Cards starting with Z

103 cards. Page 2 of 2.

61. Zhou Enlai read Journey to the West at six, taught by his adoptive motherZhou Enlai served as the People's Republic of China's first premier for over 26 years and helped arrange Richard Nixon's 1972 visit. His lifelong love of Chinese literature and op…
62. Zhou kings kept the title while vassals took the powerFor roughly three centuries, from c. 770 BCE until 481 BCE, the opening half of the Eastern Zhou saw local lords forge their own alliances and wars while still nodding to the king…
63. Zhou ruled China longer than any other royal houseThe Zhou dynasty lasted about 790 years, from roughly 1046 BC to 256 BC—the longest royal span in Chinese history. Western Zhou power later fractured into Spring and Autumn decent…
64. Zhu Shijie mastered complex algebra centuries before his Western counterparts were even born.A wandering teacher in Yuan dynasty China, Zhu Shijie pushed mathematics to its absolute limit. He developed sophisticated methods for solving polynomial equations with four unkno…
65. Zhu Xi's commentaries shaped China's civil service exams for nearly six centuriesA rival prime minister had Zhu Xi's teachings attacked and even called for his execution, yet almost a thousand people braved official disfavour to attend his funeral in 1200. Wit…
66. Zhuzhou: The Industrial Heartbeat Powering South China’s Massive Transportation NetworkStraddling the Xiang River, Zhuzhou is a vital industrial powerhouse and a critical transit junction. Beyond its role in metallurgy and chemical manufacturing, the city pioneered …
67. Zhytomyr: A historic Ukrainian crossroads shaped by centuries of shifting borders and tragedyLocated on a vital transit route between Kyiv and the west, Zhytomyr has endured centuries of conquest, from Mongol invasions to Nazi occupation. Once a center of Polish culture a…
68. Zidane learned football on a narrow Marseille plaza and conquered the worldZinedine Zidane first played football at five on the Place Tartane, a concrete square roughly 80 yards by 12 in the Marseille housing estate of La Castellane. Two decades later he…
69. Zidovudine: The first HIV treatment that changed the course of a global epidemicZidovudine, also known as AZT, was the first medication approved to treat HIV. While it is no longer the standard for adult treatment, its role in preventing mother-to-child trans…
70. Zimbabwe's cricket giant-killers, from stunning Australia to toppling South AfricaIn its first ever official one-day international, at the 1983 World Cup, Zimbabwe beat Australia, with captain Duncan Fletcher scoring 69 not out and then taking 4 for 42. The tea…
71. Zinaida Gippius: The Androgynous Symbolist Who Tried to Save Russia Through Mystical IntellectualismA central figure of Russian modernism, Zinaida Gippius was a poet, critic, and religious provocateur who defied conventions. Known for her androgynous style and sharp intellect, s…
72. Zinc acetate is a versatile chemical compound with surprising industrial and medical applications.Beyond its role as a common food additive, zinc acetate serves as a critical catalyst in chemical manufacturing and a therapeutic agent for various human conditions. This white cr…
73. Zinc chloride is a versatile, highly corrosive salt that shapes modern industrial chemistry.This white, odorless solid is far more than a simple chemical compound. Highly deliquescent and intensely soluble, zinc chloride acts as a powerful Lewis acid in laboratories and …
74. Zinc sulfate: The colorless crystal that shapes everything from rayon to your morning brew.Often overlooked, zinc sulfate is a versatile inorganic compound found in nature as minerals like goslarite. Whether it is stabilizing yeast in high-gravity brewing, fortifying an…
75. Zinc sulfide is the secret behind everything from glow-in-the-dark dials to infrared optics.This versatile compound, found in nature as the mineral sphalerite, is far more than a simple pigment. By adding trace amounts of specific elements, scientists transform this yell…
76. Zinder: The Saharan crossroads that once served as the capital of NigerLocated in south-central Niger, Zinder is a city defined by its deep historical roots as a former sultanate capital and its role as a vital trade hub. From its origins as a small …
77. Zipper was a brand name for boots before it closed jacketsThe zipper—zip, zip fastener, once clasp locker—joins fabric edges with interlocking metal or plastic teeth guided by a Y-shaped slider. The name stuck in 1923 from rubber galoshe…
78. Ziran: The Ancient Chinese Philosophy of Being Exactly As You AreZiran is a foundational concept in Taoism and Chinese Buddhism, translating to 'self-so' or 'by itself.' It describes a state of effortless naturalness, where things unfold withou…
79. Zircon is the oldest mineral on Earth, acting as a natural geological clock.Often confused with synthetic cubic zirconia, natural zircon is a complex, ancient gemstone. Found in Australia, some specimens date back 4.4 billion years, providing scientists w…
