Science Illustrated

Science Illustrated delivers natural science, break through discoveries and an understanding of the world for the entire family. Packed with stunning photography and in-depth editorial it’s a visually spectacular gateway to the world looking into the beginning of life to distant objects in the universe.

Our Lost History

SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

MEGAPIXEL

Mini-brain connects itself to mouse spinal cord

New rover will search for life • THE LATEST FINDINGS AND DISCOVERIES

Parkinson’s can be hiding in the appendix

BY THE WAY

Disappearing ocean water is difficult to explain

Spiders grow used to city light

Scientists solve bone growth mystery • New knowledge about bone formation might lead to improved treatment of osteoporosis.

Scientists discover hidden dust moon

LOCAL FOCAL POINT · Costa Rica

Scientists find the free will in our brains

New motor powers silent plane • A battery-powered model aircraft produces wind itself to propel it forwards. The plane has no moving motor parts, and so, it glides quietly through the air.

Whales had land-based ancestors. What were they like?

How does a thermal camera work? • SCIENTISTS ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM OUR READERS

SCALE · How radioactive is uranium ore compared to Brazil nuts?

How did blood types originate?

HOW THINGS WORK · How does a Faraday cage work? • A Faraday cage protects against electromagnetic radiation. You probably have one in your kitchen: a microwave oven. The surface of the oven’s metal cabinet is electrically conductive, neutralising the electromagnetic fields from inside the oven.

WHERE DOES CHALK COME FROM?

Can animals also get venereal diseases? • The natural world doesn't do safe sex, and it has a LOT of sex. Can animals catch venereal diseases just like people?

Why are the stars not always visible in photos?

WHAT IS THIS? · False Sun

… high-frequency sounds destroy your hearing? • Loud sounds of many decibels could harm your hearing and cause tinnitus or deafness. But what about high-pitched sounds that we cannot hear? Can they also cause damage?

LIFE ON ALIEN MOONS

Three scopes in search of moons • The potential Kepler-1625 b I exomoon was spotted in the huge data material collected by the Kepler telescope and has since been confirmed by the Hubble telescope. But not until the James Webb telescope is launched in 2021, will we have the first clear images of exoplanets.

The solar system is teeming with moons • Our Solar System only includes eight planets, but 185 known moons, and astronomers discover new ones all the time around the four giant exterior planets. Four of the largest moons, Jupiter’s Europa and Ganymede plus Saturn’s Enceladus and Titan, might include microbial life, although they are located in the outer, cold regions of the Solar System.

Exomoons designed for life • The moons of the Solar System, which are all small, formed in 3 different processes, But in alien exoplanet systems, 2 of the formation processes could have produced large moons in the habitable zone, where the conditions for life are beneficial.

Our ancestors had sex with everybody: ARE YOU FULLY HUMAN?

We can be identified by our skull • The skull is central, when scientists determine whether a discovery is a modern human, but there is not one particular trait that distinguishes Homo sapiens from the Neanderthals and other close relatives of ours. Instead, scientists take a look at a number of different characteristics which provide humans with our distinctive looks.

The Neanderthal is gaining on modern man • Socially and culturally, Homo sapiens was different from the other human species who existed at the same time as our ancestors, but...