Understand how the world works.
Clear explanations of the systems, technologies, institutions, ideas and forces shaping our world.
Ask the right question.
Open Chronicle Explained begins with the questions that turn information into understanding.
What?
Understand what something is before exploring how it works, why it exists and why it matters.
Explore Explained →How?
Discover the mechanisms, processes and systems behind the world around us.
Explore How the World Works →Why?
Go beyond events to understand causes, incentives, relationships and consequences.
Explore World Explained →What If?
Explore scenarios that reveal how important systems behave when circumstances suddenly change.
Explore What If? →How Is AI Changing the Cybersecurity Battlefield?
Artificial intelligence is making cyber operations faster, more automated and increasingly autonomous. The result may be one of the biggest changes in cybersecurity since the arrival of the internet. By Open Chronicle Explained For…
Read Featured Explainer →Go beyond the headline.
News tells us what happened. Open Chronicle Explained helps readers understand the systems and forces behind the story.
Understand the systems shaping our world.
Explore Open Chronicle Explained by subject, from geopolitics and economics to science, technology and infrastructure.
World Explained
Countries, borders, geography, institutions and the international system.
Latest: What Would Happen to the United Kingdom If Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland Left? Explore World Explained →Politics & Power
Governments, diplomacy, elections, alliances and political institutions.
Latest: What Would Happen to the United Kingdom If Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland Left? Explore Politics & Power →Money & Economy
Inflation, interest rates, currencies, debt, banking and global finance.
Latest: What If a Country Defaults on Its Debt? Explore Money & Economy →Energy
Oil, gas, electricity, nuclear power, renewables and energy markets.
Latest: Why Does Cuba’s Power Grid Keep Collapsing? Explore Energy →Science
Physics, biology, climate, geology and the science behind everyday life.
Latest: How Does a Nuclear Reactor Actually Work? Explore Science →Technology
Artificial intelligence, computing, semiconductors and digital systems.
Latest: How Does Facial Recognition Actually Work? Explore Technology →Defence & Security
Missiles, radar, military technology, intelligence and security systems.
Latest: How Is AI Changing the Cybersecurity Battlefield? Explore Defence & Security →Space
Satellites, rockets, orbital mechanics, navigation and exploration.
Latest: What Keeps a Satellite in Orbit? Explore Space →Infrastructure
Ports, pipelines, grids, transport systems and undersea cables.
Latest: Why Does Cuba’s Power Grid Keep Collapsing? Explore Infrastructure →Ideas & Society
Institutions, behaviour, social systems, ideas and the forces shaping societies.
Latest: How Does Facial Recognition Actually Work? Explore Ideas & Society →How the World Works
Evergreen explainers revealing the systems modern life depends on.
How Does Facial Recognition Actually Work?
From unlocking a smartphone to searching millions of images, facial recognition turns the geometry and visual characteristics of a human face into…
Read Explainer →How Is AI Changing the Cybersecurity Battlefield?
Artificial intelligence is making cyber operations faster, more automated and increasingly autonomous. The result may be one of the biggest changes in…
Read Explainer →How Does a Smartphone Chip Actually Work?
Inside the tiny silicon processor that powers artificial intelligence, photography, gaming and billions of calculations every second. By Open Chronicle Explained Every…
Read Explainer →What If?
Explore hypothetical scenarios to understand how systems respond when something important changes.
What If the Strait of Hormuz Closed?
By Open Chronicle Explained The Strait of Hormuz is only a narrow passage of water between Iran and Oman. But imagine that commercial shipping…
Read Scenario →What If GPS Stopped Working for 24 Hours?
By Open Chronicle Explained At 8:00 in the morning, something strange happens. The blue dot disappears from your phone. Drivers notice that navigation systems…
Read Scenario →What If a Country Defaults on Its Debt?
By Open Chronicle Explained Imagine a government reaches the date when billions of dollars of debt must be repaid. The money is not there.…
Read Scenario →What If Major Undersea Internet Cables Were Cut?
By Open Chronicle Explained Imagine opening your laptop one morning and noticing that websites are loading more slowly than usual. Video calls begin freezing.…
Read Scenario →Latest Explainers
The newest explanations from across Open Chronicle Explained, from science and technology to economics, geopolitics and infrastructure.
How Does GPS Know Where You Are?
By Open Chronicle Explained Open a map on your phone and a small blue dot appears. It may show which street you are standing…
Read Explainer →
What If the Strait of Hormuz Closed?
By Open Chronicle Explained The Strait of Hormuz is only a narrow passage of water between Iran and Oman. But imagine that commercial shipping…
Read Explainer →
What If GPS Stopped Working for 24 Hours?
By Open Chronicle Explained At 8:00 in the morning, something strange happens. The blue dot disappears from your phone. Drivers notice that navigation systems…
Read Explainer →
What If a Country Defaults on Its Debt?
By Open Chronicle Explained Imagine a government reaches the date when billions of dollars of debt must be repaid. The money is not there.…
Read Explainer →
What If Major Undersea Internet Cables Were Cut?
By Open Chronicle Explained Imagine opening your laptop one morning and noticing that websites are loading more slowly than usual. Video calls begin freezing.…
Read Explainer →
How Does a Government Actually Fall?
By Open Chronicle Explained A headline appears: Government falls after losing confidence vote. Television cameras gather outside parliament. Ministers cancel meetings. Political parties begin…
Read Explainer →
How Does a Nuclear Reactor Actually Work?
By Open Chronicle Explained Look at a nuclear power station from the outside and the technology can seem almost mysterious. Massive concrete buildings. Cooling…
Read Explainer →
What Keeps a Satellite in Orbit?
By Open Chronicle Explained Thousands of kilometres above your head, satellites are moving through space at extraordinary speeds. Some photograph storms. Some carry television…
Read Explainer →
Why Do Societies Become Polarized?
By Open Chronicle Explained Imagine two neighbours. They disagree about taxes. One thinks taxes should be lower. The other believes higher taxes are necessary…
Read Explainer →
Why Do Some Countries Become Rich While Others Remain Poor?
By Open Chronicle Explained Look at the world at night from space. Some regions glow with enormous networks of cities, roads, factories and infrastructure.…
Read Explainer →
How Does Missile Defence Actually Work?
By Open Chronicle Explained A radar detects something unusual. Hundreds of kilometres away, an object is climbing rapidly through the atmosphere. Computers begin analysing…
Read Explainer →
How Does the Internet Cross the Atlantic?
By Open Chronicle Explained Send a message from Lisbon to New York and it can arrive almost instantly. Open a website hosted in the…
Read Explainer →Context across the Chronicle.
Open Chronicle Explained connects stories from across the network with the background knowledge needed to understand them.