How It Works-July 2021

ISSUE 153

WELCOME

The magazine that feeds minds!

© Getty

“Crowds cheered as C an you imagine being at the
athletes battled it first Olympic Games? Not
out to become the the one from Greek legend
first Olympians” – although watching the demigod

Incredible Olympics, page 26 Hercules destroy the competition

Meet the team… with his superhuman strength

would have been quite a sight to behold. No, the very

first games nearly 3,000 years ago in ancient Greece.

With just five events and one nation competing, it would

have been a very different affair to Tokyo 2020, though

still fascinating to see the origin of this international

event. Today’s top athletes might even seem

superhuman compared to the first Olympic

competitors, although no human

Olympian is a patch on some of

Nikole Scott Baljeet Duncan Ailsa the animal athletes we’re hcsooigHmwnIWui/ptnFnwtooeerwoowesurxrckasmlnlusdesadiitovliaftenfeigelrrylsis,.t
showcasing this issue. Enjoy!
Production Editor Staff Writer Research Editor Senior Art Editor Staff Writer
How is the human Which animal Though we still Next time you go to Today’s trains bear Ben Editor
brain equipped to species would take aren’t sure what a live music concert, little resemblance to
learn new things? home an Olympic FOLLOW US…
Discover how your gold medal? Meet dark matter and dark you’ll notice how the first steam
mind develops skills the Olympians of energy are exactly, much goes on engines. On page 58, howitworksmag
and knowledge on the animal kingdom see how technology
on page 40. there are lots of behind the scenes. will shape railways of How It Works magazine
page 76. theories. Find out Explore the tech on
more on page 52. the future. @HowItWorksmag
page 66.

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SPECIAL ARTRANSPORT ZZOONNEE!!

26 Incredible Olympics 58 The rail revolution

Discover the amazing history of How futuristic technology is
the world’s biggest sporting driving today’s trains to higher
event and the new technology of speeds and safer standards
the Summer Olympics in Tokyo
64 What’s inside a
HISTORY car seat?

36 Inside 10 TECHNOLOGY 26
Downing Street
66 Anatomy of a WIN!
Take a tour of one of the most rock concert
A SMART
AR famous locations in Britain: the How sound, lighting and special GARDEN

ZZOONNEE!! Prime Minister’s official residence effects can turn your favourite WORTH

38 Heroes of... Dian Fossey ARband into rock gods £170

ENVIRONMENT 70 How a fan oven works ZZOONNEE!! PAGE 83

40 Animal Olympians 72 Floating research
laboratories
Meet the animals that would
dominate the Olympics if they SCIENCE
could compete against humans

46 Why crabs are vital 76 How we learn

48 Earth’s underground Delve inside the human brain and
water stores discover how chemical signals
and connected neurons allow us
SPACE to acquire new skills

52 The hidden universe 80 Human,
machine and
What are dark energy and dark evolutionary
learning
ARZZOONNEE!! matter? Why can’t we see what
makes up most of the cosmos?

56 Giant Magellan

Telescope

Go to 56 Giant Magellan
page 24 Telescope
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MEET THIS ISSUE’S EXPERTS…

Andy Extance Dr Andrew Lauren Eyles Jo Elphick Amy Grisdale Laura Mears Mark Smith
May
Andy is a freelance Marine biologist and PADI Jo is an academic Volunteer animal Biologist Laura A technology and
science writer based in Andrew has a PhD in dive master Lauren has lawyer and lecturer worker Amy has an escaped the multimedia
Exeter, UK. He previously astrophysics and 30 been leading the fight enormous breadth of
worked in early stage years in public and against plastic pollution specialising in experience on animal confines of the lab specialist, Mark has
drug discovery research, private industry. He for over ten years. She’s criminal law and conservation projects. to the rigours of an written tech articles
followed by a brief stint in enjoys space writing appeared on BBC Coast, forensics. She is She specialises in
silicone adhesive and and is the author of Springwatch and other also the author of a office desk, as a for leading online
rubber manufacturing. wildlife programmes. number of true writing about keen science writer and print
several books. environmental topics.
004 HowItWorks crime books. and full-time publications for
software engineer. many years.

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REGULARS

46 Why crabs 64 What’s inside
are vital a car seat?

76 How we learn ARZZOONNEE!! 06 Global eye

52 The hidden universe Science and tech news from
around the world
58 The rail 66
revolution Anatomy 22 Wish list
of a rock
ARZZOONNEE!! concert The latest gadgets and apps for
your summer barbecue
ARZZOONNEE!!
51 eBooks and posters

Free How It Works digital
specials and posters

84 Brain dump

Your questions answered

90 Book reviews

92 Brain gym

Give your brain a workout
with our puzzle pages

94 How to…

Make a balloon-powered car

96 Letters

Write to us and have your say

98 Fast facts

36 Inside 10
Downing Street

ARZZOONNEE!!

AARRZZOONNEE!! When you see the Hold your mobile device HOW THE AUGMENTED REALITY WORKS
over the image and
Scan the QR code with AARRZZOONNEE!! logo at watch it come to life! After being launched by the QR code, the app reads anything
your device’s camera or Your device needs to be you point your device’s camera at 30 times a second,
download a free QR code the top of a page, use connected to the internet searching for distinctive shapes we’ve trained it to recognise.
reader app. Many iPhone for this to work When it sees a familiar picture, it overlays the augmented-
and Android devices your phone to scan reality 3D image we’ve previously uploaded on your screen.
include a QR reader
the QR code, which How It Works 005

looks like this

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BUTTERFLY
SKIN

The emerald swallowtail (Papilio palinurus)
is native to Southeast Asia and gets its name
from its vibrant wings. Depending on which
angle you look at the insect, it will change colour,
shifting between dark green, yellow and blue. This
chameleon-like ability comes from the structure of
its wings. Tiny microstructures called wing scales,
revealed in this image, reflect blue and yellow light,
often creating a green hue. However, due to the
arrangement and structure of the scales, at
different angles yellow and blue can be seen

independently. It’s believed the purpose of
this colour-shifting biology may help
this butterfly avoid predators.

© Getty

006 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

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BLACK www.howitworksdaily.com
HOLE POWER

Around 2.1 billion light years away from
Earth lies an elliptical galaxy 1,000 times
more massive than the Milky Way, called
Hercules A. At the galaxy’s core is a supermassive
black hole ejecting spectacular jets of cosmic
material millions of trillions of miles long. Hercules A
is thought to be the brightest radio-emitting object in
the constellation of Hercules, emitting almost a
billion times more power in radio wavelengths than
our Sun. This image was created in 2012 using
imagery and information from both the Wide
Field Camera 3 aboard Hubble and Very

Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in
New Mexico.

008 How It Works

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How It Works 009

© NASA, ESA, S. Baum and C. O’Dea (RIT), R. Perley and W. Cotton (NRAO/AUI/NSF), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

© Getty

010 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

FALLING
FROM SPACE

On 23 April 2021, the burner from SpaceX’s
Falcon 9 rocket hurtled back towards Earth.
The Falcon 9 was carrying the SpaceX Crew-2

mission astronauts – Shane Kimbrough,
Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide and
Thomas Pesquet – to the International Space Station
(ISS), the second crew SpaceX has launched. The crew
were carried in the Endeavour capsule, the same
capsule that was used in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon
debut in 2020. The launch took place at Complex
39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Not long after blastoff, the now-empty fuel
burner used to propel the rocket into

space fell back to Earth in this
fiery spectacle.

WwWwWw..HhOoWwIiTtWwOoRr kKSsDdAaIi lLyY. cCOoMm HoHwowIt IWt Worokrsks| 011

© Getty FLYING
THROUGH WATER
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These birds are typically found along
coastlines, soaring in the sky ready to dive
down into the ocean below to catch fish. Like an
avian spear, gannets tuck in their wings and feet,
plunging into the water at speeds of 60 miles per
hour. These expert divers can locate fish below the
surface, plummeting head first into the water from
heights of around 30 metres. To cushion the impact,
these birds are equipped with a network of air sacs
between their muscles and skin. In the UK alone
there are 220,000 breeding nests, equating to

around 60 to 70 per cent of the global
population across large parts of
Scottish, Welsh and northern
English coastline.

012 How It Works

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GLOBAL EYE IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Showcasing the incredible world we live in With over 14 million global monthly users, Live Science makes every day a little more interesting
by illuminating the fascinating world around us. For the science geek in everyone, Live Science
breaks down the stories behind the most interesting news and photos on the internet.

ANIMALS

Monster
eels can
swallow
prey on land

Words by Mindy Weisberger

Moray eels have a second, hidden set of jaws they could also swallow their prey on land without
that are the stuff of nightmares. This extra relying on water”.
set can snap forwards in an instant to
clamp into prey and drag the animal down into the Training snowflake moray eels to feed out of
eel’s gullet. The terrifying slingshot jaws help a water in lab experiments, and then recording the
type of moray do something that’s impossible for results, took six years. The scientists installed eels
most fish: swallow their prey while on land. It’s an in aquariums equipped with platforms and ramps
unnerving sight, with video footage showing prey that were above water. They then trained the eels,
being yanked down the eel’s throat as the moray’s named Benjen, Marsh, Qani, Jetsom, Frosty,
mouth gapes open. Flatsom and LB, to climb up the ramps for pieces of
squid. Over time the food was moved higher up the
Fish typically need moving water to carry food ramps, until eventually the eels were
from their mouths into their bellies. But snowflake independently wriggling out of the water and
moray eels (Echidna nebulosa) can ambush crabs on undulating up the ramps to find food. Researchers
land by wriggling from the sea to catch their prey analysed 67 videos of eels’ meals in water and on
during low tides, and researchers recently found the ramps, finding that the fish used their
that the recoil of the eels’ secondary jaws was pharyngeal jaws in the same way and at the same
strong enough to help morays swallow their meal speed while in water or on land.
without having to retreat back into the ocean.
Morays aren’t your average ‘fish out of water’.
All bony fishes – those with skeletons made They can function during temporary oxygen
mostly of bone, rather than cartilage – have deprivation, and studies of a snowflake moray
pharyngeal jaws in addition to their main jaws. relative, the Mediterranean moray (Muraena
Pharyngeal jaws lie behind the pharynx, or helena), showed that lipids and mucus in morays’
throat. They are smaller than the jaws in fishes’ skin could protect the eels against drying out when
mouths, and are used for gripping and piercing or they’re exposed to air. The experiments offered
crushing food. previously unseen examples of moray eel
behaviour, hinting at how morays might combine
But unlike most fishes’ pharyngeal jaws, those in amphibious traits with a slingshot jaw to make
moray eels “are highly mobile” and can spring past them versatile and formidable hunters in wet or
the throat and into the morays’ mouths, said Rita dry environments.
Mehta, an associate professor in the department of
ecology and evolutionary biology at the University
of California Santa Cruz (UCSC).

