Tabla de contenidos para Issue 209 en How It Works

“Robots are behaving more like humans” The photo above, taken at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai this year, shows one of the visitors posing and making a love heart with a giant, AI-powered robot. While we’re technological leaps and bounds from creating anything like the Terminator, both impressive robotics and artificial intelligence come together in incredible ways in this issue’s cover feature, which is all about the latest robots. We’re featuring fighting robots, shelf-crawling factory robots, cyborgs that sweat, swim, serve human customers, and so much more. What they can do for us now – and what they might be able to do in the future – seems only to come down to the limits of human imagination. I hope you enjoy this issue. FOR EXCLUSIVE HIW NEWS…

LIFESTUDIO FLEX EF-72 £1,149.99 / $999.99 EPSON.COM With 4K Pro ultra-high definition, the Lifestudio Flex EF-72 projector by Epson can provide a projected screen of up to 150 inches for the perfect cinematic movie night. For use indoors and outdoors, this projector is fully portable, with an adjustable stand that has 180 degrees of rotation and a 90-degree tilt to adjust to different surfaces. The Lifestudio Flex also comes with ‘Sound by Bose’ technology for excellent audio quality, with integrated Bluetooth and Dolby Audio. THE POPPER £152 / $199 POPSMITH.COM What’s movie night without a bowl of freshly popped popcorn? Made from stainless steel, the Popper is a stovetop popcorn maker that comes with a patented spinner to pop your own kernels. Compatible with induction, gas and electric hobs, all…

In April 2025, the world was left stunned when scientists at Colossal Biosciences announced they had genetically engineered ancient DNA and produced three dire wolf puppies. Made famous by the smash-hit TV series Game of Thrones, dire wolves were once fearsome predators that roamed the grasslands and mountain ranges of North America from around 250,000 years ago. However, around 10,000 years ago, changes in the global climate and declining prey populations ensured the demise of these prehistoric predators… until now. Dire wolf pups Romulus and Remus, who are named after the legendary founders of Rome, were born in October 2024, and Khaleesi – presumably named after the mother of dragons – was born in January 2025. “This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end…

WHAT’S IT MADE OF? BREAKING IT DOWN, THEN BREAKING IT DOWN SOME MORE AUTHOR VARIOUS ILLUSTRATOR VARIOUS PUBLISHER DK PRICE £19.99 / $29.99 RELEASE OUT NOW It’s the subsequent levels of detail that DK goes into in What’s It Made Of? that makes this such a compelling and cool book. For example, a smartphone teardown comprises a full landscape page of what looks like an Apple iPhone taken apart and spread across the page like a piece of pulled pork in high-resolution photography. Individual components are annotated to explain what they are, and also what materials they’re made of – including the lithium rechargeable battery. On the following page the metallic element lithium, which is used in all sorts of objects and industries, and its various compounds are described in…

SATELLITE SHUTDOWN Dear HIW, What would happen if all satellites suddenly stopped working? Tom Anders If they were all to fail at once, there would be major disruption. First, they’re used to aid global communication. Long-distance internet connections rely on satellites, as well as television and radio. The loss of GPS would prevent you from using map applications to navigate, as well as impacting aviation. Airports would suffer extreme delays and plane groundings as older ground-based systems would be needed to guide planes instead. Global banking would suffer without satellites, as financial systems such as ATMs and stock exchanges use satellites for timing and synchronisation. We’d also lose weather forecasting, since satellites track meteorological activity and provide real-time weather updates. LETTER of the MONTH SLEEP ANALYSIS Dear HIW, My smartwatch said that…

Spectacular sea slugs Sliding around the waters of the Indo-Pacific are remarkable invertebrates called nudibranchs. On this one’s back are inflated structures called certata. The cerata serve several purposes, including camouflage, digestion and respiration. Nudibranchs have been known to use their certata to steal stinging cells called nematocysts from other animals, such as jellyfish. Kamchatka peaks through the clouds Astronauts on the International Space Station saw this magnificent view of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, in May 2025. Poking out through the clouds is its tallest peak, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, which reaches 4,754 metres above sea level, just over half the height of Mount Everest. Behind the mountain, towards the top of the image, is the Sea of Okhotsk. Dazzling cosmic necklace Discovered in 2005, the Necklace Nebula is a cosmic tale…

Imagine if you woke up tomorrow, greeted by an in-house robot companion. It prepares your breakfast, checks your general health and briefs you on global news and your daily plans. When the doorbell goes, you open the door to a delivery bot that dispenses your ordered parcel onto your doormat then wishes you a pleasant day as it trundles back down the street. So far, you’ve had multiple social encounters, yet you haven’t interacted with a human once. This vision seems extremely futuristic – but all of this technology exists and is already in use today. As smart robots take on an increasing number of jobs, they learn from the data input by humans, as well as from each other. Machines that were once confined to test laboratories are becoming effective…

