A team of 41 international experts have confirmed that they strongly endorse the theory that the dinosaurs were made extinct largely due to a 15km wide asteroid crashing into Earth. The panel reviewed over 20 years of research to determine their conclusion and writing in the Science Journal, the team rule out many other alternative theories such as mass-volcanism. The asteroid in question is believed to have hit Earth on the northwestern edge of the Yucatan Penisula, centering around Chicxulub, Mexico. The huge crater that the impact caused ...

Your early sample of the next jam-packed issue of How It Works is here From an interview with the inimitable Johnny Ball to a fascinating introduction to your immune system, issue five is jam-packed with knowledge for you to soak up. And to kick off the issue and the Formula One season, we have put together a bumper feature dedicated to all things F1. From the cars to the drivers and from the pit lane to the circuits, this feature offers everything ...

Man captures rare close-up footage of an iceberg collapsing Capturing an iceberg collapsing or calving is a rare sight, and this couple filming off Labrador, Canada, picked up their camcorder just in time to catch the dramatic event. The pair and their dog are clearly excited about what they've just witnessed, but are soon chased away by a rush of smashed up ice that starts floating towards them. For ...

As part of The Royal Societies' 350th anniversary, never-before-seen, super close up colour images of tiny sea creatures are going on display at London Zoo. The amazing images of these creatures are to feature in a book by Royal Society Research Fellow Dr Richard Kirby of the University of Plymouth. The full range of Dr Kirby's photographs will go on display from the 16th of February till the end of the year. Plankton are crucial to the ocean and its environment as they provide an abundant source of food ...

Check out this video from National Geographic in which a liger supercat has been engineered by mating a male lion with a female tiger. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD6vpheUoPE[/youtube] At 900 lbs, supercat Sinbad dwarfs the mighty Bengal Tiger's average weight of 520 lbs, a full 380 lbs heavier. In fact, at 900 lbs, Sinbad weighs roughly the same as both his father and mother combined! Despite a liger's obvious physical dominance, they only exist in captivity as tigers and lions would never voluntarily mate in the wild, and further, live in different regions and environments. ...

For life to prosper water is a fundamental necessity, but if so, how did the the ancient Maya build such a massive empire without a river to draw water from? This, the first of five videos from the BBC documentary Secrets of the Mayan Underworld, demonstrates how through a series of underground, water-filled caves that run under the majority of the Yucatan, the Mayan Underworld – contrary to their belief that it was a realm of spirits – was actually the life-source of the entire area....

Amazing NASA images of the British Isles blanketed in snow Image courtesy of NASA The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (or MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite captured this incredibly chilling image of Great Britain on 7 January as most areas experienced freezing temperatures of -10C on the coldest night of the winter so far. Isolated areas were even subjected to lows of -22C in the Scottish Highlands. Snowfall followed by freezing temperatures left areas dangerously icy, resulting in widespread chaos ...

Many of you have written in to ask our experts some of life's most baffling questions. What’s inside a black hole? Where does dust come from? How fast can a dolphin swim? How do they get chocolate on Maltesers without leaving a little flat bit? There are many questions about the world that perplex human beings, but thankfully some help is at hand from How It Works magazine and the Science Museum Every issue a panel of ...

So how can the Komodo dragon kill prey much larger than itself with just one fatal bite? Although this carnivorous reptile is an endangered species, the Komodo dragon can live for 30 years. This huge lizard will eat just about anything, using its terrifying shark-like teeth to make mincemeat of any victim unlucky enough to encounter it. And even those that do get away from this prehistoric predator with ...

Venus flytraps, like the rat-eating carnivorous plant featured in issue two, tend to grow in boggy soil that’s low in nutrients, hence they need to find another source of food to sustain them, namely insects that happen to land on their leaves. These leaves are about eight to 15cm long and are ‘hinged’ along the midline with spiny teeth around the edges. The folding and trapping action is triggered by pressure on six sensitive hairs which, when stimulated will snap the leaf shut in about half a ...