Mehta and her team filmed eels as they
munched on meals while out of the water. “Based
on what we knew about the mechanics of the
pharyngeal jaws, it made sense that if morays were
able to capture prey in the intertidal or on land,

014 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

Snowflake morays were
trained to eat outside
of the water

© Getty

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS An image of
Ganymede
obtained by Juno’s
7 June flyby

SPACE

Jupiter’s largest moon
is revealed in detail

Words by Ben Turner

Swooping low over Jupiter’s largest moon ago. Prior to this, the only other detailed close
Ganymede, NASA’s Juno probe has ups came from the Voyager missions in the late
snapped the first close-up photographs of 1970s. First discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610,

the frozen giant in more than two decades – and Ganymede is one of the gas giant Jupiter’s 79

they’re breathtaking. Juno zoomed as close as known moons. At 3,270 miles wide, Ganymede is

645 miles from the icy surface of the Solar larger than the planet Mercury, and is the

System’s largest moon on 7 June 2021, giving the only moon in our Solar System with its own

spacecraft a 25-minute window to magnetic field.

snap photos – long enough for five “At 3,270 The Juno science team will now
exposures – before it zipped away
on its 33rd orbit of Jupiter. miles wide, scour the new images for vital
clues about the composition,

Two photos from the flyby Ganymede is ionosphere – the upper part of an

released by NASA, one of larger than atmosphere where atoms are
Ganymede’s light, Sun-facing side ionised by solar radiation –

and the other of its dark side, show Mercury” magnetic field, radiation
an icy, inhospitable surface environment and ice shell of the

pockmarked with craters from asteroid impacts Jovian moon, as well as investigating whether

as well as long, narrow striations possibly any areas of the moon have been altered since

caused by tectonic fault lines. our last clear look. The level of detail offered by

“This is the closest any spacecraft has come to Juno’s camera has enabled the team to take

this mammoth moon in a generation,” said Juno photos with a resolution of about 0.6 to 1.2 miles.

principal investigator Scott Bolton, a physicist at Launched just under a decade ago in August

the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. 2011, Juno has been orbiting Jupiter for five years,

“We are going to take our time before we draw and the spacecraft is just a couple of weeks away

any scientific conclusions, but until then we can from the end of its primary mission. NASA plans

simply marvel at this celestial wonder.” to keep the probe surveying the stormy surface

NASA’s Galileo captured the last photos of the of Jupiter until 2025, with passes over two of the

enormous moon – which is the ninth-largest gas giant’s other large moons – frozen Europa

object in the Solar System – more than 20 years and volcanic Io – lined up for 2023.

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PLANET EARTH

Earth’s core is growing ‘lopsided’

Words by Brandon Specktor the east by pushing new crystals towards the slowly freezing out of the liquid outer core,
west. There the crystals clump into lattice like a snowball adding more layers. The outer
There’s a mystery brewing at the centre structures that stretch along the core’s core is then cooled by the mantle above it, so
of the Earth. Scientists can only see it north-south axis. These crystal structures, to ask the question of why the inner core is
when they study seismic waves – aligned parallel with Earth’s poles, are growing faster on one side than the other
subterranean tremors generated by seismic superhighways that enable might be asking the question of why one side
earthquakes – passing through the planet’s earthquake waves to travel more quickly in of the mantle is cooler than the other.”
solid-iron inner core. For some reason, waves that direction.
move through the core significantly faster Tectonic plates could be partially to blame.
when they’re travelling between the North But what’s causing this imbalance in the As cold tectonic plates dive deep below the
and South Poles than when they’re travelling inner core? That’s hard to say without Earth’s surface at subduction zones – places
across the equator. looking at all the other layers of our planet, where one plate sinks below another – they
Frost said. “Every layer in the Earth is cool the mantle below. However, whether
Researchers have known about this controlled by what’s above it, and influences mantle cooling could impact the inner core is
discrepancy, known as seismic anisotropy, what’s below it,” he said. “The inner core is still a subject of debate.
for decades, but have been unable to come up
with an explanation that’s consistent with “Every layer in © Alamy
the available data. Now, using computer the Earth is
simulations of the core’s growth over the last controlled by
billion years, a recent study offers a solution
that finally seems to fit: every year, little by what’s above it”
little, Earth’s inner core is growing in a
‘lopsided’ pattern, with new iron crystals New research suggests
forming faster on the east side of the core Earth’s solid inner core
than on the west side.
may be growing in a
“The movement of liquid iron in the ‘lopsided’ pattern
outer core carries heat away from the
inner core, causing it to freeze,”
says Daniel Frost, a seismologist
at the University of California,
Berkeley. “This means the
outer core has been taking
more heat from the east side
[under Indonesia] than the
west [under Brazil].”

To visualise this lopsided
growth in the core, imagine
a tree trunk with growth
rings radiating out from a
central point, Frost said,
but “the centre of the rings
is offset from the centre of
the tree” so that rings are
spaced farther apart on the
east side of the tree and
closer together on the west
side. A cross section of Earth’s
inner core might look similar
to that.

However, this asymmetric growth
doesn’t mean that the inner core itself
is misshapen or at risk of becoming
imbalanced.

On average, the inner core’s radius grows
evenly by about one millimetre every year.
Gravity corrects for the lopsided growth in

016 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

An artist’s SPACE
illustration of a
Universe’s
woolly largest spinning
mammoth, structures found
which roamed
Earth thousands Words by Charles Q. Choi
of years ago
Tendrils of galaxies up to hundreds
© Getty of millions of light years long may
ANIMALS be the largest spinning objects in
the entire universe. Celestial bodies often
Gold miners discover spin, from planets to stars to galaxies.
three woolly mammoths However, giant clusters of galaxies often
spin very slowly – if at all. So many
Words by Owen Jarus researchers thought that is where the
spinning might end on a cosmic scale,
Gold miners have discovered partial “The mining region in the interior of the according to Noam Libeskind, a © AIP/A. Khalatyan/J. Fohlmeister
skeletons of three woolly mammoths, Yukon was part of the unglaciated landscape cosmologist at the Leibniz Institute for
which may have been part of the same called Beringia, which connected with Alaska Astrophysics Potsdam in Germany.
family, at Little Flake Mine near Dawson City, and Siberia via the Bering land bridge,” says
Yukon, in Canada. They turned over the bones to Zazula. “The climate was incredibly cold and Previous research suggested that after
the Yukon government. “We seem to have one dry, and likely treeless, leading to the prevalence the universe was born in the Big Bang
large full-grown mammoth, one younger adult of grazing mammals.” about 13.8 billion years ago, much of the
and one juvenile,” said Grant Zazula, the head gas that makes up most of the known
palaeontologist for the Yukon government. From about 35,000 to 18,000 years ago, woolly matter of the cosmos collapsed to form
mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) crossed colossal sheets.
Some of the bones are still articulated that land bridge into North America. The dry
(connected) with each other. The way the bones environment there helped to preserve the three These sheets then broke apart to form
were found suggests “that these three mammoths. The climate was arid and the wind the filaments of a vast cosmic web. Using
mammoths were probably living together and would have easily blown dust around. “This data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey,
died together very close to where the fossil bones windblown silt, or loess, filled these valleys with scientists examined more than 17,000
were found,” Zazula added. Even if they weren’t sediment that rapidly covered the mammoths filaments, analysing the velocity at which
family members, they may have been part of a after they died,” says Zazula. Because they were the galaxies making up these giant tubes
larger herd, he said. covered so quickly, the remains would have moved within each tendril. The
been less exposed to oxygen and to scavengers. researchers found that the way in which
The miners found the skeletons near a layer of these galaxies moved suggested they were
volcanic tephra that likely dates to around 29,000 The “miners need to remove all this frozen silt rotating around the central axis of
years ago, when a volcano on the Aleutian to get to the gold-filled gravel in the valley each filament.
Islands erupted. The mammoths likely lived bottoms, and when they do that, they often
around the time of the eruption. At that time, uncover the remains of ice-age animals” such as The fastest the researchers saw galaxies
much of Canada was covered in glaciers, with the the three mammoths, said Zazula, who noted whirl around the hollow centres of these
area around Dawson City being one of the few that more mammoths may be found at the tendrils was about 223,700 miles per hour.
areas that was ice-free. mine site. The scientists noted they do not suggest
that every single filament in the universe
www.howitworksdaily.com spins, but that spinning filaments do
seem to exist.

