Niagara Falls, Girlboss, and Shrinking Hotel Rooms

Dear Readers—Our Sunday edition delivers deep dives into interesting and relevant topics, helping you explore new ideas and feeding your curiosity.

Instead of the news—which we cover Monday through Saturday—today we’ll bring you deeply researched overviews and the human-curated articles, podcasts, videos, and more that most fascinated us this week.

'Thunder of Waters'

What are the Niagara Falls?

Niagara Falls are a group of three massive waterfalls located on the border between Ontario, Canada, and New York (see diagram). Around 8.64  billion cubic feet of water flow through the falls each day during peak tourist seasons—enough to fill over 98,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Formed at the end of the last ice age, the falls are part of the Niagara River, which connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Over the past 12,300 years, Niagara Falls has moved approximately 7.1 miles from its original location—and continues to retreat at a rate of about 1 foot per year. 

Niagara Falls was the birthplace of modern electrical distribution. In the late 19th century, its immense water flow made it an ideal site for large-scale hydroelectric development. In 1895, it became host to the world’s first large-scale hydroelectric plant to use alternating current, or AC, a system developed by Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse.
 

The falls were preserved in 1883 as America’s first state park and also hold historical significance as a crossing point on the Underground Railroad.

... Read our full deep dive on the falls here.

Also, check out ... 

> Engineers shut off Niagara's American Falls for six months in 1969. (More)

> Niagara's frozen river once hosted winter carnivals. (More)

> The pet turtle that survived a barrel plunge over the falls in 1930. (More)

In partnership with NativePath

Why Energy Plunges After 40 Like a Waterfall

The Sun's Rocky Belt

What are asteroids?

More than 1 million asteroids left over from the early formation of our solar system orbit the sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter (explore interactive map). Tens of thousands more orbit outside that belt.
 

They range in size and composition, from bus-length rocky bodies to metal worlds hundreds of miles in diameter. Researchers study asteroids for lessons on the solar system, their role in the development of life, and their small but dramatic potential to wreak havoc on Earth. Events similar to the Mount Everest-sized asteroid impact that pushed the dinosaurs to extinction are unlikely to happen in the next 250 million years. 

The study of asteroids that have landed on Earth—dubbed meteorites—has hinted at their capacity to carry life’s raw ingredients. NASA’s NEO Observations Program has detected nearly 40,000 near-Earth asteroids orbiting within 30 million miles of Earth. 

... Read our full explainer on asteroids here.

Also, check out ... 

> Why NASA crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. (More)

> Comparing the impact of varying sizes of asteroid. (More)

> Meet the "Celestial Police," the astronomers who sought asteroids. (More)

Female Founders

What is #girlboss?

The term “girlboss” has taken on a variety of meanings since it was first introduced in 2014. At the time, the word girlboss—first used by entrepreneur Sophia Amoruso as the title of her memoir—was used to describe a career woman who controls her life on her own terms.

After the memoir’s publication and 18 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list, the term came to represent a woman who used hustle culture tactics to get ahead in the workforce, becoming just as successful as her male counterparts. 
 

The philosophy found a receptive audience in millennial women, who at the time faced a variety of socioeconomic concerns. During the mid-2010s, this group had recently graduated into the Great Recession’s dismal job market, facing limited wage growth and widespread layoffs.

Many of these budding “girlbosses” went on to start companies that they branded as by women, for women. Today, girlboss is used as an ironic insult or joke rather than a compliment.

... Read our full explainer on the phenomenon here.

Also, check out ... 

> The rapid rise and fall of Sophia Amoruso, #girlboss extraordinaire. (More)

> What does millennial pink have to do with the girlboss? (More)

> The original girlboss doesn't use the word. (More)

Best of the Week

We uploaded 193 resources to 1440 Topics last week—here are some of our favorites:

Why gas station pizza is the most popular pizza in the US.

How hotels are shrinking room size to grow profits.

What it's like to have ADHD. 

How "Keep Calm and Carry On" was forgotten for 60 years.

See the difference location makes in Google results. 

Virtually walk over 200 major cities from Paris to Shanghai.

The inside story of NASA's sprawling space shuttle program. 

Charting runner Adrien Friggeri's daily runs over a decade. 

What would happen if everyone turned the lights on at once?

A gallery of close-ups on snowflakes.

Why Hitchcock struggled to make films at his peak in the 1960s.

There's a name for the bouncy texture of noodles and gummy candy: Q.

One feather bed required 1,700 passenger pigeons to make. 

Seven decades of late-night TV's biggest moments. 

The story of the "Atomic Bowl" played in Nagasaki in January 1946.

In partnership with NativePath

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