ideal for creating smooth images
on a screen. Triangles and hexagons fit together too, but their sides follow
more than two directions, requiring more processing power to form an
image. Square pixels became the norm because there needed to be an
industry standard to avoid compatibility issues over different devices.
© Shutterstock

Square pixels stuck due to their simplicity.

87
 BRAINDUMP
HOWITWORKSMAG

Should we
let pandas
die out
[email protected]

naturally?
No. Pandas are herbivorous animals
descended from a long line of
carnivores. As a consequence, their
teeth and digestion aren’t very well
suited to their bamboo diet. They are
solitary and reproduce slowly. They
also don’t play any especially important
@HOWITWORKSMAG

role in their ecosystems. But however

irrational it is, we find pandas cute
and they raise a lot more money as a
flagship conservation species than we
spend on protecting them. Concern
for pandas also helps the many other
unique species that live in the same
Chinese forests. It isn’t so much about
the value of the pandas themselves as
the wider cause they represent. Pandas
HOW IT WORKS MAGAZINE

might or might not eventually die out

anyway through ‘natural causes’, but
let’s not kid ourselves: the reason they
are endangered now is because of
human encroachment on their habitat.

WHY ARE SCARAB BEETLES SO PROLIFIC?

About a quarter of all known animal species are beetles, and scarab
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO:

beetles are one of the most diverse families of beetles. During the
Jurassic period 200 million years ago, flowering plants evolved and
beetle species branched off to specialise in feeding on them. Scarab
beetles emerged around 145 million years ago, at the start of the
Cretaceous period. This was when New Zealand split from Australia
and South America drifted away from Antarctica. Scarabs found
themselves on all the main continents and the isolated populations
continued to diversify to fill different niches.

88
 DID A SPACE SHUTTLE’S
LANDING PARACHUTE
EVER FAIL?
Fortunately not – though the Space Shuttle would
probably have been fine even if it had. The Space
Shuttle orbiters touched down at speeds of around
220 miles per hour – about 30 per cent faster than
a jet airliner – and since it was effectively a giant
glider, it didn’t have engines that could be reversed
to slow it down. Instead, the Space Shuttle initially
relied on good old-fashioned tyre brakes and a
lot of burnt rubber, with the ‘parabrake’ as an
emergency fallback. After the 1986 Challenger
disaster, a safety review recommended using a
modified version of the parabrake on landing to
increase stability and reduce wear on the tyres
and brakes. The parabrake system, consisting of a
2.8-metre pilot chute and a 12.2-metre main chute,
was used successfully on 84 occasions.

WHY DO WE
GET ITCHY? WHO BUILT THE
MILLENNIUM
CLOCK TOWER?
An itch is the body’s
response to an irritant,
but the evolutionary
The Millennium Clock Tower is a ten-metre-
function of itching
high kinetic sculpture at the National Museum
remains a mystery.
of Scotland, built in collaboration by artists
Dead skin cells, hair,
Eduard Bersudsky, Tim Stead, Annica
dust or the histamines
Sandström and Jürgen Tübbecke. The wood,
our bodies produce
metal and glass sculpture commemorates
during an allergic
the achievements and tragedies of the 20th
reaction trigger most
century and has four sections. The crypt – at
everyday itches.
the bottom – is made up of wheels and chains
Troublesome itching can
with carved figures. Next is the nave, where
be a symptom of skin
the most striking feature is a pendulum in the
conditions, while some
form of a convex mirror. Farther up is the
itches are purely
belfry, which houses the clock, and above
psychological. Once
that is a wooden spire.
believed to be
transmitted to the brain
via the same circuitry as
pain, itches actually have
their own dedicated