Artist’s impression of a spinning cosmic filament

How It Works 017

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

© Getty HEALTH A map of tropical water vapour from
© Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory NASA. Research on water vapour and
Chromosomes other climate features suggests that
have extra
mystery mass satellite measurements might have
underestimated past warming
Words by Brandon Specktor
PLANET EARTH
Using one of the UK’s most powerful
X-ray beams, researchers recently Satellites may have
measured the mass of the 46 human underestimated
chromosomes. Results were surprising: global warming
each chromosome was about 20 times
heavier than the DNA contained inside, a Words by Stephanie Pappas
much greater mass than the researchers
anticipated. “Our measurement suggests The global warming that has already taken sea surface temperature to tropical water
the 46 chromosomes in each of our cells place may be even worse than we thought. vapour, the ratio of lower troposphere
weigh 242 picograms [trillionths of a That’s the takeaway from a new study that temperature to tropical water vapour, the ratio of
gram],” Ian Robinson, a professor of finds satellite measurements have likely been mid- to upper-troposphere temperature to
physics at University College London, said. underestimating the warming of the lower levels tropical water vapour and the ratio of mid- to
“This is heavier than we would expect, and of the atmosphere over the last 40 years. upper-troposphere temperature to tropical sea
if replicated points to unexplained excess surface temperature.
mass in chromosomes.” Basic physics equations govern the
relationship between temperature and moisture In models these ratios are strictly defined
Each human cell normally contains 23 in the air, but many measurements of based on physical laws governing moisture and
pairs of chromosomes. Within each temperature and moisture used in climate heat. It takes more energy to warm up moist air
chromosome is one DNA molecule and a models diverge from this relationship. That than dry air because water sucks up heat
plethora of proteins that serve a variety of means that either satellite measurements of the efficiently. Warmer air can also hold more
functions, like compressing your two- troposphere have underestimated its moisture than cooler air, a phenomenon that is
metre strands of DNA into tiny bundles temperature or overestimated its moisture, visible in morning dew – as the air cools
small enough to fit into individual cells. said Ben Santer, a climate scientist at overnight, it sheds water.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The US government-run Human Genome (LLNL) in California. The researchers found that the satellite
Project revealed, among other things, the observations didn’t stick to these supposedly
mass of DNA molecules. However, the “It's currently difficult to determine which well-defined rules. Instead they fell within a
weight of the chromosomes that house interpretation is more credible,” Santer said. wide range depending on which dataset the
these molecules remained a mystery. “But our analysis reveals that several researchers used. This might mean that some
observational datasets, particularly those with datasets – the ones that better mesh with the
Understanding this could lead to further the smallest values of ocean surface warming physical rules governing moisture and heat – are
insights about the complex structure of and tropospheric warming, appear to be at odds more accurate than others.
chromosomes, which are studied with other independently measured
extensively by medical labs for things like complementary variables.” Complementary The datasets that best followed the rules for
cancer diagnoses. The fact chromosomes variables are those with a physical relationship water vapour and temperature ratios tended to
weigh 20 times more than the DNA within to each other – in other words, the be those showing the most warming of the sea
them puzzled the team, and so far there’s measurements that show the least warming surface and troposphere. Likewise, the ones that
no good explanation. More research is might also be the least reliable. best followed the rules for mid- to upper-
definitely needed. troposphere temperatures and sea surface
Santer and his team compared four different temperature ratios were those with higher
Turns out human chromosomes weigh about 20 ratios of climate properties: the ratio of tropical measurements of sea surface temperature.
times more than the DNA within them
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018 How It Works

HEALTH

Mysterious protein changes
the shape of human DNA

Words by Cameron Duke

The differences between human and chromosomes took on variations of two basic © Getty
mosquito DNA aren’t limited to the
arrangement of letters in the genetic shapes. Her research suggested that some It’s been discovered that electrons descend from space
code. If you were to slice open a human cell lineages would use one shape and evolve on Alfvén waves to create the aurora borealis
and a mosquito cell and peer into the nucleus into the second and, in many cases, evolve
of each, you’d see that their chromosomes back. However, she didn’t know what force, SPACE
are folded with a dramatically different type
of genetic origami. Now researchers have if any, was driving these changes. Electrons ‘surf’
figured out how to fold one type of DNA to When presenting their research, the two across space
take the shape of the other. to create the
teams realised they were approaching the northern lights
“In the human nucleus the chromosomes same problem from different angles.
are bunched into tidy packages,” said Claire Hoencamp had found a protein that folds
Hoencamp, a doctoral candidate at the chromosomes, and Dudchenko had spotted
University of Amsterdam. “But in the Hoencamp’s experiment happening
mosquito nucleus the chromosomes are naturally across evolutionary timescales.
folded in the middle.”
Due to COVID-19, the collaborators turned
Hoencamp was studying condensin II, a
protein involved in cell division. In one to computer simulations to better Words by Brandon Specktor
experiment she destroyed this protein in a
human cell to observe its effect on the cell understand condensin II’s role in nuclear Physicists have definitive evidence that the
cycle. As if by elaborate choreography, the organisation. With help from a laboratory at aurora borealis is the result of electrons
resulting cell’s chromosomes would refold, Rice University in Houston, they simulated ‘surfing’ across the cosmos on powerful
but not like the DNA in a human nucleus. the effects of condensin II on the millions to party waves. Scientists have known for a while
billions of letters in a genome, confirming that aurorae occur when energised particles
Meanwhile, Olga Dudchenko, a what Hoencamp had found in her from the Sun soar across space and crash into
postdoctoral researcher at the Center for previous experiments. Earth’s magnetosphere. Those energised
Genome Architecture in Texas, was particles ride our planet’s magnetic field lines
classifying genomes based on the 3D Future research will aim to determine into the upper atmosphere, where they collide
structures their chromosomes form. As what evolutionary advantage, if any, one with oxygen and nitrogen molecules, releasing
co-director of a multi-institutional project nucleus structure might have over the other. dazzlingly coloured light in the process. But
called DNA Zoo, she was seeing some distinct When the researchers examined gene there’s still a big lingering question about the
patterns. “We can classify things into two expression, they found the folding structure aurora process: How do those solar particles pick
basic architectures,” she said, referencing of the chromosomes only mildly affected up enough speed and energy to crash into
the tightly coiled and compartmentalised gene expression, or how much of each Earth’s atmosphere with such force?
nature of the human genome versus the protein was made by different genes.
looser arrangement of the mosquito genome. One popular explanation involves Alfvén
No matter how many species she examined, Given how little folding affected gene waves, powerful geomagnetic waves that
expression, it’s not clear why a species would propagate through plasma, a charged gas that
www.howitworksdaily.com fold its DNA one way or the other. However, makes up the solar wind. These waves can pick
because both folding methods are found up electrons in plasma and accelerate them to
across the evolutionary tree, the subtle extremely high speeds without knocking them
effects of each might have big implications.

Human and mosquito cell off course. Space-based instruments have
nuclei have their own shapes, detected Alfvén waves travelling towards Earth
and researchers can mould one above aurorae, but scientists lacked a definitive
way of proving these waves were accelerating
to look like the other

electrons – until now.

In a recent study, researchers used an

instrument called the Large Plasma Device, a

20-metre-long vacuum chamber at UCLA that’s

capable of holding a magnetic field, to recreate

Alfvén waves under conditions similar to those

in the solar wind. The team measured the

velocity of electrons moving through the

© Getty For more plasma chamber, finding that a
of the latest small number of electrons were
indeed being accelerated to

stories, head to great speeds by the waves.

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SPACE

Astronomers map 100,000
star nurseries

Words by Ben Turner

Stellar nurseries, the cauldrons of gas change from place to place,” said Adam Leroy, their home, neighbourhood, city and region.
and dust where stars are forged, are far associate professor of astronomy at Ohio If a galaxy represents a city, then the
more diverse than astronomers first State University. “These nurseries are neighbourhood is the spiral arm, the house is
thought. Astronomers at the Physics at High responsible for building galaxies and making the star-forming unit and nearby galaxies are
Angular Resolution in Nearby Galaxies planets, and they’re an essential part in the neighbouring cities in the region,” said
(PHANGS) project have systematically story of how we got here.” PHANGS principal investigator Eva
charted more than 100,000 nurseries across Schinnerer. “These observations have taught
90 galaxies, finding that each one is far more The five-year survey, conducted across a us that the ‘neighbourhood’ has small but
unique than first thought. section of the cosmos known as the nearby pronounced effects on where and how many
universe because of its proximity to our own stars are born.”
Stars can take tens of millions of years to galaxy, used the Atacama Large Millimeter/
form, growing from billowing clouds of submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope “Clouds in the dense central regions of
turbulent dust and gas into gently glowing located in Chile’s Atacama Desert. By galaxies tend to be more massive, denser and
protostars before finally materialising into conducting their survey in the radio part of more turbulent than clouds that reside in the
gigantic orbs of fusion-powered plasma like the electromagnetic spectrum, rather than quiet outskirts of a galaxy,” said Annie
our Sun. the optical part, the astronomers could focus Hughes, an astronomer at L’Institut de
on the faint glow from the dust and gas of the Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie.
But how quickly this process depletes a dark and dense molecular clouds, as opposed
nursery’s store of gas and dust – and how to the visible light from the young stars “The life cycle of clouds also depends on
many stars are subsequently able to form in a birthed by them. This allowed the their environment. How fast a cloud forms
given place – depends on a stellar nursery’s researchers to study how a star’s home cloud stars and the process that ultimately destroys
location in a galaxy. shapes its formation. the cloud both seem to depend on where the
cloud lives.” Next, the researchers will try to
“We used to think that all stellar nurseries “To understand how stars form, we need to figure out what this variation could mean for
across every galaxy must look more or less link the birth of a single star back to its place the formation of stars and planets, as well as
the same, but this survey has revealed that in the universe. It’s like linking a person to for our own place in the universe.
this is not the case, and stellar nurseries

NGC 4535, a barred spiral
galaxy, was included
in the survey

“Stellar nurseries © ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/PHANGS, S. Dagnello (NRAO
change from
place to place” www.howitworksdaily.com

020 How It Works

Protective measures against COVID-19 © Getty HISTORY
may have also eradicated some types of
flu virus 7,000-year-
old letter seal
HEALTH found in Israel

