Literature Lunatic
A whaling captain driven by a monomaniacal, vengeful obsession to hunt down the white whale that took his leg, dragging his entire crew into mortal peril.
Captain Ahab
These biological catalysts are almost always proteins that speed up chemical reactions in the body without being consumed themselves.
Enzymes
Originally built as a temporary entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair, this Parisian lattice tower was heavily protested by local artists who called it a "truly tragic street lamp."
Eiffel Tower
This nocturnal, mask-wearing mammal is famous for its bushy, ringed tail and its habit of knocking over neighborhood trash cans.
Raccoon
The assassination of this person in Sarajevo started the dominos that accumulated to World War I in 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
He is trapped in a never-ending tea party because he "murdered time," and he constantly recites nonsense riddles that have no answers
Mad Hatter
On his famous voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin famously studied the unique adaptations of these birds on the Galápagos Islands.
Finches
This massive 19th-century volcanic eruption in Indonesia was so violently loud that it ruptured the eardrums of sailors 40 miles away and sent shockwaves around the globe seven times.
Krakatoa
Originating from Polynesian traditions, this permanent form of body art involves inserting ink into the dermis layer of the skin.
Tattoo
Signed in 1215, this historic document limited the absolute power of the English King John and established the principle that everyone is subject to the law.
Manga Carta
A scientist who drinks a secret potion to split his mind in two, accidentally creating a cruel, evil alter-ego named Mr. Hyde who takes over his life.
Dr. Jekyll
This specialized plant tissue acts as the main transport system for moving water and dissolved minerals upward from the roots to the leaves.
Xylem
In the early 20th century, this French tire company began publishing a travel guide with star ratings for fine dining establishments purely to encourage motorists to drive more and wear down their tires.
Michelin
This firm, chewy candy is made by caramelizing sugar or molasses along with butter, and it is frequently paired with apples in the fall.
Toffee
Formulated by diplomat George F. Kennan, this central US foreign policy strategy aimed to stop the global expansion of communism during the Cold War.
Containment
This Shakespearean Prince of Denmark pretends to be insane to plot revenge against his uncle, but genuinely spirals after mistakenly stabbing Polonius behind a curtain.
Hamlet
Named after a Belgian scientist, these cellular structures act as the "garbage disposals" of the cell, using acid hydrolase enzymes to break down waste.
Lysosomes
First identified in 1912, this rare neuropsychiatric disorder causes a person's hand to act completely on its own volition, often fighting against their other hand or attempting to choke the person
Alien Hand Sydrome
Derived from a Caribbean word for a person who cured meat on a wooden frame, this term came to specifically describe the 17th-century French and English pirates operating in the West Indies.
Buccaneer
Led by Toussaint Louverture, this 1791 uprising became the first and only successful slave revolt in history to result in an independent nation.
The Haitian Revolution
In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator insists he is sane but is driven to murder by his old landlord's cloudy, pale blue eye, which he compares to this creature.
The vulture
Invented by Kary Mullis, this revolutionary molecular biology technique uses a heat-stable Taq polymerase to amplify a single copy of a DNA segment across several orders of magnitude.
PCR Polymerase Chain Reaction
Built to withstand freezing temperatures, the massive, geometric, Soviet-era Buzludzha Monument resembles a concrete UFO perched atop a remote peak in this Balkan nation.
Bulgaria
Belonging to the family Solanaceae, this toxic perennial herb with purple flowers is famous in witchcraft lore for its root, which allegedly shrieks when pulled from the earth
Belladonna
This 14th-century French King suffered from a severe delusion known as the "glass delusion," causing him to wrap himself in heavy blankets and refuse to move out of fear that his body would shatter into pieces.
Charles VI (Charles the Mad)