Was Megatherium
messengers. Recent
research suggests we

an ancestor of
feel an itch when these
specialised nerve cells
release a molecule called
neuropeptide natriuretic
polypeptide b (Nppb).
Our brain’s immediate
the bear?
reaction is to scratch,
dislodging the irritant or Megatherium’s shaggy brown fur might remind you of a bear, but its
at least distracting us closest modern-day relatives are actually tree sloths, anteaters and
from the itch. Oddly, armadillos. The name Megatherium means ‘giant beast’, an appropriate
though, scratching name for a creature six metres long and weighing up to four tonnes. This
© Shutterstock / Alamy

often increases skin giant sloth roamed South American grasslands and woodlands between
irritation, so it’s best 1.9 million and 10,000 years ago, possibly going extinct because of early
avoided or done gently. human hunters. The brown bear’s most recent ancestors are Ursus
minimus and Ursus etruscus, both of which were very similar in size to
their modern-day counterparts.

89
 THE LIBRARY
The latest book releases for curious minds

KATHERINE
JOHNSON
SPIN TO SURVIVE: MEET THE TRAILBLAZER
WHO CHANGED THE
FUTURE OF SPACE
TRAVEL FOREVER

DEEP SPACE DANGER

A THRILLING SPACE ADVENTURE
WITH A TWIST
AUTHOR MARIA ISABEL
SÁNCHEZ VEGARA
ILLUSTRATOR JEMMA SKIDMORE
PUBLISHER QUARTO
PRICE £9.99 / $15.99
RELEASE OUT NOW

AUTHOR GILES SPARROW

Pioneer of space exploration
ILLUSTRATOR RUBY FRESSON
Katherine Johnson has been
PUBLISHER QUARTO
added to the long list of
PRICE £20 / $29.99
influential people whose life
RELEASE OUT NOW
story has been told in the wildly
ome older readers will successful book series Little

S have fond memories of

the Choose Your Own
Adventure or Fighting
People, Big Dreams. As a
‘human calculator’, Johnson
calculated the trajectory of the
Fantasy series of game books, whose spacecraft that carried Neil
popularity boomed in the 1980s and Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to
1990s. They regularly featured in the the Moon on the historic
bestselling lists of the time, mainly Apollo 11 mission, ensuring
because each title placed the reader at that they landed safely. In this
the centre of the story and gave them vibrantly illustrated children’s
agency over its telling, with options at book, you will follow a young
the end of each section: do you choose Johnson through her early
to go left or right? Do you want to fight education to her time at a newly
that hobgoblin? If so, turn to page 10, established space agency called
otherwise turn to page 12 to run away. NASA. Johnson’s story is one of
The age of the game book has long triumph in the face of adversity
since passed, but the concept still and is filled with extraordinary
has plenty of legs – gamifying STEM accomplishments that
subjects is a great way of learning, influenced the way humans
whatever your age. Deep Space Danger explore space. Many young
is the fourth in the Spin to Survive survive, spin again or succumb to one children are sure to be inspired
series, putting the reader in the role of of the many perilous situations you can by Johnson’s story, and it may
a cadet aboard a spacecraft bound for encounter. For the book part, space even propel them into a career
Mars when it’s hit by meteoroids that writer Giles Sparrow has put together in space exploration.
tear a hole in the service module. The a scientifically accurate cosmic
rest of the crew are sucked into space adventure for school children, taking
or manage to escape in the crew them across a futuristic spacescape
transfer module, leaving you alone in a from the barren lands of the Red Planet
sealed part of the spacecraft with a to the surface of a comet and a
series of life-or-death decisions to splashdown rescue on Earth. The story
make. Do you continue the mission, comes complete with explainer boxes to
attempt a return to Earth or seek help put the minds of diligent parents and
from a nearby asteroid-mining station? teachers at ease.
Deep Space Danger comes with a There’s a lot of replayability in Deep
circular dial that pops out of the front Space Danger, so educators can leave
cover. For certain scenarios, you’ll need students alone with it for long periods,
to place the dial over a circle on the safe in the knowledge that they’re
page and spin the arrow to decide one being entertained and are learning
of three outcomes: whether you at the same time.

