Brilliant Scientific Screw-ups
A mistranslated German book helped inspire the 1876 invention of this device used to send voices over wires.
What is the telephone?
This is the McDonalds limited time shake around St.Patricks day
What is the Shamrock Shake
This popular series was banned for referring to magic and witchcraft
What is Harry Potter
Approximately this many species of flies have been discovered and named by scientists
What is 100,000
This is the most common street name in the U.S.
What is 2nd Street
Long dismissed as a party novelty, this gas became the first widely used anesthetic after an 1844 accident convinced dentist Horace Wells that unconsciousness might be medically useful.
What is Nitrous Oxide
The “milkshake” first appeared in 1885 with this purpose
What is a health tonic
This is the biggest book burning
What is the Great Book Burning in Germany on May 10, 1933
This insect can survive decapitation for days because its brain is decentralized.
What is a cockroach
This is the only U.S. state that does not have a rectangular flag
What is Ohio
Discovered by accident in 1811 when a seaweed-processing factory used too much acid, this element is now added to table salt to prevent goiters.
What is Iodine
In Britain, milkshakes often refer to just flavored milk. To get a traditional American milkshake, you must ask for this.
What is a “thickshake”
This E.B. White novel was banned for its references to talking animals and ‘pagan’ ideas.”
What is Charlottes Web
Some malaria-carrying mosquitoes are drawn to chemicals like carboxylic acids emitted by bacteria and fungi from this body part
what are feet
This U.S. state was the last to officially ratify the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, doing so in 1995 due to a clerical oversight.
What is Mississippi?
While attempting to synthesize quinine from coal-tar derivatives in 1856, an 18-year-old chemist instead launched the synthetic dye industry with this accidental purple compound.
What is mauve
The milkshake inspired this invention by Joseph B. Friedman in 1937.
What is the flexible straw
This classic was burned at a church in New Mexico for being satanic.
What is The Lord of the Rings
This insect is able to pull more than a thousand times its own bodyweight, making it the world's strongest insect
What is a dung beetle
This is the only U.S. president ever to have a patent
Who is Abraham Lincoln
After accidentally leaving a silver-coated plate in a chemical cabinet in the 1830s, an inventor discovered a process that led to early photographs being called this
What is the daguerreotype?
The date of National Milkshake Day
What is September 12th
The first banned book in the U.S.
What is New English Canaan
This order of insects contains butterflies and moths
What is lepidoptera
This iconic U.S. artefact has a typo on it
What is the Liberty Bell