Something bizarre appeared on the riverbed

It’s June 1969. A team of engineers has managed to complete a near impossible task. Against all odds, they have stopped the flow of Niagara Falls, silencing one of the most famous tourist attractions on Earth. However, while the water dries up for the first time in thousands of years, a secret is revealed on the rocks below. This find is truly unbelievable. 

It all started as a far cry from what Niagara Falls looks like today. Every year, millions of tourists flock to the area to admire the swirling waters. But more than five decades ago, something special happened in that very place. Back then, the famous waterfall was reduced to a trickle of water, while engineers explored what was happening at the bottom.

At that time, man surpassed nature. As the waterfall began to recede, visitors gathered to witness a spectacle they had never seen before. But what was revealed after Niagara Falls had been stopped?

The story of Niagara Falls began about 18,000 years ago with advancing ice caps. After the ice melted, it left a waterfall that flowed into the Niagara River. Over time, this inundation eroded nearby cliffs, creating the wonder of nature that we know today.

Nowadays, the nature reserve is located on the border between the United States and Canada, and it is one of the most famous tourist attractions in the world.

Although French explorer Samuel de Champlain first heard rumors of a huge waterfall in the region in the early 1600s, it wasn’t until 1678 that Niagara was first spotted by Europeans. That year, a priest named Father Louis Hennepin was witness to the astonishing spectacle on an expedition to what was then known as New France.

Five years after his discovery of the falls, priest Hennepin published A New Discovery, in which he described his incredible find. It was in this publication that the name Niagara first appeared — believed to have originated from the Iroquian word “onguiaahra,” meaning “the strait.” From the moment Westerners became aware of the falls, more and more people started travelling to the region.

In the 1800s, the number of tourists arriving at Niagara Falls by train also increased. The area had increasingly become a tourist attraction. A wide variety of amenities soon emerged to accommodate the influx of visitors—many of whom were even on honeymoon. But it was not only the local hospitality sector that saw potential in the attraction.

Toward the end of the 19th century, the industrial world too recognized the value of the falls. By harnessing the power of the water flow, they were able to power their factories and mills. In 1895, a hydroelectric power station was opened—the first major facility of its kind the world had ever seen.

But while the waterfall was innovative, it could only carry electricity for about 90 meters. Fortunately, famed inventor Nikola Tesla took things to the next level in 1896. Making use of his knowledge of alternating current, he was able to divert current more than 20 miles away to Buffalo, New York.

Tesla made history with his AC induction motor. His experiments at Niagara Falls laid the foundation for a system that still transports electricity around the world today. More than a hundred years later, hydropower is still generated by the falls. The factories located there can produce up to 2.4 million kilowatts of electric current.

Today, Niagara Falls is split between two countries, with both an American and a Canadian side. Taken together, the countries receive about 30 million tourists every year. During peak hours, visitors can see the water tumble down at a rate of six million cubic feet per minute. Wow!

An interesting detail: the amount of water that flows down the falls decreases significantly at night. A 1950 treaty allows local businesses to direct more of the power to their power plants at times when the spectacular view is impacted the least. However, it is not the only time that the volume of the waterfall changes.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Roy’s residence in Salt Lake to express her condolences. “Mukul is my longtime colleague and I personally knew his wife.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mukul Roy’s wife Krishna died in a private hospital in Chennai on Tuesday morning following a cardiac arrest. She was suffering from complications after recovering from Covid-19, and was flown to Chennai on June 17 for a lungs transplant.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Roy’s residence in Salt Lake to express her condolences. “Mukul is my longtime colleague and I personally knew his wife. We all thought that she will recover and we made every effort to ensure she got better. But she passed away. Their son Subhrangshu is in Chennai. Tomorrow morning, the body will arrive in Kolkata. Later, the body will be taken to their house in Kanchrapara. The final rites will be held there,” Banerjee said.

TMC national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, the chief minister’s nephew, also visited Roy.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar too condoled Krishna Roy’s death. “Heartfelt condolences @MukulR_Official Mukul Roy, Former Union Minister and MLA, WBLA on the sad demise of his wife Mrs. Krishna Roy. Pray Almighty to bestow eternal peace on departed soul and strength to family and numerous friends to bear this huge loss and setback,” he tweeted.

Roberto Mancini’s side took the lead on the hour through a sensational curler from Federico Chiesa to complete a sweeping counter-attack which began with keeper Donnarumma catching a Spain cross and rolling the ball out.

Italy reached the Euro 2020 final after edging Spain 4-2 on penalties following a compelling 1-1 draw after extra time on Tuesday, completing a remarkable revival after failing to qualify for the last World Cup.

Jorginho coolly rolled the decisive kick past Spain keeper Unai Simon in the semi-final at Wembley after Alvaro Morata had been thwarted by a fine save from Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and Dani Olmo had blasted his effort over the bar.