90
 OH NO THEY
AREN’T: NATURE
FASCINATING FACTS YOU
NEVER KNEW ABOUT
THE NATURAL WORLD

AUTHOR ERIC HUANG

ILLUSTRATOR SAM CALDWELL
PUBLISHER QUARTO
PRICE £8.99 / $12.99
RELEASE OUT NOW

This vibrant read transports you into

I AM VAPE a bustling natural world on every page.
From meeting curious desert creatures
TEACHING CHILDREN to delving into a marine metropolis
ABOUT THE DANGERS of complex coral colonies, this is an
OF VAPING AND unexpected and eye-opening adventure.
NICOTINE ADDICTION During this journey, readers learn about
prehistoric life, uncover facts about exclaims “Oh no they aren’t”, the
AUTHOR JULIA COOK
some incredible creepy-crawlies and insightful information is revealed,
ILLUSTRATOR BEGOÑA
are introduced to flying fish. detailing giant, friendly whale sharks
FERNÁNDEZ CORBALÁN
As part of the author’s Oh No They or a bat’s nighttime pollination antics.
PUBLISHER NATIONAL
Aren’t series, Nature tackles many of The quirky illustrations will take young
CENTER FOR YOUTH ISSUES
the common misconceptions about readers into worlds underground,
PRICE £9.20 / $11.95
animals – for example, that all sharks overground, in the sky and deep in the
RELEASE OUT NOW
are fearsome predators and insects sea, giving them a tour of Earth’s
are the only pollinators. Each time diverse habitats and the life forms that
Tackling the issue of youth
an illustrated animal character share them.
vaping head-on, the National
Center for Youth Issues has put
together this informative picture
book to show families the
dangers of vaping. Following the
cartoon criminal aptly called
‘Vape’, readers will learn about
BRIDGES
EXPLORE THE AMAZING
the many side effects and ARCHITECTURE BRIDGING GAPS
harmful consequences that ACROSS THE WORLD “Learn
more
come with vaping. From raising
stress levels to causing lung AUTHOR MAGDA GARGULÁKOVÁ
damage, readers will come ILLUSTRATOR JAKUB BACHORÍK about the
face to face with the many
health concerns around vaping,
PUBLISHER POST WAVE
world’s most
famous
PRICE £16.99 / $19.99
including the role of highly RELEASE 6 FEBRUARY
addictive substances such as bridges”
nicotine. Urging children not to
follow the crowd or attempt to Whether you walk over, drive over or get
‘fit in’ when it comes to vaping, pulled across them, the bridges of the world
this book acknowledges the all share a common goal – to better connect Annotated sketches complement
pressure on young people to us across Earth’s dramatic and undulating picturesque drawings, providing key details
pick up a vape, but also supplies landscapes. This book is far more than your with imaginative depictions. You’ll learn more
them with the knowledge they typical bridge encyclopedia, spanning vast about the world’s most famous bridges while
need to make an informed categories of bridge architecture in an marvelling at record-breaking constructions.
decision about their health. This attractive and informative manner while Many of the bridges we use today were built
book is a conversation starter gripping readers with historical accounts. a long time ago, and this book covers their
for families looking to tackle Bridges doesn’t just cover the typical form construction, step by step, to show how they
vaping or a creative way to you might initially conjure up in your mind, came to be. Using innovative methods, tackling
warn children of its risks. but explains a diverse range of natural environmental issues and taking years
bridges, folding bridges, lifting bridges and of manual labour, the tales in this book are a
armoured vehicles that extend their arms great reminder of the effort and dedication
to lay a bridge on demand. taken to simplify our journeys.