Cathedrals have been present in Armenia since the 4th century. However, the majority of Europe’s cathedrals were built during the Gothic period, which spanned from the mid-12th to the 16th century. The term ‘Gothic’ was originally used during the Renaissance period in Italy to describe an unrefined, outdated and ‘ugly’ style of art and architecture. The first Gothic architect was Abbot Suger, who began renovating the abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris in 1137. It became the inspiration for Gothic cathedrals throughout Europe and was defined as the church of a diocese for sitting bishops, characteristically boasting soaring heights, intricate spires and grand facades. These stone buildings are examples of architectural ingenuity during a time when a winch and a pair of hands were all you had to lift stone. Architects…

Napalm is an extremely flammable substance that was first made for use in World War II. A precursor to napalm was used in World War I’s flamethrowers, but this was a more liquid substance that dripped off its targets. To make the firebomb fuel thicker, scientists led by Louis Fieser made a powdered aluminium soap combining naphthenic acid from crude oil and palmitic acid from coconut oil. Its name is a portmanteau of these two substances. When this new material was combined with gasoline, the sticky gel produced coated its targets and caused fire to spread with ease across greater areas. Gasoline usually burns quickly, but the acids help the substance release heat more slowly. In World War II, the combination of these qualities made napalm a popular fuel for…

Sudoku Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9 EASY MEDIUM HARD Word search Find the following words DIGEST RECORD VOLCANO CATHEDRAL ROBOT BRAIN VIRTUAL VEHICLE FIRE SAUNA EXTINCT MOON What is it? Hint: Perfect refraction A Spot the difference See if you can find all six changes between the images below Answers Find the solutions to last issue’s puzzle pages Q1 MERCURY Q2 MYCOLOGIST Q3 1,000 KILOGRAMS Q4 0 Q5 20 Q6 CONTACTLESS PAYMENT What is it? TEETH Spot the difference QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS Q1 What is the tissue that joins muscle to bone called? ◌ Tendon ◌ Ligament ◌ Filament ◌ Kleenex Q2 Which of these meteorite types will stick to a magnet? ◌ Lunar ◌ Achondrites ◌ Martian ◌…

Mysterious cosmic explosion can’t be explained WORDS PATRICK PESTER Astronomers are scratching their heads after detecting a bizarre, long-lasting cosmic explosion unlike anything previously observed. The explosion was a series of repeated outbursts of high-energy radiation known as gamma-ray bursts. These bursts, the most powerful known explosions in the universe, typically only last for milliseconds to minutes, yet this one was observed erupting for nearly an entire day in July. Scientists can’t explain the record-shattering duration of the event, which occurred outside of the Milky Way and is officially named GRB 250702BDE. Gamma-ray bursts are usually caused by the death of a giant star, but they’re typically singular events. This one is unlike any other in 50 years of gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations. “GRBs are catastrophic events, so they are…

Long before there were machines that played recorded music at home, people listened to their favourite tunes by going to live shows. When music players were invented in the late 1800s, people could purchase flat, disc-shaped records of their favourite songs to play on their gramophones. These songs could be heard on demand and from the comfort of the listener’s own home, as frequently as they wished. The shift from live performances to listening on repeat on these machines greatly shaped how music was consumed. People got to know specific genres better, and were able to become intimately familiar with a musician’s songs. Recorded music meant that a performer could distribute their music further afield and create a bigger fanbase. Live music continued to be popular, as this unique listening…

The average human brain contains around 86 billion neurons, with the average neuron firing around 0.16 times per second. This makes the brain an incredibly active organ, which is needed to maintain neural communication for every bodily process. The brain doesn’t rest when you do, and its wiring has to work precisely for the body to function properly. But for some people, the brain’s neurons function at irregular rates, firing electrical signals or nerve impulses hyperactively. Parkinson’s disease is one condition where neurons fire at increased rates and in uncontrolled bursts. Over time, this causes nerve cells that produce a chemical called dopamine in the brain to die. Dopamine is essential in maintaining control over the body’s movements. As a result, people with Parkinson’s can develop shaking in the hands…

DISSOLVE A DRINK CAN Discover a secret layer beneath the metal 1 GATHER YOUR MATERIALS Before carrying out this experiment, make sure you have an adult with you. Do the experiment in a well-ventilated area. First, put on your protective gloves. 2 BUFF THE SURFACE Remove the top layer of the can. This removes the paint and leaves you with a silver aluminium can. 3 SUSPEND THE CAN Poke a stick through the hole in the metal can opener and use the stick to suspend the can in a beaker or glass. 4 FILL THE CUP Carefully pour the drain cleaner into the glass to submerge the can. It’s best to do this experiment outside and to avoid any contact with the products when the reaction begins. 5 LET IT…