Two flu virus Words by Yasemin Saplakoglu
variants go extinct
Archaeologists have found Israel’s
Words by Rachael Rettner oldest known seal impression, a
device that stamps a pattern onto
There’s been so little flu transmission are divided into two lineages known as B/ soft material such as clay or wax in order © Vladimir Nichen
during the COVID-19 pandemic that some Yamagata and B/Victoria. to seal an object. The tiny clay impression
types of flu virus may have gone extinct. dates back 7,000 years and was likely used
During the COVID-19 pandemic, flu cases have One clade of H3N2, known as 3c3.A, hasn’t been to seal and sign deliveries, as well as to
dropped to historic lows, a phenomenon experts detected since March 2020. The same is true of keep storerooms closed.
attribute to mask wearing and other precautions the lineage B/Yamagata. “I think it has a decent
to combat the novel coronavirus. chance that it’s gone. But the world’s a big place,” Researchers discovered the seal, along
Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at the with nearly 150 others, during excavations
Interestingly, two types of flu virus haven’t Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in that took place between 2004 and 2007 in
shown up on anyone’s radar for a year, meaning Seattle, said. Tel Tsaf, a prehistoric village in Israel’s
there have been no reported cases of these Beit She’an Valley. But while most of the
viruses anywhere in the world. Experts don’t yet Florian Krammer, a virologist at the Icahn other seals were just pieces of clay without
know if these types have gone extinct, but if so, School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, any imprints, one had an impression with
officials could have an easier time picking the shared similar thoughts about the B/Yamagata two distinct geometric shapes.
strains of flu virus included in the flu vaccine. lineage: “Just because nobody saw it doesn’t
mean it has disappeared completely – but it After conducting a thorough analysis,
To explain which flu viruses may have gone could have disappeared.” archaeologists identified this object as the
extinct, it helps to understand how flu viruses oldest seal impression known in the
are classified. Two families of flu virus cause Less diversity among flu viruses would be a region. Older seals dating back 8,500 years
seasonal flu: influenza A and influenza B. good thing. Each year, scientists make the flu have been found in the region, but seal
Influenza A viruses are divided into ‘subtypes’ vaccine months before flu season starts by impressions had not. Prehistoric people
based on two proteins on their surfaces known seeing what strains are circulating in the world used such sealings, or ‘bulla’, to sign and
as haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). and then predicting which flu strains are likely seal letters.
Currently, H1N1 and H3N2 circulate in people, to be the most common during the upcoming
and each of these subtypes is further broken season. Lower flu virus diversity means a The ancient seal, which was found in
down into ‘clades’. Influenza B viruses, on the smaller pool of circulating viruses to choose great condition due to the dry climate of
other hand, don’t have subtypes or clades, but from and a greater chance that the strains in the the area, is about a centimetre wide and
vaccine will match those in circulation. has two different stamps on it. The two
different stamp patterns suggest that the
www.howitworksdaily.com seal may have been used in a commercial
activity that involved two people in
the transaction.

The newly found seal impression and a modern
imprint of its pattern

How It Works 021

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022 HowItWorks

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How It Works 023

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SPECIAL

DISCOVER THE HISTORY, ATHLETICISM
AND TECHNOLOGY THAT HAS

CREATED THE BIGGEST SPORTING
EVENT IN THE WORLD

Words by
Scott Dutfield

026 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? Around 50,000 people came to watch the Olympics when they first began in ancient Greece

ore than 2,700 years 12 OF THE GREATEST MOMENTS AND
ago, crowds cheered as ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE SUMMER OLYMPICS
ancient Greek athletes
battled it out to become the first Source: Wiki/Bulgarian Archives State Agency Paris, France Source: Wiki/Heritage Auctions
Olympians. But the ancient
games were a far cry from Up until the start of the
modern events. Lasting only 20th century, only
five days, events were limited to
boxing, wrestling, running, 1900 men were allowed to
jumping, throwing and chariot compete in the
racing, in which athletes Olympic Games. At
typically competed in the nude. the 1900 event, 22
In Greek mythology, it was the women out of a total of
son of Zeus, Heracles, who held 997 athletes competed in five
the first Olympic Games to sporting events. One standout
showcase his supernatural star of this year’s games was
strength. However, it was a Charlotte Cooper. Having won her
mere mortal who was first to first Wimbledon singles title in
claim the title of champion. 1895, Cooper made easy work of
The original Olympic Games the mixed doubles tournament
date back to 776 BCE and were along with her partner Reginald
held in Olympia, Greece. The Doherty. The pair won big, and
first Olympic victor, a cook Cooper became the first woman to
called Coroebus of Elis, won the win a gold Olympic medal.
first-ever Olympic event, a
192-metre foot race, or ‘stadion’. St Louis, US 1904 (cancelled 1916
From then on, ancient Greeks London, UK 1908 due to WWI) 1920
convened every four years to 1924
showcase the next instalment 1928
of Olympians in an ever-
growing number of disciplines. LET THE WOMEN A STAR
The reason the games are held GAMES BEGIN ALLOWED IS BORN
in four-year intervals is because
of the way the ancient Greeks Athens, Berlin, Germany
measured time. Instead of the Greece Antwerp, Belgium
12 months that make up the
modern-day year, ancient The first modern Stockholm, Paris, France
Greek calendars were written in Olympic Games Sweden Amsterdam, The Netherlands
‘Olympiads’ that equated to
four years. The games were held 1896 were not as grand Claiming gold for
at each new Olympiad, and compared to
even as calendars evolved, the recent years, with both the Olympic
tradition of waiting four years only nine sporting
for the next event remained. events included. 1912 pentathlon and
The ancient games lasted Harvard student James Connolly decathlon, which
through to 393 CE, and it wasn’t became the first modern-day together were
until the late 1800s that the Olympian, winning the triple-
Olympics returned with a jump, then known as the ‘hop, made up of 15
modern makeover. skip, jump’. However, what
The first modern Olympic shocked many was another events, Jim Thorpe
Games was brought to life by man’s skill in a sport he’d never
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a played before. Robert Garrett, a was hailed as being the world’s
French sportsman who had a Princeton student, was asked to
history of organising sporting join the American athletes in Source: Wiki/Olympics.org greatest athlete. However, not
conferences, ultimately Athens. The only problem was
founding the International that Garrett had never thrown an long after King Gustaf V of
Olympic Committee (IOC) to ancient Greek discus, an event
oversee the games. He was also not played in the US. Sweden put those medals
the mind behind the creation of Nevertheless, through sheer
the five Olympic rings in 1913. natural skill and determination, around his neck, they were
Garrett not only competed but
www.howitworksdaily.com won the discus event, defeating controversially stripped away
Greek champion thrower
Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos. from him. This was because at

the time the Olympic rules

stipulated that competitors had

“The Olympics to be ‘amateurs’, unpaid for
their sporting abilities. However,

returned with a a few years prior to the 1912
games, Thorpe earned $25 a

modern makeover” week playing minor league
baseball, thus disqualifying his

Olympic achievements.

How It Works 027

“Rather than having
the shoes put his win
in jeopardy, he decided

to run barefoot”

© Getty © Alamy Rome,
Italy
Los Angeles, US Berlin, 1940 (cancelled due to WWII) London, UK Helsinki, Finland 1952 Tokyo, Japan 1964
Germany 1944 (cancelled due to WWII) Melbourne, Australia 1956 Ethiopian
It’s hard enough to win a Just two marathon
gold medal in just one Beamed out in months
black and 1960 runner
1932 Olympic event in a 1948 after Abebe Bikila
single sport, but 1936 white, the graduating astounded
Mildred Ella “Babe” 1936 Olympic high school, spectators
Didrikson Zaharias did Games were Bob Mathias when he not only
just that – and much the first to be travelled to took home the gold medal
more. At the 1932 games, the broadcast on a London to compete in the for winning the race, but
American athlete became the first television screen, even Olympic decathlon. did so by running without
person – male or female – to win though it was reserved for Mathias won the gold shoes. Before the race
individual Olympic medals in those in the Olympic Village medal for the race, and began, Bikila was given
separate running, throwing and and 25 viewing rooms at just 17 years old shoes that didn’t fit
jumping events, taking home two around Berlin and Potsdam. became the youngest comfortably. Rather than
gold medals for the 80-metre It wasn’t until 1960 that the person to ever win gold at having thr shoes put his
hurdle and javelin and a silver first live broadcast would an Olympic track-and- win in jeopardy, he decided
medal for the high jump. reach homes across Europe. field event. to run barefoot, something
several other Olympians
JACK OF TELEVISION TEENAGE have done since.
ALL TRADES DEBUT TRIUMPH
BAREFOOT
BRILLIANCE

Tokyo, Japan
London, UK

© Alamy

© Getty © Getty

028 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? The US holds the record for the most Olympic medals won, with 2,522 wins across gold, silver and bronze

Moscow, Soviet Union Beijing, China

Competing on home turf, Usain Bolt dominated the racetrack
Aleksandr Dityatin led the at the 2008 Olympics, achieving

1980 Soviet Union’s gymnastics 2008 a world record for the fastest
team to victory by not only 100-metre sprint. The Jamaican
qualifying for all six of the athlete sped across the finish
gymnastics apparatus events, line after just 9.69 seconds. The
but winning medals for each of following year he topped himself
them all in a single day. He was also the first again at the World Championships, finishing
male gymnast to receive a perfect score of the race in 9.58 seconds.
ten for his long horse vault.

1968 © Getty London, UK
© Shutterstock
1984 Until the 2012
1976 1988 Olympics, former
1992
1996 2012 Soviet gymnast
2000 Larisa Latynina held
2004 the record for the
most medals won
cumulatively, winning
18 by her last competition in 1964.
However, American swimmer
Michael Phelps snatched that title
after winning the silver medal for
the 200-metre butterfly and then
the gold for the 4x200-metre
freestyle relay in 2012, bringing
his total medal collection to 20.

