ScienceExplain

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  • How Do QR Codes Actually Work?

    That square of black squares on a poster can hold a website link, a ticket, or payment details. Here is how a phone reads it in a fraction of a second.

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  • Climate Change Explained Without the Jargon

    Certain gases trap heat that would otherwise escape to space. We have been adding them faster than natural processes remove them, so the planet retains slightly more energy than it releases.

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  • Evolution Explained Without the Jargon

    Individuals vary, some variations help survival or reproduction, and those get passed on. Repeat that over many generations and populations change in ways suited to their surroundings.

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  • How a Computer Stores Information

    Everything a computer holds is patterns of two states. The interesting part is not the binary, it is the ladder of storage types trading speed against size and cost.

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  • How Does a Plane Stay Up?

    A wing generates lift by pushing air downwards. The popular explanation involving air travelling further over the top is wrong, and the correct one is simpler than it sounds.

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  • How Photosynthesis Works

    Plants build themselves out of air. Photosynthesis uses light energy to split water and attach the hydrogen to carbon dioxide, producing sugar and releasing oxygen as the leftovers.

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  • What Is DNA, Simply Explained

    DNA is a long molecule that stores instructions as a four-letter code. The code is copied when cells divide and read out in pieces when a cell needs to build something.

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  • How the Internet Actually Works

    The internet is not a thing owned by anyone. It is thousands of separate networks that agreed to speak the same protocol, passing your data along in small packets that each find their own way.

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  • How a Battery Actually Works

    A battery does not store electrons in a box. It stores two chemicals that want to react, and forces the electrons to take the long way round through your device.

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  • Newton’s Laws Simplified

    Three rules cover most everyday motion: things keep doing what they are doing, force equals mass times acceleration, and every force comes in an equal and opposite pair.

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