Psychology
This wirelike structure extends from the cell body and carries electrical impulses toward the terminal buttons.
Axon
Butterflies use this specific body part to taste the flowers they land on
Their feet
Due to a massive translation mistake, this giant frozen island got named after something green, while its nearby neighbor Iceland is actually much greener.
Greenland
This ancient military force famously thought they were accepting a beautiful, giant wooden horse as a peace offering from Greece, only to find out it was actually full of hidden soldiers.
Trojans
Frustrated with the Catholic Church selling get-out-of-hell-free cards (indulgences), this German monk angrily nailed his 95 Theses to a church door in 1517, accidentally starting the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther
He accidentally discovered classical conditioning while studying the digestive systems of dogs.
Pavlov
this common breakfast item was actually invented in New York City by an immigrant baker, not in England.
This Canadian town in Alberta changed its name in 1996 to "Vulcan" purely to capitalize on tourism from fans of this sci-fi franchise.
Star-Trek
This incredibly powerful Roman ruler and general was once kidnapped by Mediterranean pirates, but he got so annoyed by how low his ransom was that he demanded they double the price.
Julius Caesar
This French Enlightenment philosopher was so famous for using sharp wit and sarcasm to mock the government and the Church that he ended up imprisoned in the Bastille twice and had to write under a fake pen name.
Voltaire
A tendency for a group's prevailing attitudes to become more extreme and polarized after internal discussion.
Group Polarization
This colorful corporate giant's first server rack was built out of Lego bricks to accommodate expansion.
If you look at a map of Africa, this country looks exactly like a giant jigsaw puzzle piece perfectly wrapping around the tiny country of The Gambia.
Senegal
This specific coerced labor system utilized by European powers in the Americas was basically a legal loophole: the Spanish crown "granted" Spanish settlers indigenous laborers, claiming the settlers would protect them and teach them Christianity in return for free work.
the Encomienda system
To drag his country out of the Middle Ages, this giant Russian Tsar traveled around Western Europe in disguise to learn shipbuilding, and later passed a literal tax on beards to force his nobles to look more European.
Peter the Great
Sigmund Freud hypothesized that the psyche is split into three parts: this specific Latin-named component functions entirely on the pleasure principle.
the id
This famous 19th-century author and humorist was born during an appearance of Halley's Comet and died on the exact day of its next return.
Mark Twain
Because of a historical typo on an official map, this massive U.S. state accidentally gained an extra letter "i" in its name, which it kept for over 60 years
Illinois
Sent as a tribute gift from a kingdom in modern-day Vietnam, this fast-ripening, drought-resistant "super-rice" single-handedly doubled Song China's food supply and caused a massive population explosion.
Champa Rice
This German "Iron Chancellor" didn't care about speeches or democracy; he famously declared that the great questions of the day would be decided by "blood and iron," using calculated wars to forcefully unite Germany under Prussian rule.
Otto Van Bismarck
This memory phenomenon involves the inability to form new long-term memories following a traumatic brain injury.
anterograde amnesia
In Japan, farmers grew these popular fruits into the shape of perfect squares so they would fit much better inside small refrigerators.
Watermelons
At over 50 characters long, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is a real town with a hilariously long name located in this UK country.
Wales
To convince the public that they had the right to rule, monarchs in Europe claimed the "Divine Right of Kings," which is a hilarious parallel to this Chinese political concept used to justify dynastic rule.
Mandate of Heaven
This major 19th-century diplomatic meeting featured European leaders dividing up the continent after Napoleon's defeat, but it became a running joke because the politicians spent more time attending fancy royal balls and dancing than actually negotiating.
Congress of Vienna