The word gas comes from the Greek word chaos, meaning disorder. Around 1630, Flemish scientist Jean Baptiste van Helmont first referred to gas in a scientific context to describe a vaporous state of matter that wasn't solid and wasn't liquid, but existed nonetheless. The first "gas" he described was within the smoke produced by burning wood. He called it "gas sylvestre," meaning wild gas or wood gas. Today we call it carbon dioxide.

Nellie Bly is most famous for her 72-day solo trip around the world in 1889, recreating the journey and beating the pace described in Jules Verne's novel "Around the World in 80 Days." But she made a greater contribution to investigative journalism with her 1887 expose "Ten Days in a Mad-House." Faking mental illness, she had herself committed to a women's mental hospital "with a view to writing a plain and unvarnished narrative of the treatment of the patients," as she later said. Her description of the deplorable conditions faced by patients led to significant reforms in mental health care.

Just about every square mile of land on earth has been claimed by one nation or another, but not Marie Byrd Land. Its 620,000 square miles of Western Antarctica belong to no one and everyone — the largest unclaimed space on this planet. Although some parts of Antarctica have been claimed, in the interest of world peace and scientific progress, the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 decreed that Antarctica would remain a demilitarized space reserved for cooperative scientific research. Today there are 53 signatories to the treaty, which also bans dumping nuclear waste in Antarctica.

While Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer was incarcerated as a political prisoner from 1965 to 1979, he wasn't permitted writing implements. So, he composed the novels "This Earth of Mankind," "Child of All Nations," "Footsteps" and "House of Glass" in his mind and recited them to his fellow inmates to help him remember the stories. The four books, published after his release from prison, center on Indonesia's uneasy political history. They're known as the Buru Quartet because they were written while he was imprisoned on Buru Island.

The naturally blue blood of the horseshoe crab (genus Limulus) contains an extremely sensitive bacteria-detection compound. In the 1950s, hematologists Frederick Bang and Jack Levin realized it could be used to test for harmful bacteria in substances that enter the human body for medical treatment. That led to the development of the Limulus amoebocyte lysate test, still widely used to determine whether vaccines, intravenous treatments and implantable medical devices are free of harmful bacteria.

When you give a thumbs-up sign, does the tip of your thumb naturally bend backward? The fancy name for that type of double-jointedness is distal hyperextensibility of the thumb, but most people know it as hitchhiker's thumb. It's a recessive trait you inherit from your parents and the amount of curvature can range from slightly tilted to a full 90-degree bend.

TRIVIA

1. John Sylvester White played high school principal Mr. Woodman on which TV series?

A) "Glee"

B) "Head of the Class"

C) "Saved by the Bell"

D) "Welcome Back, Kotter"

2. The word "hysteria" comes from the ancient Greek for what body part?

A) Arm

B) Brain

C) Mouth

D) Uterus

3. Which city lies closest to Antarctica?

A) Cape Town, South Africa

B) Sydney, Australia

C) Nuuk, Greenland

D) Ushuaia, Argentina

4. Nelson Mandela spent 18 years incarcerated as a political prisoner at what location, now a UNESCO World Heritage site?

A) Alcatraz Island

B) Buru Island

C) Devil's Island

D) Robben Island

5. Human blood is red because it contains what chemical element?

A) Aluminum

B) Copper

C) Iron

D) Selenium

6. Who wrote the tale of "Thumbelina"?

A) Hans Christian Andersen

B) Carlo Collodi

C) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

D) Beatrix Potter

ANSWERS

1) John Sylvester White played high school principal Mr. Woodman on "Welcome Back, Kotter."

2) Hysteria comes from the ancient Greek word hystera, meaning uterus.

3) Ushuaia, the southernmost city in Argentina, is about 625 miles from the Antarctic Peninsula.

4) Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 prison years on Robben Island.

5) The iron in human blood gives it its red color.

6) Hans Christian Andersen wrote the tale "Thumbelina."

