Did you know? facts!

Published September 27, 2014

Teen invents trampoline

IN 1930, gymnast George Nissen, age 16, attached a canvas sheet to a steel frame to make a “bouncing rig.” When his travelling acrobatics act later went to Mexico, he learned that ‘el trampoline’ is Spanish for ‘diving board’. He added an ‘e’, and the trampoline was born!


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Teenage nuclear scientist

TEEN scientist Taylor Wilson is the youngest person to build a nuclear fusion reactor -- in 2008, at age 14, in his parents’ garage! Fusion releases energy when two or more atoms join to form a new atom, as when hydrogen fuses into helium, producing the energy of the stars.


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Sleepwalking secrets

KIDS are likelier to sleepwalk than adults, because kids spend more time in deep sleep, which is when this behaviour usually happens. That’s also why a person may have no memory of it. It’s okay to wake a sleepwalker and may be dangerous not to: some leave home and even drive!


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Solar family car

MEET Stella, the world’s first solar-powered family car. Built by Dutch university students, the four-seater’s rooftop solar panels help it go almost 400 miles on a single charge. Since it is energy-positive (it creates more power than it uses), it can also be a source of electricity.

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