Author desk
How It Works
Contributor at Make Tech Easier
- 27 stories
- Writing since 2026
How It Works explains the technology you already use. Clear answers, no jargon left undefined, and enough depth that the explanation sticks.
Signature pieces
- + Tech Explained How does a fibre-optic strand thinner than a spaghetti noodle carry a signal across 13,000 kilometres of ocean without… Aug 21, 2026
- + Tech Explained Wi-Fi signals struggle through walls not because concrete is thick, but because water in the plaster absorbs 2.4 GHz… Aug 20, 2026
- + Tech Explained How did a rubber gasket the size of a dinner plate, stiffened overnight in a Florida cold snap, rewrite the way NASA… Aug 18, 2026
All stories
- Aug 18, 2026 A QR code's three corner squares aren't decoration + Tech Explained
- Aug 17, 2026 When your phone shoots a portrait, the blurred background isn't optical + Tech Explained
- Aug 17, 2026 How did a country with no large rivers and limited land to collect rain build the capacity to meet up to 40 per cent of… + Tech Explained
- Aug 16, 2026 How did a cracked rubber O-ring the size of a coin, stiffened by a Florida cold snap in January 1986, destroy a space… + Tech Explained
- Aug 12, 2026 The 'root' of the internet is 13 named server clusters + Tech Explained
- Aug 12, 2026 How did a Sunday driving ban imposed by Dutch prime minister Joop den Uyl during the 1973 oil shock quietly turn empty… + Tech Explained
- Aug 11, 2026 Deleting a file removes only the signpost pointing to it + Tech Explained
- Aug 10, 2026 How did a publicly humiliated Japanese electronics firm turn a failed CD partnership with Nintendo into a console that… + Gaming
- Aug 9, 2026 How does a fibre-optic cable no thicker than a garden hose carry roughly 99 per cent of intercontinental internet… + Tech Explained
- Aug 7, 2026 Wi-Fi can slow to a crawl in a crowded café even when the fibre connection is fast, because 2.4 GHz offers only three… + Tech Explained
- Aug 6, 2026 How did a Cornell graduate student's 99-line bootstrap program in November 1988 infect roughly 6,000 machines + Tech Explained
- Aug 5, 2026 When you tap Send on an end-to-end encrypted message, the server passes along a scrambled blob it cannot read + Tech Explained
- Aug 5, 2026 How did a stray calico cat, handed a stationmaster's cap at the unstaffed end of a dying Japanese branch line, lift its… + Lifestyle
- Aug 4, 2026 When you type bbc.com, the invisible DNS lookup that may end in a nearby cache or climb from one of 13 named… + Tech Explained
- Aug 4, 2026 How did one incorrect command input during a routine debugging task in February 2017 knock a large slice of the… + Tech Explained
- Aug 3, 2026 Bluetooth was named after a 10th-century Viking king who united Denmark and Norway + Tech Explained
- Jul 30, 2026 Fast charging isn't killing your battery + Tech Explained