WEEK OF JANUARY 9

The image of Benjamin Franklin on the U.S. $100 bill from 1929 to 1996 was based on the so-called "fur-collar portrait" painted by French artist Joseph Siffred Duplessis in 1778. (Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the portrait that still hangs at his Virginia home today.) In it, Franklin is wearing a red coat with a fur collar. When the $100 bill was redesigned in 1996, it featured a different portrait of Franklin based on one by Duplessis. That one is known as the "gray coat portrait." Guess why.

Can you achieve world peace with a bottle of wine? That's been the symbolic intention of Vino Della Pace — Wine of Peace — since the 1980s. The members of Cantina Produttori Cormons, a wine-growing collective in Italy's Friuli Venezia Giulia region, had the idea to blend hundreds of varieties of grapes representing every continent into a single wine that would symbolize international harmony. The first production was bottled in 1985 and commemorative bottles sent to heads of state around the world. The tradition has continued annually ever since.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a prolific composer, writing more than a thousand known works starting when he was a teenager and continuing until his death in 1750 at age 65. They're all cataloged in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, or the Bach Works Catalog, commonly known as the BWV. Bach was prolific in another way as well: He fathered 20 children in his lifetime — seven with his first wife, Maria Barbara, and 13 with his second wife, Anna Magdalena. Ten of them survived to adulthood and four became composers.

Virginia opossums are the only marsupials (mammals that carry their young in pouches) native to North America, but that wasn't always the case. Paleontologists know that a larger, more aggressive marsupial they call didelphodon vorax lived in North America during the Cretaceous Period, more than 65 million years ago. It had bone-grinding teeth and powerful jaws, and would have put up a good fight against any threat — even a dinosaur!

Rooibos tea (pronounced roy-boss, from the Afrikaans for "red bush") comes from the plant Aspalathus linearis, whose needle-like leaves redden during processing to give the tea its natural amber color. The plant only grows in the Cape Floral Region of southwestern South Africa. Because its plant life is so diverse and unique, that nearly 2.5-million-acre region is environmentally protected. Nevertheless, more than 1,700 of its indigenous species are considered threatened by climate change, human intervention and invasive plant and animal species.

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascended to the throne on Jan. 14, 1972, becoming only the second woman to rule Denmark since the reign of Queen Margrethe I from 1387 to 1412. An accomplished artist, the queen paints realistic landscapes and abstract artworks and has designed stage sets and costumes for the ballet, but in one now-famous instance, she preferred to work under a pseudonym. The illustrations she did for the 1977 Danish language edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" were published under the name Ingahild Grathmer.

TRIVIA

1. Benjamin Franklin held which of the following federal offices?

A) Postmaster general

B) Secretary of state

C) Secretary of the treasury

D) Surgeon general

2. What type of wood is most commonly used to make wine barrels?

A) Ash

B) Maple

C) Oak

D) Pine

3. J.S. Bach's "Goldberg Variations" were written to be performed on what musical instrument?

A) Cello

B) Harp

C) Harpsichord

D) Violin

4. In the video game universe, which character battles the evil Dr. Neo Cortex?

A) Conker the Squirrel

B) Crash Bandicoot

C) Donkey Kong

D) Sonic the Hedgehog

5. What do Japanese Matcha and Chinese Longjing teas have in common?

A) They're both green teas

B) They're naturally caffeine free

C) They're only served cold

D) They're toxic to humans

6. Who is the longest-reigning current monarch?

A) King Abdullah II of Jordan

B) King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

C) Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

D) King Tupou VI of Tonga

ANSWERS

1) Benjamin Franklin was the first U.S. postmaster general.

2) Most wine barrels are made from oak.

3) Named for harpsichordist Johann Goldberg, the "Goldberg Variations" were written for the harpsichord.

4) Evil Dr. Neo Cortex is the foe of Crash Bandicoot.

5) Japanese Matcha and Chinese Longjing both are green teas.

6) Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is currently the world's longest reigning monarch.

