Niagara Falls consists of three different waterfalls

The Canadian side of Niagara Falls has many tourist attractions

The Canadian side features Ripley's Believe it or Not, Louis Tussaud's Waxworks, tunnels behind the Falls and more. A short walk from the falls leads to Clifton Hill, packed with arcades, mini golf, haunted houses, and carnival-style attractions.

Water from four Great Lakes feeds Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is powered by water from Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie. The Great Lakes basin spans over 260,000 square miles and holds nearly 20% of the world's surface freshwater—about two-thirds of which passes over the falls.

Niagara Falls generates its own microclimate

Constant mist from the Falls produces localized weather effects, including rare ice formations that can rise over 100 feet high in winter.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Niagara Falls flows over 400-million-year-old layered rock

The falls cut through distinct layers of ancient rock: a hard cap of Lockport Dolomite sits atop softer layers of Rochester and Queenston Shale. This structure allows the falls to maintain a steep vertical drop as erosion undercuts the caprock.

You can take a boat ride directly into the mist of Niagara Falls

The Maid of the Mist takes passengers on a thrilling boat ride to the very base of Horseshoe Falls—surrounding them with roaring water and thick mist.

When Niagara Falls stopped flowing

In 1969, engineers stopped Niagara Falls for the first time in 12,000 years to prevent erosion revealing hidden coins, boulders, and a rare dry view before restoring its roa

Niagara Falls is slowly eroding backward toward Lake Erie

At its current erosion rate of roughly one foot per year, Niagara Falls is expected to retreat all the way to Lake Erie in about 50,000 years.

Whirlpool Rapids formed in a matter of days during the last ice age

Niagara Falls' dramatic whirlpool rapids were created in a matter of weeks when the retreating Falls intersected a buried ice age riverbed—generating North America's largest standing waves.

Niagara’s honeymoon tourism was influenced by Napoleon's brother

Niagara falls was once dubbed the “honeymoon capital of the world.” This tradition partially began with a visit by Napoleon's brother Jerome and his wife in 1804.

Niagara Falls was a key Underground Railroad crossing point

In the mid-1800s, the Suspension Bridge near Niagara Falls connected the US to Canada and served as a frequent crossing location for people escaping slavery via the Underground Railroad.

The world's first AC hydroelectric power plant incorporated Tesla's engineering

Built at Niagara Falls, New York, the plant alternating current electricity was hailed as the future of power generation. Tesla's fascination with Niagara Falls is traced to his seeing a photo of the waterfalls when he was still a child.

The world’s largest waterfall is hidden underwater

The Denmark Strait cataract is an underwater waterfall in the ocean channel between Iceland and Greenland. It’s also the world’s largest waterfall. Standing 11,500 feet tall, the incredible natural landmark is more than three times the height of Angel Falls, the largest waterfall on land. Discover more about the features of this cataract, which, despite its massive size, is totally undetectable above water.

Fallingwater is one of the world’s most famous houses

Fallingwater, a country house set atop a waterfall, is arguably Frank Lloyd Wright’s most celebrated work. Legend has it that the initial drawings of the house were hurriedly sketched in just three hours after Wright’s client surprised him with a phone call and announced he wanted to see the plan’s progress.

Bray Falls' astrophotography gallery

Bray Falls is a deep sky photographer out of Phoenix, Arizona, using his own set-ups to capture dazzling images of nearby galaxies and much more. Check out his images here.

See the world's longest glass-bottom bridge in China

China's Huangchuan Three Gorges Scenic Area sports the world's longest glass-bottom bridge, spanning over 1,700 feet. Designed by the Architectural Design & Research Institute of Zhejiang University, it stands 660 feet above the Lianjiang River. The bridge features bright red towers, an 29-foot-wide deck with three layers of thick glass, and can support 500 people. The bridge surpassed the previous record-holder, a 1,600-foot bridge in Hebei province.

National parks require numerous items of interest

To be designated a national park, an area must have various scenic, inspirational, educational, and recreational items of interest. A national monument designation requires only one item of interest and is usually reserved for smaller areas with particular historical, cultural, and/or scientific relevance.

The unbuilt monuments of Washington, DC

The capital city of the United States famously was built in a swampy area, with dozens of memorials, monuments, and more spanning its vast and complex design. This video explores five monuments that were either built or were rejected as alternatives in the sprawling District of Columbia on the banks of the Potomac River.

The fall foliage map

Fall's beautiful color changes don't happen all at once, which makes planning that peak fall foliage weekend a bit tricky. Get some confidence with this map which allows you to choose a week from now until November and see which parts of the country...

New York City's five boroughs each function as a separate county under state law

Each of New York City's five boroughs—Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island—corresponds to a separate county under New York State law, forming a layered government structure that is unique among major American cities.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Distinguishing club soda, seltzer, and sparkling water

The three forms of drinking water are similar, but their differences lie mostly in the presence and proportion of minerals and carbonation. Read this quick explainer on the major differences.

The Seneca Falls Declaration was modeled on the Declaration of Independence

At the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention—the first women’s rights convention in US history—Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, consciously modeled on the Declaration of Independence, to argue that women were denied fundamental rights and justified in demanding legal and political equality.

The WNBA includes 13 teams

Many teams share markets with an NBA team, and some share arenas; however, seven are independently owned. The WNBA will expand into Canada in 2026.

Tropical cyclones consist of three main parts: the eye, the eyewall, and rainbands

The eye is a calm, clear central area surrounded by an eyewall of intense thunderstorms. Rainbands are spiral bands of clouds and thunderstorms extending from the eyewall.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

View a gallery of diagrams for each volcano type with glossaries

The three major types of volcanoes—cinder cone, composite, and shield—each exhibit unique, lesser-known subterranean and surface features, including lava bombs, lahars, and spatter. Other types of volcanoes include lava domes, calderas, fissure volcanoes, and Maars and tuff rings.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

The best New Year’s Eve drops

There’s more out there than the Times Square ball drop. This list ranks the best of the rest, including the Great Pinecone Drop in Arizona, the Lebanon Bologna Drop in Pennsylvania, and the Pickle Drop in North Carolina.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Three Ebola species are responsible for most large outbreaks of the disease, yet the only approved Ebola vaccine is known to work against just one of them.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

This poison ivy knowledge quiz—accompanied by photos of the plant's varied forms—may help you identify this common rash-inducing growth.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.