We’ve covered a fascinating range of topics in How It Works over the past year, so for this sixteenth edition of the How It Works annual, we’ve cherry-picked some really juicy features. We’ve crammed this annual with cool science and technology features, stuffed it with stunning illustrations, and filled it with fascinating facts. Enjoy!
WELCOME TO HOW IT WORKS Annual
How It Works Annual
SCIENCE
WHY DO WE FORGET? • As we navigate life, we collect masses of souvenirs in the form of memories. But we can’t keep all of these forever
WHAT IF YOU DIDN’T FORGET? • If your brain had an infinite memory, the organ would become inefficient and overstimulated
MEMORY THROUGH THE YEARS
THE RATE OF FORGETTING • In his ‘forgetting curve’, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus showed that 80 per cent of learned content is lost within one month
MEMORY DAMAGE AND DISEASE • Dementia is an umbrella term for conditions of memory loss caused by neuron damage
HOW ANIMAL MEMORIES COMPARE • Animals can remember key survival information for a lifetime, but how long before they forget trivial events in their working memory?
HOW TO OPERATE ON THE BRAIN • The procedures and surgical techniques that tackle problems inside your skull
HOLE IN THE HEAD • How surgeons safety gain access to a patient’s brain through the skull
TUMOUR TAKEDOWN • How a surgeon carefully trims away malignant masses and benign tumours
RUNNING INTERFERENCE • How DBS interrupts the electrical signals in the brain to get it back on track
ROBOT SURGEONS • The technology helping to make the world’s most complex surgeries a little simpler
WHY ARE GEMS DIFFERENT COLOURS? • Unearth the gemstone chemistry that results in a spectrum of decorative stones
COLOUR CHEMISTRY • Rare colours and compositions – alongside their hardness rating on the Mohs scale – can be attributed to a gemstone’s chemical composition
YOUR SKELETON EXPLAINED • It gives you shape, holds you together and encases vital organs, but this living structure is so much more than a coat hanger for your body
WHAT IS THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT? • How even the smallest action can cause significant and unpredictable events in the future
REAL-LIFE ZOMBIES • How much science is there behind the grasping undead creatures of horror flicks?
RABIES ROAD MAP • How the virus travels from bite to brain in just a few weeks
SURVIVING A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE • A professor of epidemiology and member of the advisory board of the Zombie Research Society, Dr Tara Smith sheds some light on how an apocalypse might emerge and what to do if it does
SPACE
20 amazing answers to curious QUESTIONS about the COSMOS • THE UNIVERSE IS FULL OF MYSTERIOUS PHENOMENA AND INCREDIBLE OBJECTS, AND WE’RE LEARNING MORE ABOUT THEM EVERY DAY
TOUR GUIDE TO MARS • Pack your spacesuit and get ready to tick off the must-see sights of the Red Planet
WELCOME TO THE RED PLANET • Mars is a dusty desert world that hosts some of the most mesmerising natural wonders in the Solar System
RESCUE IN SPACE • Fortunately, space emergencies are a rare occurrence, but astronauts and space agencies need to be prepared for any eventuality that might arise
INSIDE A SOYUZ CAPSULE • These are kept permanently docked to the ISS in case an emergency evacuation is necessary
THE SKYLAB RESCUE CAPSULE • The mission, which never had to fly, would have used a modified Apollo Command Module
CLOSE CALLS
WHAT IS THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND? • It’s the oldest thing in the universe that astronomers can still observe
CMB TIMELINE
THE SOUTH POLE TELESCOPE • The most...