RECORD GYMNASTICS SPRINTING TO RECORD DEFENDING
MAKER GENIUS SHOCKING SPEEDS BREAKER HER TITLE

Mexico City, Mexico Los Angeles, US Rio, Brazil
Montreal, Canada Seoul, South Korea
Flyweight
Barcelona, Spain boxer
Atlanta, US
2016 Nicola
Sydney, Australia Adams
Athens, Greece took home
her second
Munich, gold medal for
West Great Britain at the 2016
Germany Olympics. As the first
woman to ever win a
American gold medal for boxing,
swimmer Mark the 2016 Olympic
Games saw her not only
1972 Spitz was the retain her boxing title,
one to watch but she also became the
at the 1968 first boxer to retain the
Olympic Games gold medal in 92 years.
in Mexico City.
However, his performance © Alamy
was lacking, and he only
took two of the six gold How It Works 029
medals he was predicted to
win. But Spitz redeemed
himself at the 1972 games,
taking home seven gold
medals, the most ever won
at a single Olympic Games
and a record he would hold
until swimmer Michael
Phelps won eight gold
medals in Beijing in 2008.

www.howitworksdaily.com

SPECIAL Source: Wiki/XXXX
Source: Wiki/Arne Museler
The Olympic flame flew from Greece
to Fukushima, and will tour each
prefecture of Japan

© Getty

The Japan National Stadium was completed in 2019 and
can accommodate 60,000 spectators

The Japanese rhythmic gymnastics team
receiving gold medals at a Tokyo 2020 test event

© Getty

AFTER A YEAR’S DELAY, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT
FROM THE LATEST SUMMER OLYMPICS?

he long-awaited Summer Olympic greenhouse emissions. The Tokyo Organising Amsterdam. Subsequently, at the 1936 Berlin
Games are set to descend upon Tokyo, Committee for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Olympic Torch Relay introduced the
Japan, from 23 July to 8 August. Thousands Games outlined a carbon-offset program to help concept of running the flame from the games’
of athletes from around the world will make make the games a ‘zero-carbon’ event. This roots in Olympia to the host city. To light the
their way to the capital city with hopes of environmental effort will include powering torch, a parabolic (curved) mirror is used to
claiming the coveted gold, silver and bronze Olympic venues, media centres and athlete reflect rays of the Sun’s light into a single,
medals. Over the last 12 months there have been villages with renewable energy, such as solar concentrated focal point hot enough to ignite an
many false starts and delays for the 2020 panels, and also using 65 per cent recyclable Olympic flame.
games – with many doubts the event could even materials at the event’s food services.
go ahead. The latest relay began earlier this year in
Measures have been put into place to tackle One way organisers sought to reduce the Fukushima on 25 March. For the following 121
the spread of COVID-19, including ensuring games’ environmental impact was to introduce a days, the torch will make its journey through all
around 80 per cent of athletes are vaccinated. recycling program to source material for the 47 prefectures of Japan. Along the way through
The Japanese government and the IOC have also Olympic medals. Starting in 2017, the Tokyo 2020 Fukushima, Aichi and parts of Tokyo, zero-
announced that international spectators will not Medal Project called for donations of old small emission hydrogen will be used as the flame’s
be allowed to attend the Tokyo Olympics. electronic devices, such as used mobile phones, fuel source. Burning hydrogen emits no carbon
One of the biggest themes of this year’s from all over Japan. In the two years the project dioxide into the atmosphere, and hydrogen fuel
Olympic Games is sustainability and renewable was open, 78,985 tonnes of devices were is rapidly growing in popularity as a more
energy. Working under the concept of “be better, collected, which has provided 100 per cent of the sustainable and renewable source of energy.
together – for the planet and the people”, metals needed to manufacture the 5,000 gold, Tech giant Toyota is aiming to deliver more than
Olympic organisers set out to implement silver and bronze medals that will be awarded to 500 hydrogen-fuelled vehicles to ferry athletes
sustainability initiatives to minimise the winners at the games. and officials to and from the Olympic events as a
environmental impact of the games. greener mode of transport.
Historically the Olympic Games not only The eco-friendly attitude of the games has
brings some of the world’s greatest athletes also extended to the Olympic torch. Symbolising
together, but also contributes heavily to the connection between the games of ancient
Greece and the modern era, the Olympic flame
was first introduced at the 1928 Olympics in

030 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? More than 3,000 athletes from seven countries took part in the first Olympic Torch Relay in 1936

Inside the Material Ignition
Olympic torch
The torch is made of around 30 This torch uses two combustion
What keeps this eternal per cent recycled aluminium from mechanisms: a high-heat blue
flame burning? the temporary housing built for flame and flameless mechanism
the victims of the 2011 Great East to produce a red torch flame.
Blossoming flames Japan earthquake and tsunami.
NEW SPORTS
Designer Tokujin Yoshioka AT THE TOKYO
used the cherry blossom 2020 GAMES
flower as inspiration for the
petalled appearance of the
torch. Flames appear from
each of the five petals.

Combustor

Fuel pipe 1 Surfing
Crashing down on Tsurigasaki
On/off switch Fuel Beach are the best surfing athletes
from around the world. The surfing
Liquid fuel, such as hydrogen, events will take place over four
is pressurised to transform it days. However, due to the
into a gas, which is then unpredictability of the waves, no
ignited to maintain the flame. exact date for these events has
been given.
Size and shape
2 Skateboarding
The torch weighs Split into two categories, this
around 1.2 kilograms year’s skating Olympians compete
and measures 71 in street and park skateboarding
centimetres long. events. From zipping down
© The Art Agency / Nick Sellers handrails in the streets to powering
© Getty through the hollowed-out courses
OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY START at the Olympic park, athletes are
judged on their originality,
Around 10,000 runners have been selected FINISH execution and tricks.
to jog around Japan to deliver the Olympic
torch to the National Stadium. Each runner 3Sport climbing
carries the torch for a distance of around 20 athletes – both male and
200 metres. The Olympic flame was flown female – are taking part in this new
in from Greece last year and delivered to event, which consists of three
Fukushima, where it ignited the 2020 torch. disciplines: speed, bouldering and
lead climbing. After the events,
each athlete is given a combined
score from each discipline. Those
with the lowest score progress to
the final six and compete again for
medal placement.

4 Karate
Six events make up this new
Olympic sport, arranged by
different weight divisions of the
athletes: three categories for men
and another three for women.
Along with these combat events,
two kata events showcase routines
of punches and kicks.

5 Baseball/softball
These sports are no stranger to
the Olympics, having been included
in the games since the early 1900s.
They were dropped after the 2008
Olympics but made their return this
year, with the host nation among
the favourites to win.

www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 031

SPECIAL

Former junior gymnastics© GettyMEET THE MACHINES THAT ARE GIVING THIS
star Giarnni Regini-Moran YEARS’ OLYMPICS AN UPGRADE
makes his Summer
Olympic debut for Great Fetch and carry
Britain this year. He won
three gold medals at the Meet the Field Support Robot (FSR).
2014 Summer Youth Its goal is to retrieve objects from
Olympics in Nanjing, throwing events, such as discuses and
China, and a bronze javelins. Much like a high-tech golf
medal on the vault at this caddy, this robot has been created
year’s European Championship. Giarnni to autonomously follow a human
reveals to How It Works what it takes to member of staff who retrieves the
train for the Olympics and how the objects, who can then place them in
pandemic has played a role in preparation the FSR’s built-in storage. The FSR
works in a similar way to the many
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY OF TRAINING automatic vehicles seen in factories,
LOOK LIKE FOR YOU? using an AI-equipped camera to detect
When we’re at the training camp we’ll have humans and the reflection of a laser
breakfast at around 07:45 to 08:00, and beam to determine their distance.
then we’ll get into the gym for 09:15 to This robot utilises self-navigating
09:30, do our training and then finish technology to map routes along fields
around 13:00 for lunch. Then we will start and pitches to avoid obstacles. This
back at 15:00 until about 17:00 or 17:30. machine reduces the number of staff
We’ve been here [Lilleshall National Sports needed to collect objects and brings
Centre] pretty much since January because down the time it takes to collect them.
we’ve had free Olympic trials, and now
we’ve made it on the Olympic team we’re © Getty
continuing to stay here.
Battling
WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST TRAINING backache
CHALLENGE FOR THIS YEAR’S GAMES?
Not knowing whether it’s going to go ahead To ease the strain of lifting
or not. You hear rumours that the Olympics boxes, transporting waste and
may be cancelled, and you’re still training
so hard to try and chase your dream. In unloading luggage, tech
2020 we were working so hard in January, giant Panasonic has
and all of a sudden everything is cancelled. developed a power-assisted
That’s always been the hardest. We’re suit called the ATOUN
training as if it’s going ahead, but we could Model Y. The carbon-fibre
be doing all this work for nothing… the frame weighs around 4.5
hardest part is trying to stay motivated. kilograms, but can offer an
additional lifting force of
HAS COVID AFFECTED HOW YOU TRAIN? up to ten kilograms. Worn
It’s been difficult. Half the team got COVID like a backpack, this device
in November, and as athletes we have to can pull the body up using a
follow certain protocols. We had to do ten series of motors when lifting,
days of isolation and then another seven lock in place during transport
days of ‘back to training’, which is very and support the body when
minimal. Especially coming closer to the lowering items.
games, trying to avoid catching COVID, it’s © Getty
been tough. While the countries come out © Getty
of a lockdown, we’ve
almost got to go into one. www.howitworksdaily.com
It’s been hard doing
in-house competitions.
Normally we’d be in
arenas, there would be
spectators, family, friends
– having that real
support behind you.
But this time around
everything’s been done
behind closed doors.

Regini-Moran competing on
the High Bar during the
Men’s Qualification of the
FIG Artistic Gymnastics
World Championships

032 How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? The next city to host the Olympic Games will be Paris in 2024

© Toyota

High-tech, low-emission cars

Continuing with efforts to deliver a zero-carbon event – or at least as
close as possible – Olympic organisers have partnered with manufacturer
Toyota to create several new vehicles to transport athletes between the
Olympic Village and their events using renewable energy sources. The
e-Palette is a battery-powered vehicle that uses LiDAR technology, similar
to that used on large ocean vessels, to map out its surroundings and
drive autonomously. Toyota has also created public transport fuelled by
hydrogen with its Sora fuel cell-powered bus. Sora, an acronym for the
water cycle – sky, ocean, river and air – can carry up to 78 passengers and
transport them while releasing no carbon.

