On 26 November 2003 Concorde officially retired. Watch as this distinguished aircraft came in to land for the final time. Ever. The second issue of How It Works goes on sale today. Also on this day in history onlookers enjoyed the magnificent spectacle of Concorde flying into Filton airport in the Midlands for her final voyage in 2003. After enjoying her first supersonic flight on 1 October 1969, Concorde ...

More serene than many of our other video posts, this is a truly balletic display of avian flight Winter evenings near this marshland in Oxford see mammoth flocks of starlings take to the sky in a nightly display of incredible aerobatic synchronicity. Watch as swarms of up to a thousand birds undulate like massive waves through the half-lit sky – and never bump into each other. It's really quite ...

Check out this very modern take on the trebuchet. Historically the trebuchet was the weapon of choice in any siege, providing the ability to launch a variety of projectiles at enemies and their fortifications from a large distance. From huge stones used to destroy city walls and crush soldiers, to human corpses used to break morale and spread disease, almost anything could be hurled. There are many designs of trebuchet but the majority normally fall into two categories, ...

You might recognise this handy robot from Global Eye in issue one. It debuted at the food machinery and technology exhibition in Tokyo and uses a combination of very few metal parts and compressed air to handle delicate objects. Built by Kyoto-based factory automation firm Squse, the hand is constructed of a polycarbonate skeleton covered by a soft silicone skin. It has 22 pneumatically powered "muscles" that give ...

Whatever that hits is toast! The Abrams M1 battletank can fire these 120mm rounds up to 4,000m, traveling at one mile per second.

Not all spiders trap prey in the same way This, the Gladiator spider, has evolved a novel way of trapping its prey. Indeed, there are many variants to the spider web, this being one of the most dynamic. You can find out more about how spider webs work in issue three of How It Works.

This home-made video of a skier caught in a sudden avalanche is a stark reminder of the threat posed by this natural phenomenon. What would you do if caught in a freak snow slide?

Watch as this little reptile changes colour before your eyes. The chameleons’ amazing colour change is the result of light, temperature and emotion.

Now, this is an impressive display of stealth and power as the monochrome monster targets a poor defenceless seal. Not for the faint-hearted.

The petrol-powered Spectre SpeedLiner reaches a speed of 328mph, making it the world’s fastest gasoline class, wheel-driven streamliner.