91
 BRAIN GYM
Give your brain a puzzle workout

:RUGbVHDUFK
Find the following words

Sudoku LOVE
FORGET
RUSHMORE
RUST
TINY
COMBAT
Complete the grid so that TOILET SYRINGE STATION
each row, column and 3x3 box EYES BRAKE TERROR
contains the numbers 1 to 9
EASY
R U S H T M U R A K E Y N I T
6 1 9 5
L Y I T E Y E Z U R O R R E O
1 2 8 L O V E R U S M X J S T A T I
9 2 7 F A R G R N T L F C O M B A L
7 1 5 8 2 9 E Y C K O S S T A T I O N H E
8 3 1 6
S F E Z R H U B R E A K W O T
1 2 8 3 7
1 4 9 7 R U S H M O R E B E M S E R R
9 4 8 6 3 1 Y I J C D T A I H O W S K M C
2 5 1 8 4 B R A K Q I V E U T E R A R O
MEDIUM N X G A E T K Y R I N G R E T
7 4 3 6 1
2 M S I B E Y E S T N Y I B U A
8 5 U R
N T G O M D E L K O Y S B
9 7 6
2 7 9 5 J H R S T A T I U N Z E Q U M
4 5 2 7 K O N P S Y R I N G E F A C O
3 2 1 F R U S W M O L Y T R A R V C
1 9 8
7 5 4
9 3 1 7 4
HARD

2 3 What
9
4
2 8
6 7
is it?
Hint:
1 7 2 9 4
6 3 5 8 Red-hot hole
in a mountain
5 3
6 3 7 A
1 5 4 8

92
6SRWWKHGLIIHUHQFH
See if you can find all six changes between the images below QUICKFIRE
QUESTIONS
Q1:KDWLVWKHZLGHO\DFFHSWHG
WKHRU\RIWKHRULJLQRIWKH
XQLYHUVHFDOOHG"
Big Bang
Little Pop
Large Expansion
Great Creation

Q2:KLFKSODQHWGRHVWKH
ODUJHVWPRRQLQWKH6RODU
6\VWHPRUELW"
Earth
Saturn
Jupiter
Mars

Q3:KDWZLOGDQLPDOGLG
GRPHVWLFGRJVHYROYHIURP"
Cave bears
Dingos
Wolves
Woolly mammoths

Q4+RZPXFKGLG$SH[WKH
6WHJRVDXUXVIRVVLOVHOOIRU"
$299,000
$9.5 million
$44.6 million
$1.6 billion

Q6:KDWLVDKXUULFDQHFDOOHG
LQWKH6RXWK&KLQD6HD"
Cyclone
Tropical storm
Gale
Typhoon

$QVZHUV Find the solutions to last issue’s puzzle pages

Q6:KDWNLQGRIURERWLV
%RVWRQ'\QDPLFVŧŦ6SRWŧ"
Q1 200 YEARS What Robot cat
Robot dog
is it?
Q2 ISAAC NEWTON
GLIIHUHQFH

Robot gerbil
6SRWWKH

Q3 GENERATION
Q4 ICE AND ROCK Robot rabbit
ICICLE
© Shutterstock

Q5 TIKTOK
Q6 F-14 TOMCAT

93
 HOW TO…
Practical projects to try at home
KIT LIST

Six gummy bears

Five containers
Water
Salt
Sugar

GROW GUMMY BEARS

Baking soda
Vinegar
Milk
Will they double in size, shrink or disintegrate? Their allocated container decides their fate A spoon

1 2
HOWITWORKSMAG

GATHER YOUR PREPARE THE WATER

MATERIALS Fill the first container with water. For the second, fill
You don’t have to a microwavable cup with water and heat in 30-second
experiment with all of intervals until fairly hot, but not boiling. You can also
the solutions listed in use a pan on the stove to heat the water.
the kit list. Feel free
to try out other
liquids if you wish to
conduct your own
[email protected]

experiments.