© Toyota
© Toyota
Robotic Remote Remote spectators
assistants communication
If there was ever a need for creating more
Meet the Human Support Robot Near life-size displays have been innovative ways to virtually attend events,
(HSR) and Delivery Support Robot combined with a set of wheels to that time is now. In the wake of the global
(DSR), both supporting the various create the T-TR1. These machines pandemic, Olympic partner Toyota has
activities of Olympic spectators. allow remote spectators to have developed the T-HR3 humanoid robot for
From guiding people to their seats two-way communication with remote spectators. This versatile machine
to delivering food, these handy people at the events using a built-in is controlled via a Master Manoeuvring
robots have been designed under 360-degree camera. It essentially System that allows a person to move
the concept of providing support uses the same connectivity the entire body of the T-HR3 through
to everyone, including people technology as your phone when wearable controls.
with impairments. making a video call.
Sitting in the space-age manoeuvring
www.howitworksdaily.com system, human puppet masters operate
a series of motors, gears and sensors
in the humanoid robot to control its 29
body parts. However, the 5G wireless
connection between the manoeuvring
system and the robot can only support a
physical distance of up to six miles from
one another, limiting capability.

How It Works 033

SPECIAL

DID YOU KNOW? The 1904 Olympic marathon winner cheated - by taking a car for most of the distance

6,000 92.5% 6 GRAMS 32kgs GOLD
SILVER 3,500kgs SILVER
Around 4,000 fewer First-place medals are
athletes are attending for both gold plated with at least six 2,200kgs
the opening ceremony and silver COPPER
medals grams of pure gold AND ZINC
than predicted
60mm DIAMETER
42 3mm THICK

Millions of mobile phones were donated for medal-making THE NUMBER
materials, contributing to 78,985 tonnes of scrap OF DEBUTING

OLYMPIC
SPORTS AT
THE 2020

GAMES

The total number of 5,000MEDALS WILL BE The Olympic Stadium
venues in Japan hosting MADE FOR WINNING was constructed using
OLYMPIANS timber from all 47
Olympic events Japanese prefectures

250

Participating 50/50 197 199 201 201 204 207200
200 countries
150 through AbllOostlhpymomrptasielcevasetawnntthidslel fhe2am0v2ea0le 169
159
140

the years 121
112

100 93 92
83 80

69 72
59
50 44 46 37 49
24 22 28 29
14 12

1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020

© Getty

www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 035

HISTORY AARRZZOONNEE!!

A sneak peek AARRZZOONNEE!!

What spaces are found SCAN HERE

within these walls?

© Alamy Cooking for Plentiful offices
the crowds
Around 200 members of
These large kitchens cater for staff work for the prime
minister within Downing
those attending events in Street. The main political
office is next to the prime
Downing Street. During World minister’s meeting room.

War II, this was one of the

areas damaged by bombing.

Inside 10
Downing
Street

Take a tour of the UK prime A place to eat Hosting grand
minister’s official abode receptions
There are dining rooms for
Words by Ailsa Harvey everyday use, as well as a large This is the Pillared Room,
State Dining Room, which has which is used for the
E ver since Robert Walpole, the first person accommodated up to 65 people. biggest receptions,
regarded as holding the power and position including the signing of
of a British prime minister, 10 Downing Tinhe18S2t5atbeyDSinirinJoghRnoSoomanweas designed international agreements.
Street has been the prime minister’s official
residence. This came about when King George II Guests are often shown the Pillared
offered Walpole the building as a gift in 1732. Room before they’re seated to dine
Walpole accepted it on the condition that it was
not a gift solely to him, but to whoever held his www.howitworksdaily.com
position. To this day, the role of prime minister © Getty
has come with this gift. © Getty

Signifying this tradition, the portraits of former
prime ministers are placed on the wall leading up
its grand staircase. The current prime minister is
missing from this display, but as soon as they
leave office the frames are shifted down the wall,
and a new portrait is added at the top. There is no
requirement for a prime minister to live within
these walls, however. In fact, between 1735 and
1902, only 16 of the 32 leading statesmen – and one
woman – stayed there. In more recent years many
prime ministers, such as the UK’s current leader
Boris Johnson, chose to move into Number 11,
where there is a more spacious flat.

Behind the famous, bomb-proof black door of 10
Downing Street is a mansion of around 100 rooms.
The building’s purpose isn’t just to add comfort to
the life of the prime minister, but to create a
setting where some of the most important
decisions can be made on behalf of the country.

036 HowItWorks

DID YOU KNOW? Smog turned Downing Street’s bricks black in the 1960s. It was later painted to preserve this iconic look

The Blue, or Green, Not just Number 10
or Terracotta room
It might often be referred to as
Its name frequently changes as Number 10, but the prime minister’s
the walls are painted new colours. facilities actually cover more residences.
This space was initially used for The main building has been connected to
dining in. the backward-facing Number 11, while
Number 9 and Number 12 are also in use.
Upnritmile19m4i0n,isttheersWfohritperRivoaocmy was used by 9 Downing Street is where press briefings
take place. In the media room, the prime
minister broadcasts to the country and
the press. Number 12 is primarily used as
offices for employees, and was
traditionally home to the chief whip, who
makes sure members of the political
party attend and vote in parliament.
© Alamy
© Getty

A new media briefing room in Number 9
was unveiled in 2021

Luxurious living Appointments with
the chancellor
On the top floor there is a
large flat where the prime The chancellor has the option
minister can choose to live.
to live in Downing Street and

is assigned this area to hold

informal meetings.

Enter the den Areas for errands The chancellor’s © Getty
workplace Illustrations by © Nicholas Forder
Important decisions At the back of the building are
are often made in the garden-facing rooms for This is where the chancellor
prime minister’s Downing Street’s secretaries. works to track and control
meeting room, also These secretaries attend to the the country’s finances.
referred to as the ‘den’. prime minister’s daily needs.
The weekly
www.howitworksdaily.com gathering

Surrounded by
sound-proof walls, the
cabinet meets here on
a weekly basis to
discuss domestic and
foreign affairs.

The Cabinet Room in 1964

How It Works 037

HEROES OF…

ENVIRONMENT

Dian Fossey, the world’s
leading gorilla expert

Fossey gained valuable insight into
the world of gorillas through
observation and habituation

The little blue cabin at Karisoke Research Center where Fossey lived A life’s 1963
while studying the mountain gorillas work
She travels to Africa and meets
038 HowItWorks Fossey’s life the ‘gorillas of the misted
has been mountains’ for the first time.
punctuated by
some incredible 1932
zoological
moments Fossey is born on 16 January in San
Francisco, California, and grows up
with her mother and stepfather.

www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? Fossey first arrived in Kenya in 1963, beginning her first tour of Africa

Dian Fossey THIDEEBAIG

In 1967,
Fossey established

This primatologist lived and died to the internationally

protect mountain gorillas renowned Karisoke

D ian Fossey developed a love of animals at Geographic Society photographer started taking Research Center
an early age, from learning to ride horses photos of her working alongside the gorillas,
at six to working on a ranch in Montana Fossey became an overnight sensation. She soon Nestled between Mount Karisimbi and
Mount Bisoke in a Rwandan alpine
at 19. However, when she decided to join the used her newfound celebrity status to highlight meadow, Fossey set up a camp that would
eventually become a world-famous centre
University of California as a pre-veterinary the plight of these beautiful creatures at the for primatology studies. It was here that
she successfully gained the trust of the
student, she found parts of the course too hard hands of poachers. shy mountain gorillas, and through sheer
perseverance and determination she
and changed direction, gaining a degree in She began chasing the poachers through the gathered vital data that would be used by
future generations of zoologists,
occupational therapy. Initially she was content trees wearing terrifying masks and setting fire to environmental campaigners and
primatology students the world over.
with working at a hospital “Fossey became their traps. She employed a
in Kentucky, but when a group of park wardens to Fossey perfected the process of
‘habituation’ – gaining the trust of the
friend showed her some an overnight deter the hunters, but when gorillas by mimicking their behaviour –
photographs that she had and in doing so changed our perception of
taken while on holiday in sensation. She soon her favourite gorilla ‘Digit’ the mountain gorilla from vicious killer to
was brutally slaughtered, gentle giant.

used her newfoundAfrica, Fossey realised that Fossey became far more

she too wanted to travel celebrity status to confrontational. Describing
and see the world. her methods as ‘active

In 1963 she took out a highlight the plight conservation’, she was able Sigourney Weaver as
bank loan and headed out of these beautiful to draw attention to the Fossey in Gorillas in the
on the adventure of a Mist, working at Karisoke
precarious position of the

lifetime, journeying across creatures at the mountain gorillas, but the

Kenya, Zimbabwe, poachers were infuriated
by her meddling.
hands of poachers’”Tanzania – where she met

future mentor Dr Louis Just before her 54th

Leakey – and finally Congo. When Fossey joined birthday, Fossey was struck down with a

wildlife photographers Joan and Alan Root on an machete in her cabin. Her murder still remains

expedition up into the Virunga Mountains, she unsolved, but some believe she was killed by

laid eyes on the magnificent mountain gorillas poachers. She left behind a wealth of fascinating

for the first time. data on mountain gorillas, paving the way for

On returning to the US, Fossey published a primatology students to follow their dreams.

number of articles about her first encounter with

the gorillas, and with Leakey’s support she IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS
secured funding for a return trip to Africa.

Having set up camp in Kabara, Congo, she began Mireya Mayor Biruté Galdikas
observing the gorillas, learning to imitate their
In 2000, having been inspired by Born in 1946, Galdikas is

behaviour until eventually they accepted her. Fossey as a child, anthropologist considered a leading authority on
She could then follow the groups around, Mireya Mayor helped discover the orangutans. Inspired by the
keeping detailed notes of their daily lives. world’s smallest primate, a tiny photographs of Dian Fossey in
mouse lemur dubbed Microcebus National Geographic, Galdikas
Due to a violent rebellion in Zaire (now mittermeieri. Her discovery has studied psychology and zoology
Congo), Fossey was forced to flee her camp, but led to the creation of a national before completing a master’s in
she refused to give up on her work. She travelled park in the heart of Madagascar, anthropology. She went on to
solely established to protect this pioneer the study of orangutans

to Rwanda, where she could continue rare and beautiful primate. Having received her PhD from in their natural habitat of Borneo, and like her heroine Fossey,
habituating with the gorillas, and set up the Stony Brook University, Mayor has dedicated her life to campaigns on behalf of primate conservation and the
Karisoke Research Center. When a National studying wildlife in Africa and sharing her knowledge with protection of the rainforest. In 1997 she received the Tyler
audiences around the world. Prize for Environmental Achievement.