Italy’s substitutes and coaching staff poured on to the pitch celebrate in front of their jubilant supporters behind the goal after Jorginho’s kick booked their place in Sunday’s final against either England or Denmark.

Roberto Mancini’s side took the lead on the hour through a sensational curler from Federico Chiesa to complete a sweeping counter-attack which began with keeper Donnarumma catching a Spain cross and rolling the ball out.

Morata, who had been dropped from the starting lineup after beginning all Spain’s previous games, equalised with 10 minutes left, calmly slotting into the bottom corner after bursting forward and exchanging a one-two with Olmo.

The goal was the latest twist in an eventful few weeks for Morata, who has been booed and even faced death threats from Spain supporters after a couple of poor showings, before redeeming himself with a crucial goal in the 5-3 win over Croatia.

But his tournament ended in dismay as his tame spotkick allowed Jorginho to clinch the win for Italy, continuing their sensational run, having earned a clean sweep of victories in the group stage and knocked out top-ranked Belgium in the quarter-finals.

“Spain were great, they have star players but we fought until the end and we did it,” said Italy’s Chiesa.

“When (Manuel) Locatelli missed the first penalty, everyone was calm saying we can do it and at the end our group helped us in the moment.”

Mancini’s side are looking to win the European Championship for the first time since 1968 and secure their first major trophy since winning the 2006 World Cup.

Italy avenged their shootout defeat to Spain in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals and their resounding defeat in the Euro 2012 final, and completed a second straight European Championship victory over the Spaniards after their 2-0 win in the last 16 at Euro 2016.

Spain coach Luis Enrique could take nothing away from his side.

“They only wanted to get to penalties in extra time but we could have played for half an hour more. We can be happy and proud with what we’ve seen. We kept trying to play our way,” he said.

“Everyone can feel proud of this team, we have many young players who have done things you couldn’t imagine at their age and we were a team from start to finish.”

SCORCHING ATMOSPHERE

Wembley’s capacity was expanded to 60,000 and although coronavirus restrictions prevented fans from travelling abroad, the two countries’ expatriate communities turned out to pack each end behind the goal and generate a scorching atmosphere, which heightened the sense of occasion between two titans of international football.

Italy made an intense start but Spain went on to dominate the first half, although Mancini’s side came closest to scoring when Emerson clipped the bar right before halftime.

The second half was even more intense as gaps opened up at either end and Spain captain Sergio Busquets missed a great chance when he sent a shot just over the crossbar.

Chiesa then broke the deadlock by pouncing on a loose ball after a last-ditch tackle by Aymeric Laporte and curling into the net to score his second goal in the tournament after also netting at Wembley against Austria.

Italy could have put the game to bed, but Simon saved twice from Domenico Berardi and Morata made them pay.

Spain looked more likely to find a winner in the remaining minutes and in extra time but could not manage a second shootout victory after prevailing against Switzerland in the quarter-finals.

Once again Morata was a crucial part of the story, but not in the way he would have wanted.

Almost all the perishable and packaged food items are packed in plastic or similar materials. We find the use of plastic almost everywhere, from crockery to furniture, containers, vehicles, utensils and every other area of domestic or commercial sector. Garbage bins and landfills lie flooded all over with plastic bags, items, damaged plastic waste, etc. The reason – The human race and civilization has developed drastically and with advancing technology, we seem to have incorporated plastic into almost every product today. Life seems inevitable without the indispensable use of plastic, its variants and products. But the flipside of plastic overuse has led to production of over a billion tonnes of disposable and non-biodegradable waste. As a result, we are left with an unending heap of waste with nowhere to properly get rid of, and it eventually ends up as dump waste in landfills, polluting and leaching harmful materials into the components of nature.

How is plastic formed/made?

Plastic is usually classified as synthetic and biobased plastic. While synthetic plastics are sourced from crude oil, natural gas or coal, biobased plastic is sourced from renewable products such as carbohydrates, vegetable and animal fats, etc. As compared to biobased plastic, synthetic plastic is easier and cheaper to produce. Synthetic plastic is made from natural gas, crude oil or coal. The first step in plastic manufacturing is extraction. After this, the refining and fractional distillation process takes place (for crude oil) wherein crude oil is purified and the required components for plastic making are separated out. These materials (like naphtha) are monomeric and are converted to polymer units through polymerization. Polymerization is a process in which monomers like ethylene, propylene, butylene are converted into high molecular weight hydrocarbons, or polymers. After this in compounding, various blends of materials are mixed by melting to make formulations for plastics. On the other hand, bioplastic is made from bioethanol, which is made from the fermentation of natural/biological sources.