WEEK OF JANUARY 16

Although it originated earlier, the term "Goody Two-Shoes" was popularized by a 1765 children's book called "The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes." It was the tale of an orphan girl — real name Margery Meanwell — so poor she had only one shoe, but so pure of heart and morally upright she won the admiration of everyone around her. Published by John Newbery, who also gave us "The Renowned History of Giles Gingerbread," "The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes" was an instant hit. To this day, no one is certain who wrote it.

As a courtesy to international visitors, and in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japanese banks are retooling their ATMs to make transactions in as many as 16 different languages. In addition to the Japanese and English you might expect, some bank ATMS will handle traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Korean, Thai, Malay, Filipino, Indonesian, Vietnamese, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.

John F. Kennedy did not go hatless to his presidential inauguration in 1961. He arrived wearing a black cutaway morning coat, a gray vest, striped trousers and a silk top hat. Outgoing president Dwight D. Eisenhower wore a top hat as well, after catching grief for wearing a Homburg hat to his own inauguration in 1957. Lyndon Baines Johnson wore a gray fedora when he was inaugurated in 1965. Richard Nixon was the last president to wear a top hat to his inauguration.

Norwegian artist Edvard Munch made four painted versions of "The Scream." Two are in the collection of the Munch Museum in Oslo, one at the National Gallery of Norway and one in a private collection. In the paintings, a distressed figure is surrounded by a blood-red sky that probably was something the artist saw for himself. In August 1883, the Krakatoa volcano erupted in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), spewing dust and volcanic matter into the atmosphere. The volcanic cloud drifted north and by November 1883, Norway was experiencing eerie blood-red sunsets caused by the ash in the atmosphere.

The Bible used for George Washington's inaugural oath of office on April 30, 1789, also was used at the inaugurations of Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush. It belongs to St. John's Lodge No. 1, Ancient York Masons, which would have been especially significant to Washington, since he was a Freemason. It's usually on display at Federal Hall National Memorial in New York City.

When animals eat hair and other things they can't digest, those undigestibles can clump together in the stomach to form a mass known as a bezoar. (This happens often in goats, deer, sheep and llamas; less frequently in humans.) Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, people harvested bezoars as a protection against poisoning. In fact, the word bezoar comes from the Arabic and Persian words for antidote. It all sounds quaint until you learn that recent tests of bezoars immersed in arsenic show they have some ability to neutralize the poison.

TRIVIA

1. "Goody Two-Shoes" was the first solo hit from what lead singer of a 1980s band?

A) Adam Ant

B) Boy George

C) Chrissie Hynde

D) Andy Partridge

2. The first ATM in the United States was installed in 1969 in what city?

A) Anaheim, California

B) Coppell, Texas

C) Rockville Centre, New York

D) Shaker Heights, Ohio

3. The toque blanche is a hat worn most often by what type of professionals?

A) Athletes

B) Chefs

C) Firefighters

D) Ranchers

4. "Under a Blood Red Sky" is a 1983 live album from what band?

A) Guns N' Roses

B) The Police

C) Scorpions

D) U2

5. Which U.S. president took the oath of office administered by his father?

A) John Quincy Adams

B) Calvin Coolidge

C) William Henry Harrison

D) John F. Kennedy

6. What does the Latin phrase "caveat emptor" mean?

A) All is well

B) Beware of the dog

C) Buyer beware

D) Hello friend

ANSWERS

1) "Goody Two-Shoes" was a 1982 hit for Adam Ant.

2)The first ATM in the United States was installed in Rockville Centre, New York, in 1969.

3) The toque blanche is a traditional chef's hat.

4) "Under a Blood Red Sky" was a 1983 live album from U2.

5) When president Warren G. Harding died unexpectedly, vice president Calvin Coolidge was sworn into office by his father, a notary public.

6) The Latin phrase "caveat emptor" means buyer beware.