1968 1978 1985

Photographer Bob Campbell of the National Fossey establishes the Digit Fund, later Fossey’s body is discovered in her cabin
Geographic Society captures images of her known as the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund at Karisoke on 27 December, a few
work, making a star of the primatologist. International, or ‘Fossey Fund’. weeks before her 54th birthday.

1967 1974 1980 All images © Getty

Fossey establishes the She completes her PhD, having enrolled She begins writing the manuscript for her
Karisoke Research Center in the department of animal behaviour bestselling book Gorillas in the Mist while
in Rwanda. at Darwin College, Cambridge. staying in New York.

www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 039

ENVIRONMENT

ANIMAL

OLYMPIANS

Animals aren’t eligible to compete
in the Tokyo Olympics, but could easily
earn the top spot on the podium
without a day of training

Words by Amy Grisdale

© Getty

040 HowItWorks www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? Despite spending 222 minutes underwater, Cuvier’s beaked whales spend just two minutes breathing air

SPRINTER parent to cub, with each new generation the Speed is ideal when
species started speeding up. chasing down dinner
Cheetah
The drive behind the evolution of acceleration
As far as we know, there has never been an
animal on Earth as fast as a cheetah on land. was food. But at the same time faster cheetahs
That goes for everything living today and every
species that’s ever gone extinct. Early ancestors were getting ahead in life, prey animals were
of the cheetah could only reach 20 miles an hour.
During the process of evolution, the fastest cats getting a move on too. This increased the
were the most likely to survive because they’d
have the best chances of catching prey. Because pressure on the predators. In those M6A5LMRILEESCORD HU
the ability to sprint fast is passed down from conditions, only those with extreme PER HOUR
sprinting abilities can survive long RD ANI
Built for bursts enough to pass on their genes to © Getty
of speed the next generation, and world-

Thousands of years of evolution have champion sprinters were born. 27.78 MILES
fine-tuned every part of the body for PER HOUR
maximum speed MAN REC
MAN RECO
Long tail Killer legs © Alamy Triple bypass

The tail makes up over half The elongated legs A cheetah’s heart is three times
of a cheetah’s body length. maximise each stride, bigger than a lion’s. It pumps
It sticks out behind and letting a cheetah cover oxygen-filled blood around the
acts as a counter balance. six metres in one bound. body to keep the cat from tiring.

Good grip Full gas tank

Paw pads are tough, with rough Cheetah lungs are enormous. They take 150 breaths in a
ridges to stop the cat slipping. minute at high speed, getting rid of carbon dioxide fast.
Their semi-retractable claws are
fully engaged when sprinting. Huff and puff

LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER Wolves have an extremely high © Getty
capacity to take in oxygen,
Wolf almost three times as much as
goats of the same size.
Simply put, wolves can burn many
more calories than the fittest Woclovveesralroenwg edlilsbtaunilctetso
athletes on Earth. Wolves were
tested racing 300 miles over three ORD ANCAILMOR8AI4ELS,1B3RU0RENCEDORD HU Big heart Cell reactions
days to see how they matched up to
the average Tour de France cyclist. 19,0B0U0RCNAELDORIES The chambers in the heart are big Microscopic
The results showed wolves can enough to sustain massive blood mitochondria in a
generate four times as much energy flow around the body, and they © Getty wolf’s muscles
than a human athlete at their swell during strenuous exercise. generate masses of
physical peak. energy to power cells
in the muscles after
The secret to a wolf’s endurance hours of trekking.
is its lifestyle. These animals are on
the move around the clock. They How It Works 041
can run as fast as 38 miles per hour
for short periods, but can
comfortably trot around at five
miles per hour all day long.

www.howitworksdaily.com

ENVIRONMENT Big bones

An elephant’s skeleton is very
strong, and is 20 per cent of its
total weight. That’s twice as
much as the average mammal.

Hidden Fat feet False nails Multi-tool
power
The bones reveal that elephants Technically called With 150,000
Being so big means walk on their tiptoes, but their feet ‘predigits’, these muscle fibre
an elephant has to be are wide and flat. There’s a pad of pseudo toes help bundles at work,
strong, and every part fat in there for extra cushioning. the load travel from the trunk can
of the body pitches in the foot up the leg move fallen trees,
with the load to prevent the soles but is still delicate
getting sore. enough to lift a
Precise single leaf.
position
IKMILOA9G,L0R0AR0MESC
The limbs are
strategically 50D1-EKAILDOLGIFRTAM
placed in a
near-vertical
position from
the body, like
the legs on a
coffee table,
for strength
and stability.

Elephants have to carry their WEIGHTLIFTING ORD AN ORD HU
own weight every day AN RECO
African elephant MAN REC
© Alamy with their brute strength.
As the biggest terrestrial mammal living today, People have been marvelling at the amount of
it’s no surprise that elephants are heavyweight weight elephants can carry for thousands of
champions. An African elephant can lift more years. They have been used for transportation
than 300 kilograms with its trunk alone. This and hauling for generations, although the
unique appendage can also suck in water, blast practice seems to be falling from favour.
out 110 decibels of sound and has a better Scientists now think that piling a lot of weight on
scent-tracking ability than a bomb-sniffing dog. an elephant’s back can hurt their backbones,
and even a single person riding an African
The muscle-filled trunk is so strong that in elephant can cause damage.
experiments elephants involved have been
known to accidentally break the equipment

LONG JUMP RD ANIMAL15R.2ECORD HUM Scientists say snow leopards are so fast
METRES and powerful they’re like hybrids
Snow leopard between cheetahs and jaguars
8.95
One of the world’s most elusive big cats specialises in taking METRES © Alamy
down wild sheep and goats high in mountain ranges. Snow
leopards kill animals three times their size without any help www.howitworksdaily.com
and snack on hares and birds in between feasts. Snow
leopards are masters of difficult terrain. Their bodies are built
to climb, move through snow and chase prey at high speed,
but their leaping ability is by far the most impressive. Aided
by large pectoral muscles and a flexible clavicle, the front
limbs swing wide and have enough grip to stick a landing.

They have adapted to jump long distances because of their
preferred environment. Snow leopards found success living
in clifftop caves and rocky outcrops where there was no
competition. There also wasn’t as much prey around, so the
species started spreading out. Snow leopards claim huge
territories, some as large as 80 square miles – that’s three
times the size of Manhattan.

042 How It Works

DID YOU KNOW? Grey whales eat 150 tonnes of shrimp-like creatures called amphipods to fuel their swim to warmer waters

HIGH JUMP Burly bodybuilders

Tiger RD ANI MAL4.9REC ORD HU HARPY EAGLE
METRES
Weighing up to 310 kilograms, EIGHT KILOGRAMS
tigers are the heaviest big cat
in existence. Because of their Considered the world’s most ferocious
huge mass, they don’t have eagle, this bird can carry almost its
entire body weight. They’re famous for
the option to chase prey at 2.45 grabbing monkeys from treetops and
high speeds like a cheetah. A METRES flying away with a meal clutched in their
MAN RECO talons. Females are bigger and stronger
tiger prefers to stalk prey, than males, who make up for it with
speed and agility.
remaining hidden until it’s close

enough to leap out and catch the

animal off guard. It waits until it’s between six

and nine metres away to strike. The fact that

tigers do most of their hunting in the dead of

night adds to the surprise factor.

They’re solitary and free-roaming, so

they’re pounding the jungle pavement from

dusk to dawn. Tigers need to hunt as much as

possible to bring in enough energy to survive © Getty

their nomadic lifestyle. Almost 75 per cent of a

tiger’s diet is made up of deer. These are easily GORILLA

startled and can escape in the blink of an eye if 2,000 KILOGRAMS

they feel threatened. A pouncing tiger only has The inspiration for the legendary King
Kong can lift ten times their own body
one shot, and being able to ambush from weight. That works out as the combined
weight of 30 people. Scientists estimate
above is its best chance of getting the kill. gorillas are six times stronger than a
professional weightlifter. Even their jaw
Inside a Tigers are also © Alamy muscles are hefty, delivering a bite force
champion jumper excellent climbers higher than a lion or great white shark.

The largest living cats rely on immense agility

to survive, and their anatomy is key

Dense skeleton

Strong bones support the
muscle and absorb the shock
of landing. Bones in the paws
are connected tightly with
ligaments for stability.

© Getty

Rippling muscle AMERICAN FIELD ANT

Tiger muscle is packed 25 GRAMS
with thick filaments of
motor proteins called It might not sound impressive until you
myosin heavy chains know that these tiny ants, which only
(MyHCs) that provide weigh a few milligrams, can lift 5,000
all-day energy. times their own mass. Scaled up to
human size, that’s the equivalent of
being able to walk around with a blue
whale balanced on each shoulder.

Mismatched limbs Built-in sound © Getty
dampening
The back legs are longer than
the forelimbs and generate the Padded paws make for a soft
power to push the tiger’s
enormous weight into the air. landing that makes as little noise

www.howitworksdaily.com as possible. All that power is

nothing without stealth.

How It Works 043

ENVIRONMENT

AQUATIC EVENTS

The animals of the ocean outstrip humans for every record imaginable

Human

DEEPEST DIVE: 332.35 metres
FASTEST SWIM: 5.34 miles per hour
LONGEST DISTANCE SWIM: 139.8 miles

© Getty

© Alamy Leatherback turtle

DEEPEST DIVING REPTILE
DEEPEST DIVE: 1,280 metres
The strangest part about this incredible ability is that we
aren’t sure why they can dive so deep. They feed on
jellyfish, which generally stay within a few hundred metres
of the surface. They could be retreating from predators or
feeding on a food source we don’t know about yet.

