Take a look at this handy video detailing the multiple stages the Egyptians undertook when mummifying their deceased.
While made famous by the ancient Egyptians, mummification is a process not just confined to their afterlife culture, as any corpse which has had its skin or organs preserved thanks to external chemicals, substances or extreme temperatures is classed as a mummy. Indeed, mummified corpses have been found all ...
Discover what it would be like to experience a suborbital spaceflight on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo in this impressive animation that takes you from launch to zero gravity and back down to Earth in six minutes
In December, Britain's radical entrepreneur Richard Branson unveiled SpaceShipTwo, the custom-made spacecraft set to ferry eager – and rich – space enthusiasts off the planet for a once-in-a-lifetime trip beyond Earth's atmosphere. Tickets for the excursions, which can accommodate six passengers at a time, will set ...
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 ...
Check out this video from English Heritage demonstrating the multiple stages necessary to fire a Brown Bess musket.
The Brown Bess musket was the weapon of choice for riflemen during the rise of the British Empire and was used in numerous incarnations for over a hundred years. The musket, which is a .75 caliber flintlock, weighs over 10 pounds and is almost a meter and a half in length. Due to the many stages required to fire, as well as its ...
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...
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 ...
Happy new year from all at How It Works, we're looking forward to a year packed with factual goodness to satisfy the hungriest of minds
How It Works moves from strength to strength as first issues have sold fantastically across the board. With a record uptake for subscriptions after just two issues, as well as a growing staff of editorial experts, How It Works magazine looks set for ...
VISTA reveals a brand new view of the southern sky
Based in Chile's European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Paranal Observatory, the VISTA telescope, or Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, can see into deep space and map out the sky using infrared wavelengths. VISTA has a large mirror, a wide field of view and sensitive detectors, which help it ...
Many of you have written to ask our experts some of life's most baffling questions, and now we'll share the answers with you
They are in so many applications and despite being loosely involved in engineering myself, I would love to know how they are made. The surfaces are polished and yet perfectly spherical, so how do they do it?
SHB, forum user
There are quite a few different parts that ...
Most spicy foods contain a chemical called capsaicin, which is the active component found in chilli peppers. Capsaicin is an irritant for humans and most other mammals, and produces a burning sensation in any tissue which it comes into contact with. It triggers a response in goblet cells whose function is to secrete mucus and this is why you get a runny nose. However, there is evidence to suggest that it is possible to build up a ...
