War
This ancient Greek city-state's elite warriors were famously outnumbered by Persian forces at Thermopylae in 480 BC.
sparta
This desert is the largest hot desert in the world.
sahArA
This 1986 nuclear plant accident in Soviet Ukraine remains the worst nuclear disaster in history.
Chernobyl
This 1972 crime saga follows the Corleone family and opens with the line "I believe in America."
the godfather
This insect is known for building elaborate underground colonies and working in highly organized groups.
ant
This 1944 Allied invasion of northern France began on a beach code-named "D-Day."
What is the Normandy Invasion (Operation Overlord)?
This body of water is the saltiest lake on Earth, so buoyant that swimmers float without effort.
Dead Sea
This 79 AD volcanic eruption buried a Roman city under ash, preserving it almost perfectly for centuries.
What is the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (Pompeii)?
This tom hanks movies has him as a great running back
Forrest Gump
This insect's bite is responsible for spreading more human disease than any other animal on Earth.
mosquitos
This 1968 conflict took its name from a Buddhist lunar new year holiday, during which a surprise offensive shocked American public opinion back home.
tet offensive
This former name for a Southeast Asian country was changed in 1989, though many still refer to its former capital by its old name.
What is Myanmar (formerly Burma)?
This 1930s environmental catastrophe turned large swaths of the American Great Plains into unfarmable land, driving mass migration.
What is the Dust Bowl?
This superhero film features a posthumously Oscar-winning performance as a chaotic, anarchic villain.
the dark knight
This insect undergoes a mass, precisely-timed emergence from underground after living as nymphs for well over a decade in some species.
cicada
This war, fought between two Asian empires in the 13th century, was twice disrupted by typhoons the victors credited to divine intervention.
What are the Mongol invasions of Japan? (the storms became known as "kamikaze," or "divine wind")
This South American country contains the world's largest salt flat, a mirror-like expanse formed from a prehistoric lake.
What is Bolivia? (Salar de Uyuni)
This 1937 Spanish Civil War-era bombing of a Basque town became the subject of a famous Picasso painting.
What is the bombing of Guernica?
This 1995 Pixar film was the first feature-length film created entirely with computer animation.
Toy Story
This insect practices a brutal form of sexual cannibalism in some species, where the female consumes the male during or after mating.
paying mantis
This defensive fortification system, built by France after WWI, famously failed to stop a German invasion route through Belgium in 1940.
What is the Maginot Line?
This East African rift system is slowly splitting the continent apart and contains some of the world's deepest lakes.
What is the Great Rift Valley?
This 2003 disaster saw a NASA spacecraft disintegrate during reentry, killing all seven crew members, due to damage sustained at launch.
What is the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster?
This 1963 epic's runtime required the invention of an intermission, and its lead role was reportedly offered to at least three other major actors before its eventual star was cast.
What is Lawrence of Arabia?
This insect can remain in a dormant, encased state for years — in one record case, over a decade — before finally emerging as an adult.
cicada