Leatherbacks can collapse their lungs to avoid
decompression sickness. They even divert blood flow away
from the lungs and back to the rest of the body to squeeze
as much oxygen from it as possible in the deep sea.

Emperor penguin Atlantic herring

DEEPEST DIVING BIRD SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING
DEEPEST DIVE: 564 metres It takes humans years to perfect this
sport, but herring do it without a thought.
Polar bear There’s safety in numbers, and their
coordination even sticks in mega-shoals
LONGEST DISTANCE SWIMMING BEAR of hundreds of millions of fish. Like all
LONGEST SWIM: 426 miles fish, Atlantic herring have a sixth sense
humans don’t. They have sensory organs
along their sides called lateral lines. They
are visible stripes along the fish’s flank.
Little hair-like structures called cilia stick
out at regular intervals. These respond to
miniscule changes in water pressure like
a reflex. When the cilia bend, the fish
responds automatically to continue
blending in with the crowd.

© Getty

044 How It Works www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? Atlantic herring are so good at synchronised swimming they have inspired engineers of driverless cars

Grey whale PEREGRINE
FALCON
LONGEST DISTANCE WHALE
LONGEST SWIM: 13,988 miles FASTEST
Mammals of the sea live complicated SKYDIVE
lives, and none more so than the mighty
grey whale. Babies arrive in the summer, These hardy birds
and expectant mothers make their way to
warm waters in preparation. There’s of prey reach 200
nothing for them to eat here, but it takes
several months for the newborn to suckle miles per hour
enough milk to gain the strength to swim
to their winter feeding ground. As soon as when diving. The
the calf is ready, the pair head to cold
polar waters, travelling the entire length bird circles half a
of the hemisphere.
mile from the ground
Cuvier’s beaked whale
searching for signs of © Getty
DEEPEST DIVING WHALE
DEEPEST DIVE: 2,992 metres movement below with its

excellent vision. These birds are

the fastest of all land, sea and air

animals on Earth today.

© Getty ARCTIC TERN

Southern elephant seal LONGEST
FLIGHT
DEEPEST DIVING SEAL
DEEPEST DIVE: 2,388 metres Don’t be fooled by

Sailfish the name. These

FASTEST FISH birds are
FASTEST SWIM: 68 miles per hour
These predatory fish are covered in muscles that constantly flying
generate a lot of energy. The dorsal fin on the back
keeps the fish pointing forwards and facing upright. around Earth. They
The other fins are small to reduce drag.
fly from pole to pole
These fish work in teams to snatch fish from
fleeing shoals. They will also scavenge from bigger and back every single © Getty
predators. When a pod of dolphins herds fish into a
dense ball, sailfish swoop in to pick up the scraps. year of their lives. This
www.howitworksdaily.com
annual journey ranges from

44,000 to 59,000 miles, and the

average Arctic tern will fly 1.5 million

miles during its 30-year life span.

GOAT © Getty

FARMYARD
SKATEBOARDING

Happie the goat of
Florida clocked in
36 metres on a
skateboard in a
time of 25 seconds
in 2012. Goats are
famous for their
nimble feet and
ability to navigate
sheer cliffs with small
ledges, which makes
skateboarding their second-
best sport after rock climbing.

MACAW © Alamy

© Getty AVIAN BASKETBALL

On 30 December 2011,
Zac the macaw broke
the world record for
most basketball
slam dunks in 60
seconds. He sank
22 shots with his
sickle-shaped
beak. These birds
use their beaks like a
third foot, letting it
hold their entire body
weight while grasping
for food.

How It Works 045

ENVIRONMENT Crab anatomy CLAW

A spider crab high on its legs Let’s take a look at some features that
in the fighting pose help crabs survive

DIGESTIVE GLAND

© Getty

Why crabs
are vital
Carapace
These crustaceans are really fascinating,
A hard shell for protection
– it can be used to identify
different species of crab.

and have an important job in the ocean Gills

Words by Lauren Eyles Found under the carapace
near the walking legs, gills
T here are over 4,000 different species of crab in the world, help crabs to breathe.
and some are pretty weird. The largest is the Japanese
spider crab, which can reach the length of a car. The “Crabs grow by Walking legs
smallest is the pea crab, and as its name suggests, it’s about the moulting – just
size of a pea – just a few millimetres wide. Not all crabs live in the Used to move in all
ocean; there are some that live on land and in freshwater, only like growing directions: sideways,
returning to the ocean on long migrations to mate. out of clothes” backwards and forwards.

Crabs are crustaceans, and belong to a group of animals called Going nuts © Getty
‘decapods’, which means ten legs. They have eight on their sides
used for walking and swimming, and a larger, stronger set at the There are always exceptions in the natural
front used for catching and crushing prey. They also use these world, and the horseshoe crab is one of
oversized claws to help in fighting, as well as their hard exterior them. They aren’t a crab at all, and look
shell, the carapace, which protects their soft bodies inside. more like an armoured ray. They are more
closely related to spiders than crabs. The
Crabs grow by moulting – just like growing out of clothes, a coconut crab, or robber crab, is a really
crab has to do the same. They grow out of their shell and into a funny little character. They are the largest
new, softer one. This happens when a new soft shell has land crab in the world – so not that little at
developed underneath, and is also the time that most crabs are all. They’re related to their much smaller
ready to mate. cousin, the hermit crab, and like the
horseshoe, aren’t a true crab. Their name
It’s really easy to tell male and female crabs apart, you just gives a little insight into their lifestyle;
have to turn a crab over and look at its belly, or abdominal they are known for cracking into coconuts A coconut crab showing just how
pouch: in males it’s tall and triangular shaped, whereas in and scampering away with people’s things. big it can get, clinging to a tree
females it’s a wide semi-circle, where she will carry hundreds of
eggs after mating.

The best place to find crabs is on the seashore, where they are
perfectly adapted to water changes from the tides. They have a
busy and important role to play in keeping the ocean clean, and
some people think they are very tasty too.

046 HowItWorks www.howitworksdaily.com

DID YOU KNOW? Horseshoe crabs have been around millions of years, and could be the oldest living species

Antennae Life cycle

These allow crabs to Different species of crab have unique
figure out and feel what’s strategies for attracting a mate, from
going on around them. chemical signals to waving their claws
around. Once they find one, some come
Eyes together in a preconception hug, and
might wait in this position for a while
Crabs have great before the female moults and they can
vision and are able to get down to business. The female is
see all around them. pregnant for about one or two weeks.
When ready, the larvae, or zoeae, are
CARDIAC STOMACH released by the female and become part
of plankton – the tiny plants and animals
in the water. Although they look strange
and a bit like an alien, the little zoeae
start to develop more crab-like features
and eventually turn into what’s called a
megalopae. After this stage, the young
crab looks like a miniature version of an
adult and starts to grow bigger to begin
the process all over again. How long
crabs live varies massively, from as little
as two years to a whopping 60.

MEGALOPA

GONAD From an JUVENILE
GILL RAKERS egg to an

adult

© The Art Ageny/Sandra DoyleZOEA
© Getty
HEART EGG ADULT

Swimming legs A shore crab
in the shallow
Flattened back legs help with rDoocrkspeto,oElsnginland
swimming in fast-moving
species – not all crabs are quick. A horseshoe crab cruising
through the mangroves
An edible crab hiding
away in the water,
waiting for high tide

Source: Wiki/Lauren Eyles
© Alamy

© Alamy

www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 047





ENVIRONMENT

Earth’s underground Ground infiltration
water stores
After rainfall, some of the water
that lands on the ground seeps
through the earth.

How water becomes trapped below How
ground, forming aquifers aquifers form

Follow the multiple routes available

Words by Ailsa Harvey to groundwater

H ow much water is underground? If you were to extract Pumping
it all and pour it across the planet’s surface, it would wells
cover Earth’s entirety to a depth of 120 metres. When
picturing this volume underground, you might mistakenly Human-made wells
imagine it as a flowing body of water. In reality, bodies of play a part in
groundwater, called aquifers, are soaked up by the solid drawing out water
ground. Just like when you dig in the sand at the beach and from aquifers. This
water appears to come from nowhere to occupy the space, should be
water hides in small spaces in rocks and soil in a similar way. monitored as
enough rain needs
Aquifers are a prime source of drinking water. Protected to fall to ‘recharge’
within rocks, groundwater is often an easier option for the water levels.
consumption, as it is usually less polluted than surface water.
It can also exist in much larger volumes than the capacity Confining
available in human-made reservoirs. bed

To retrieve water from aquifers, wells and boreholes are When the water
installed. These are drilled deep into the rock, to the most reaches denser
water-abundant depth, then water is pumped up to the rock, most of the
surface. As long as it is monitored closely and its use is water will move
controlled, the aquifer won’t be completely drained. As water horizontally towards
between the rocks is removed, more will be drawn into the free space but small
space as surface water replenishes it. amounts will slowly
sink further.

Through Unsaturated porous
the layers
The topsoil layer is usually
unsaturated, as water quickly Lost below ground
drains down into the layers
below. The process of draining If water makes its way below
this layer is called percolation. layers of dense rock, it
becomes part of a confined
aquifer. Here water can remain
trapped for thousands of years.

Saturated porous

The permeable earth below the topsoil is
saturated as water travels through to access
the aquifer. Sometimes the aquifer is close to
the surface, but they can also be thousands of
metres deep.

© Shutterstock Aquifer

048 HowItWorks The aquifer itself is a heavily saturated
layer with large spaces between rock for
water to spread into and fill up. Aquifers
commonly consist of sandstone and
limestone with large gaps.

Impermeable

The base of the aquifer consists of a
nonpermeable layer, stopping water travelling
deeper and helping it accumulate above. This
layer has pore spaces that are so small water
can’t get through, such as clay.

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