The major problem today is handling non-biodegradable plastic waste. These plastics do not decompose to natural and environmentally safe products over time through biological processes. The extensive use of non-biodegradable plastic is due to its durability, versatility and economical cost. Due to this, a large amount of plastic waste is generated, leading to environmental pollution. Thus, plastic is discarded easily and its accumulation in the environment leads to numerous problems. Methods have been devised to dispose it off, but these methods either release toxic by-products into the environment or are costly to treat and recycle. 

The probable solutions to reduce plastic pollution focus either on treatment and regeneration of old plastic waste or choosing alternatives to plastic products or finding technologies to produce decomposable and environment-friendly plastic. Some of the methods to do this is reduce plastic usage and disposal, reuse the material in a better way, recycle the existing waste and refuse or choose other materials over plastic items, rethink on ways and means to take corrective steps towards reducing plastic pollution, repair and make smart use of the existing waste, refurbish old plastic items, remanufacture instead of revamping into wholly new plastic items, repurpose or find better ways of pushing waste to sustainable usage and recover for the spoilage of nature due to the resulting pollution. Government and watch bodies all over the world are creating a lot of awareness about the wretched situation regarding handling of plastic waste and how severely it will revert back on us if we don’t act soon and take control of it, and are taking up initiatives to improve the current scenario. The use of bio-degradable plastics is in circulation nowadays. Bio-degradable plastics are degradable to water, carbon dioxide (or methane) and biomass under specified and controlled conditions. These may not be totally efficient solution systems to non-biodegradable plastics, but they are surely less polluting and more environmentally safe in comparison. A lot of research is building up on solutions to tackle plastic garbage and we surely hope that we might find co-habitable and eco-friendly methods to its use or replacement.

We can hardly keep our hands off those scrumptious fries, kebabs, nuggets, and pakoras, wadas, chips, samosas because they are absolutely irresistible! But these deep-fried delicacies are loaded with too much oil. The result – we end up consuming more fat than required and become prone to obesity. The reason – fats are not assimilated in the body at the rate of other micronutrients like carbohydrates and are not excreted when ingested in excess. They rather get accumulated in the body and add to bad body fat and weight instead of muscle weight. Fats are calorie dense as compared to carbohydrates and proteins, contributing a whopping 9Kcal per gram of fat.

The human blood carries two types of cholesterol: LDL and HDL. Out of these, HDL is the good cholesterol while excessive LDL is bad for our health. LDL deposits in the blood vessels and important organs like heart and eventually blocks arteries, leading to atherosclerosis. Too much consumption of unhealthy fats like saturated and trans fats can raise the bad cholesterol of our body, exposing the risk to heart diseases and stroke.

Saturated fats are obtained from animal sources such as meat and dairy products and plant sources like coconut and palm oil. Artificial trans fats are formed due to partial hydrogenation of unsaturated fats. These are hydrogenated for easy storage, longer shelf life and to prevent rancidity. Trans fats formed naturally by animals and other sources aren’t considered quite harmful, but artificially made ones have serious health consequences. Saturated fats are found in high amount in products like cakes, biscuits and cookies, toffees, fatty meat and animal derives fats. Trans fats are high in products like frozen pizza, shortenings, bakery products like pies and cakes, fried foods like fries and doughnuts. These food items are quite a delicacy, but they are loaded with unhealthy fats which can be detrimental to our health.

Firstly, we can moderate the consumption of this calorie dense macronutrient and secondly, we can choose to eat healthy fats instead. One such fat, ghee is considered as a sattvic food and is recommended by health experts albeit its saturated fat content. Ghee helps in enhancing the good cholesterol content of the body. Ghee made from the milk of grass-fed cows is naturally rich in vitamin A, E and K.  Research shows that ghee is beneficial to reduce chances of ulcers and cancers of the gut. Ghee is rich in butyric acid which is involved in the production of T-cells which help with body immunity. Butyric acid is an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer constituent too. Ghee is essential for balancing hormones related to thyroid dysfunction. It aids in weight loss by lifting up the body’s metabolism. Similarly, rice bran oil and olive oil are healthy oils too. Rice bran oil is rich in vitamin E, oryzanol, plant sterols and is packed with healthy unsaturated heart healthy fats rather than saturated ones. Olive oil, a staple component of the Mediterranean diet, considered as the healthiest, most balanced and nutritious diet in the world is high in monounsaturated fats, the good fats which help in curing ailments of liver, cancer, heart and reduce the oxidative stress in body by scavenging free radicals through antioxidants present in it. Omega-3 and omega-6 fats when consumed in proportionate amounts are also a good source of healthy fats.

Consuming fats is necessary to carry various metabolic functions of the body, but it is our choice which makes the big difference. Healthy fats go a long way in protective and healthy body functions, while unhealthy fats are empty calories and gradually deteriorate our health and body. So, it is upto us to make choices which promote a healthy body and longevity, adding to quality of life.