WEEK OF JANUARY 23

At 2,717 feet tall, Burj Khalifa in Dubai currently is the tallest building in the world, and by extension the tallest building in Asia, where there are plenty of skyscrapers to keep it company. In fact, nine of the tallest buildings in the world are in Asia. The 10th is One World Trade Center in New York City. A symbolic 1,776 feet tall, it's the tallest building in the North America. The newly opened Federation Tower in Moscow is Europe's tallest building (1,227 feet). Q1 in Gold Coast City, Australia, is the tallest in Oceania (1,058 feet). Gran Torre Santiago in Santiago, Chile, is South America's tallest (984 feet). Carlton Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, is Africa's tallest (732 feet).

When you're posing for a photo you say "Cheese!" Unless you happen to be in Denmark or Norway, where people say "Appelsin!" which means orange. In Korean, it's "Kimchi!" the spicy, fermented vegetable dish that's a staple of Korean cuisine. In Chinese, it's often "Qie zi!" which means eggplant. The important thing is the ee sound at the end of the word because it makes you grin. That explains why, in French, people say "Ouistiti!" which means marmoset.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Jan. 25 is Saint Tatiana's Day, in honor of the ancient Christian martyr. Jan. 25, 1755, also happens to be the date that Russia's first university, Moscow State University was founded. That led to Saint Tatiana being named the patron saint of students. Now Saint Tatiana's Day is known as Students' Day in Russia and parts of Ukraine. Since the date is traditionally the last day of the university academic semester, there's plenty of reason for celebration.

The trademarked bucking horse and rider image on the Wyoming license plate is probably based on a rodeo horse called Steamboat from back in the early 1900s. (The rider's identity is undetermined.) The first bucking horse and rider license plates were issued in 1936, but the insignia is older than that. Wyoming National Guard troops in World War I wore it on their uniforms as did Wyoming units in Korea and Vietnam, and it's been a symbol of University of Wyoming athletic teams since 1921.

The first state-supported public university in the United States was the University of Georgia, chartered on Jan. 27, 1785. However, it took another 16 years for the school to establish facilities and open to students. In the interim, another state adopted the idea of public university education and beat Georgia to the opening punch. The University of North Carolina was chartered in 1789, but opened in 1795, making it the oldest continuously operating state-supported university in the United States.

The idea of putting an inanimate object on trial for murder might seem absurd, but apparently, that's not what the people of Hawarden, Wales, believed in the 10th century. During a severe drought, a noblewoman called Lady Trawst went to church to pray for relief. Above her head was a statue of the Virgin Mary, which somehow fell on the lady at prayer, killing her. The locals put the statue on trial for murder, found it guilty, "drowned" it in a river and then buried it.

TRIVIA

1. Which of these buildings is an obelisk?

A) Lincoln Memorial

B) National Museum of African American History and Culture

C) U.S. Capitol

D) Washington Monument

2. By metric tons, which country is the world's biggest producer of oranges?

A) Brazil

B) China

C) Turkey

D) United States

3. Tatiana Maslany won an Emmy in 2016 for her starring role in which dramatic series?

A) "The Americans"

B) "How to Get Away With Murder"

C) "Orphan Black"

D) "Scandal"

4. Wyoming was the first U.S. territory to do what?

A) Abolish slavery

B) Enact prohibition

C) Grant women the right to vote

D) Ratify the U.S. Constitution

5. The Peabody Awards, presented annually by the University of Georgia since 1940, honor excellence in what field?

A) Agricultural research

B) Broadcast media

C) Children's literature

D) Civil engineering

6. In the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol, California is represented by statues of Father Junipero Serra and whom?

A) Cesar Chavez

B) Walt Disney

C) John Muir

D) Ronald Reagan

ANSWERS

1) The Washington Monument is an obelisk.

2) Brazil leads the world in orange production.

3) Tatiana Maslany won a 2016 Emmy for her multiple roles in "Orphan Black."

4) In 1869, the territory of Wyoming became the first place in the United States where women had the right to vote.

5) The Peabody Awards honor excellence in broadcast media.

6) A statue of Ronald Reagan was donated to the National Statuary Hall by the state of California in 2009.

