Engineers Drained the Niagara Falls and Uncovered Its Dark History

A Bizarre Death

In 1984, Canadian stuntman Karel Soucek survived his journey in a barrel over the Falls, which ignited a modern urge to complete the same task. Tragically, he died the following year at the Houston Astrodome in Texas while trying to recreate his stunt. In 1990, American Jesse Sharp attempted to tackle the Falls in just a canoe but disappeared in the massive wall of water.

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The More You Know

  • Humans are the only animals with chins.
  • Scorpions are incredibly resilient: scientists have frozen scorpions overnight, left them in the sun the following day, and when thawed, the arthropod walked away unscathed.
  • The Nobel Committee declined to award the Nobel Peace Prize in 1948 because "there was no suitable living candidate." This was meant as tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, who was assassinated earlier that year without receiving the Prize.
  • A 26-sided shape is known as a small rhombicuboctahedron.
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