3 DISSOLVE
@HOWITWORKSMAG

THE SALT
Pour some of the
hot water into the
second container
and add a spoonful
of salt. Stir the
solution until the salt
has dissolved and
keep adding more
until the granules 4 REPEAT THE PROCESS
Repeat step three, but using sugar
HOW IT WORKS MAGAZINE

don’t dissolve instead of salt for container three. Leave

anymore. these solutions to cool down.
SEND YOUR IDEAS TO:

6 50:50
For the vinegar or

5 MIX THE BAKING SODA

Pour half a cup of hot water into the next cup and
add one tablespoon of baking soda. Stir the baking
milk solutions, make the
concentrations half
water and half vinegar or
soda into the water to complete this solution. milk for each container.

94
 NE
HO N

XT
DA
W CIN

ISS
TO G

UE
M CO
DON’T

AK RN
DO IT

E
ALONE!
If you’re under 16, make
sure you have an adult
with you

7 INSERT THE BEARS

When all of the liquids have reached room
temperature, place one gummy bear into each
liquid. Write down which colour bear is in each
liquid to ensure you remember the solution. SUMMARY

The gummy bears contain gelatine, which

works as a semi-permeable membrane
around the sweets. This is a membrane that
enables water to pass through, but not larger
substances like salt. The gummy bear in the
plain water has more sugar inside the gummy
bear than there is outside the sweet, so water
moves into the gummy bear to even out the
water concentrations across the membrane.
This movement of water molecules from a
region of higher water concentration to lower
water concentration across a semi-permeable
membrane is called osmosis.

8 THE WAITING GAME The opposite effect happens when the water
Leave the gummy bears in the liquids in the container is saturated with salt or sugar.
for at least 12 hours. It’s a good idea to When truly saturated, the water concentration
outside of the gummy bear should be much
perform this experiment in the evening
lower than that in the gummy bear, and the
and view the results the next morning.
sweet should reduce in volume as the water
diffuses out. The vinegar may have fully
disintegrated the bear if you left it in for a
prolonged period. This is because the high
acidity of vinegar breaks down the structure
of gelatine and removes the semi-permeable
membrane. Losing its structure means that
the sweet begins to break up and lose shape.
Meanwhile, the milk will have a minimal impact
on osmosis because the fats and proteins in
milk block the movement of water.

Had a go? Let us know!

If you’ve tried out any of our experiments – or
conducted some of your own – let us know! Share
your photos or videos with us on social media.

9 BIG BEARS
Carefully remove the bears from their
containers. Which ones have changed in size? If you
DISCLAIMER
Neither Future Publishing nor its employees can accept any liability for any adverse
effects experienced during the course of carrying out these projects or at any time after.
Always take care when handling potentially hazardous equipment or when working with
have spare gummy bears, place them next to those electronics, and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
from the containers to compare any differences.

95
 INBOX
Speak your mind

WIN!
HOWITWORKSMAG

PHYSICAL AN AMAZING PRIZE FOR

ANDDIGITAL LETTER OF THE MONTH
Dear HIW, SPIN TO SURVIVE: DEEP
How does reading
physical books and Seal pups struggle to move on
SPACE DANGER
Armed with your astronaut’s survival
[email protected]

magazines compare to land with their short front flippers spinner, will you abort the mission,
reading text on a screen? complete your journey or divert
to an asteroid-mining

SEAL SAFETY
Can reading on a screen station?
damage your eyes?
Kenneth Lewis
Dear HIW, Seals usually operate in colonies,
One of the main Recently I was on a coastal walk and saw baby making the process safer. If working as a
differences is the blue seals on a beach. I don’t think they were old team, when one parent is away from their
light exposure that enough to swim yet. How do seal parents pup, other adult seals can look out for the
comes with reading protect their babies and how long do they group of seal pups like a family. Predators
from a backlit screen. leave them lying at the shore? are also less likely to attack large groups.
This can cause your Chris Powell When a young seal’s mother is present,
eyes to strain due to she tends to be very attentive and
the short wavelength of Seal pupping season varies based protective. This involves chasing
@HOWITWORKSMAG