WEEK OF JANUARY 30

Captain James Cook delivered the first sheep to New Zealand in 1773, and they just kept coming. Thousands of sheep were imported to New Zealand in the 1800s. Add that total to the natural population growth from adult sheep making baby sheep and it wasn't long before sheep outnumbered people in New Zealand. The country's sheep-to-human ratio hit an all-time high in 1982 with 22 sheep for every person. As of 2015, New Zealand's sheep population outnumbers its human population by about six to one.

It snows a lot in Quebec and back in the 1930s roads weren't always plowed. So Canadian mechanical engineer Joseph-Armand Bombardier devised a vehicle with caterpillar tracks for use on snowy terrain. He called it the B7 — B for Bombardier and 7 for the number of passengers it could carry — and in 1937 he patented his design for the very first snowmobile. By 1939 snowmobiles were being used ambulance service and rural mail delivery and in 1942 Bombardier started making snowmobiles for military use.

On Feb. 1, 1946, Norwegian diplomat Trygve Lie (pronounced TRIG-vuh Lee) was elected the first secretary-general of the United Nations. His tenure, which ended when he resigned in 1952, isn't considered the most successful in U.N. history, however he did achieve one long-lasting accomplishment. He secured the site for the United Nations headquarters in New York City and laid the cornerstone of its foundation in 1949. There's a plaza dedicated to him located directly opposite the U.N. building today.

James Joyce's "Ulysses" was officially published in its entirety on Feb. 2, 1922, Joyce's 40th birthday. Sylvia Beach, owner of the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris, published just 1,000 copies for the first edition. A second edition followed later that year. By that time, the book had already been banned in the United States on charges that it was pornographic. U.S. courts finally agreed to lift the ban on Dec. 6, 1933. The first American printing of "Ulysses" was released Jan. 25, 1934.

The Eminence Symphony Orchestra is known worldwide for its live performances of works by Hitoshi Sakimoto, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yoko Shimomura, Harry Gregson-Williams and other renowned composers of music for video games and Japanese anime. It's a vast yet often underestimated musical genre, as the recent film "Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound" will attest. Live performances of works from "Final Fantasy XII," "Chrono Trigger," "Kingdom Hearts" and "Metal Gear Solid 2" captivate audiences, sometimes even more powerfully than the games themselves.

The archives of the Institute of American Deltiology is part of the special collections at the University of Maryland libraries. It contains more than one million picture postcards as well as reference materials related to postcard collecting. Deltiology, which comes from the Greek for "little writing tablet," is the collection and study of postcards.

TRIVIA

1. What sea separates Australia and New Zealand?

A) Andaman Sea

B) Coral Sea

C) Scotia Sea

D) Tasman Sea

2. What fictional town is home to Rocky and Bullwinkle?

A) Chilly Cheeks, Saskatchewan

B) Frostbite Falls, Minnesota

C) Shivers, Alaska

D) Snowball Gardens, North Dakota

3. Architect Oscar Niemeyer designed the U.N. building in New York and the government buildings in what world capital?

A) Abuja, Nigeria

B) Brasilia, Brazil

C) Canberra, Australia

D) Gaborone, Botswana

4. In Greek mythology, Daedalus devised what complex puzzle?

A) Gordian knot

B) Labyrinth

C) Riddle of the Sphinx

D) Sword of Damocles

5. Which contemporary composer has conducted the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra?

A) John Adams

B) John Cage

C) Philip Glass

D) John Williams

6. The Grateful Dead album "Postcards of the Hanging," contains 11 covers of whose songs?

A) The Beatles

B) Bob Dylan

C) Woody Guthrie

D) Billie Holiday

ANSWERS

1) The Tasman Sea separates Australia and New Zealand.

2) Rocky and Bullwinkle live in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota.

3) Oscar Niemeyer designed the government buildings in the planned capital city, Brasilia, Brazil.

4) Daedalus devised the labyrinth used to imprison the dangerous Minotaur.

5) John Williams, who composed the music for "Star Wars," has conducted the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra.

6) The Grateful Dead album "Postcards of the Hanging" has covers of 11 Bob Dylan songs.