Humans are capable of incredible things. If we put our bodies and minds to the test, we can not only surpass our own expectations but also push what we consider to be the limit of our species. Just tune in to the Olympic Games this summer and count the times you will hear the phrase "It's never been done before!" Wishing to explore this topic further, Reddit user Anonburrsir asked everyone on the platform to list the feats that fewer people have done than walk on the moon (which twelve can brag about). Here are the most interesting answers from the 4.3K comments their post has received.
#1
Read the terms and conditions before clicking 'I agree'.
315points
#2
Fixed the leak at Chernobyl, saved the water table for Western Europe. Three guys wearing taped up garbage bags.
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274points
#3
Sir David Attenborough is the only person to win a BAFTA for a programme in black and white, colour, HD, 3D and 4K.
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264points
#4
Survived both the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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234points
#6
Violet Jessup. Survived all three White Star ocean liner sinkings. The Titanic, the Olympic, and the Britannic.
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230points
#7
If I’m allowed to toot my own horn, I’m the only person to ever accurately forecast a tornado in Afghanistan. I had to fight tooth and nail to get that forecast approved, and by golly, it was by far the noodliest looking tornado ever. Someone down range thankfully got a picture for me.
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227points
#10
Perfect autobiographical memory is a medical condition known as *hyperthymesia*. A person who has hyperthymesia could tell you from the top of their head what day of the week any date they lived through was, and what they ate that day, and what they did on that particular day. If they saw the news that day they could tell you the day's headlines. It's an exhausting condition to have.
It's extremely rare and diagnosis is usually disputed. Only 10 case studies of hyperthymesia have passed peer review and been recorded in the medical literature.
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*edit*
Since people have taken an interest and some are understandably skeptical, a few reference links.
* A man who's been diagnosed with hyperthymesia, with MRI brain scan analysis to try to identify the causes of his unusual memory. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3432421
* A different medical case study of hyperthymesia. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13554790500473680
* Profile of actress Marilu Henner and her hyperthymesia. Henner costarred with Danny DeVito, Andy Kaufman, and Tony Danza on the TV show *Taxi*. https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/actress-marilu-henner-has-a-highly-superior-autobiographical-memory-a/
* In book form, *The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science--A Memoir* by Jill Price.
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186points
#11
Perished in a carbon fiber submarine with a video game controller as the method of controlling the submarine.
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185points
#15
Walked between the World Trade Center towers on a tightrope. Only one person ever did that.
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144points
#16
Joan Murray, in 1990, jumped from an altitude of 4400 km, both of her parachutes did not open. She fell on a nest of fire ants. Murray broke many bones, knocked out almost all her teeth, but remained conscious due to the fact that she received hundreds of poisonous ant bites, this contributed to a large release of adrenaline, as a result of which doctors managed to resuscitate her, after several years of treatment and physical recovery, Joan returned to normal life and continued skydiving.
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142points
#17
Alex Honnold is the only person who has ever free soloed (climbing without ropes or gear) El Capitan.
I doubt anyone else will ever even attempt to do this. Not only is it extremely difficult and dangerous, but there's not a lot of glory in being the second person to do it.
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131points
#18
Ran 100 meters in under 9.70 seconds (only 3 people have done this). Similarly run 100 meters in under 10.70 seconds for woman (only 7 woman have done this).
Shout out to:
- Usain Bolt
- Tyson Gay
- Yohan Blake
- Florence Griffith-Joyner
- Elaine Thompson-Herah
- Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
- Carmelita Jeter
- Marion Jones
- Shericka Jackson
- Sha’Carri Richardson.
- Tyson Gay
- Yohan Blake
- Florence Griffith-Joyner
- Elaine Thompson-Herah
- Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
- Carmelita Jeter
- Marion Jones
- Shericka Jackson
- Sha’Carri Richardson.
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131points
#19
Played Tetris for the NES all the way to the end screen.
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117points