blue light. A screen’s on location and species. After away any threats. Other tactics
light focuses on the
front of the retina and
can damage cells with
birth, grey seals will remain on
a beach for a minimum of six
weeks, which comes with a
LETTER
of the
involve staying away from the
pup so that the adult seal
doesn’t draw visual attention
prolonged use. Reading
on a digital screen can
also keep you up at
significant risk, as baby seals’
mobility is limited on land.
After giving birth, mothers will
MONTH to the babies.
Humans can help seals keep
their young safe, too. If you come
night, as it prevents the leave pups alone for hours at a time across baby seals, as you did, it’s best
brain from releasing while they swim out to sea in search of to admire them from afar. Getting too
the hormone that food. The pups remain on land, limited to close can stress the seals out and can
HOW IT WORKS MAGAZINE

induces sleep, the beach they’re birthed on. For this even cause their parents to abandon them
melatonin. However, reason, seals choose birthing spots that if they detect an unfamiliar scent. If you
one of the benefits to are secluded and as safe as possible from see a seal pup injured or in distress, it’s
your eyes when reading predators. Their lighter fur also helps best to contact wildlife authorities and
on a device with a camouflage their bodies against rocks. refrain from interfering yourself.
backlit screen is that
you have more control
over how the text is
presented. For
example, you can
increase the font size
to reduce eye strain. GELATINE JELLIES jelly and soft sweets like marshmallows. To get
gelatine, animal tissue is taken and processed to
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO:

People blink more when Dear HIW, separate the collagen. The collagen is then boiled
reading paper books, As a vegetarian, there are many sweets I can’t to break down the protein, which cools to form a
preventing dry eyes eat because the ingredients list gelatine. Why is gel-like substance. Finally, the gel is filtered for
gelatine used in sweets and how do they get this further cleaning and turned to a powder so that it
from an animal? can be mixed into sweet mixtures.
Bethan Sanders
Studies show that 67 per cent of the British population don’t
Gelatine comes from a protein called collagen realise that many sweets contain a meat derivative
in animals and is taken from the bones, skin
or cartilage of cows or pigs. The substance
helps give some sweets their gummy texture,
providing a firm but flexible
consistency. It can also
be used to make
smooth textures for

96
 SCIENCE
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SUBJECTS Senior Art Editor Duncan Crook

Production Editor Nikole Robinson
Senior Staff Writer ³ƬȒɎɎ(ɖɎˡƺǼƳ
Dear HIW, Staff Writer Ailsa Harvey
When was science categorised Editor-in-Chief Tim Williamson
into physics, biology and Contributors
The term ‘jet lag’ was defined in 1966 Ian Evanden, Mike Jennings, Skyler Ware, Emily Cooke,
chemistry?
Sharmila Kuthunur, Patrick Pester, Stephanie Pappas,
James Baxter Jacklin Kwan, Brett Tingley, Own Jarus, Pandora Dewan

JUGGLING JET LAG The term physics was formally

Cover images
Getty, Shutterstock, BAE Systems

Dear HIW, recognised in the 18th century Photography

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97
 FAST FACTS
Amazing trivia that will blow your mind

3.5 MILLION
CELSIUS
No one knows why the Sun’s outer
atmosphere is much hotter than its surface
,
There are thousands of active satellites in orbit around Earth

Ice cream
is a solid,
18 CENTIMETRES
The largest megalodon shark tooth found is as long as a man’s hand

liquid and MILLION

a gas YEARS AGO
The first known seed-bearing plants appeared in the Famennian age

THERE IS A MASSIVE ‘GRAVITY HOLE’

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INDIAN OCEAN

In this year, the UK, US

and Germany signed a WATER
GETS
treaty to ban war
The latest hypersonic missiles can
travel at five times the speed of sound

LIGHTER
AS IT GETS
WARMER
© Getty / Shutterstock

The world’s largest, most valuable gold deposit was recently discovered in China

98
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