80. Zirconium-based frameworks emerge as highly stable materials for industrial and medical useResearchers have identified zirconium-based metal–organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs) as a leading class of materials for practical technology. These structures are notable for their div…
81. Ziyang is both a rising Sichuan city and the name of a historic philosopher.Ziyang is a prefecture-level city in Sichuan, China, currently navigating a complex transition from a primary-sector economy toward modern urbanization. Yet, the name carries a de…
82. Zliten: A Libyan City Defined by Ancient Mosaics, Modern Industry, and Turbulent HistoryLocated 175 kilometers east of Tripoli, Zliten is a city of profound contrasts. It balances a deep heritage of Roman ruins and Islamic scholarship against the scars of recent civi…
83. Zola planned twenty novels like a physicist of bloodAt twenty-eight, Émile Zola sketched Les Rougon-Macquart as a twenty-volume laboratory: one family, five generations, heredity and milieu under Napoleon III. Later J'Accuse…! (13 …
84. Zolpidem is a potent sedative that can trigger complex behaviors while you are asleep.Known as a Z-drug, zolpidem is a common insomnia treatment that works by modulating GABA receptors in the brain. While it helps people fall asleep faster, it carries risks of comp…
85. Zomato ditched its first name, FoodieBay, partly to avoid a fight with eBayIn 2008 two Bain & Company consultants, Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, launched a restaurant-listing site called FoodieBay. Two years later they renamed it Zomato, partly bec…
86. Zooplankton migrations help regulate the global climate by transporting carbonResearchers reviewing two centuries of data found that zooplankton vertical migration is vital for the planet. These tiny organisms move between deep and shallow waters on daily a…
87. Zoraptera are tiny, mysterious insects that switch between blind workers and winged explorers.Often called angel insects, these small, soft-bodied creatures live in secret colonies under rotting wood. They exhibit a strange polymorphism: most are blind and wingless, but wh…
88. Zorba's outstretched hand came from a Los Angeles evangelist Quinn once servedAnthony Quinn, born in Mexico during the revolution, boxed and studied architecture under Frank Lloyd Wright before acting. As a boy he preached alongside Aimee Semple McPherson, …
89. Zorn's lemma lets mathematicians finish constructions that never actually endSuppose you are building something step by step, you have not finished after infinitely many steps, and nothing seems to stop you from continuing. A single statement from set theo…
90. Zoroaster's name probably means something like 'he who manages camels'The prophet behind one of the world's oldest surviving faiths may have been named for handling camels. Nobody even agrees when he lived: estimates stretch across a thousand years,…
91. Zoroastrian fire temples are not designed to glorify the building but to house fire.Zoroastrian fire temples are functional, often nondescript structures built to house sacred flames. Far from being mere monuments, these temples are classified by the grade of fir…
92. Zoroastrian scripture survived for centuries in a language nobody spokeAvestan, the sacred language of Zoroastrianism, died out long before anyone wrote it down. Priests carried its hymns by memory for centuries, and when an alphabet was finally inve…
93. Zoroastrian scripture survived for centuries without being written downThe Avesta holds the oldest texts in any Iranian language, some possibly composed around 1000 BCE. For most of that history the hymns passed from mouth to mouth. Only in the Sasan…
94. Zoroastrianism's famous good-versus-evil duel was not in its oldest hymnsZoroastrianism is often summed up as a cosmic war between a good god and an evil one. But its founding hymns, the Gathas, frame the contest as a human choice between truth and the…
95. Zsa Zsa Gabor: The 20th-century socialite who lived like a French courtierBorn Sári Gábor in Budapest, Zsa Zsa Gabor became a global icon of glamour and Hollywood excess. Beyond her seventy-plus film credits and nine marriages, she pioneered a specific …
96. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: The Architect of a New Pakistan After National DisintegrationRising from the ashes of the 1971 civil war, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became Pakistan's first civilian martial law administrator. A polarizing figure who championed socialism and nucle…
97. Zulu, South Africa's most common home language, only got written down in the 1800sAbout 13.56 million people speak Zulu as a first language, and over half of South Africans understand it. Yet its first grammar was printed in Norway, its click sounds are unknown…
98. Zumbi dos Palmares: The escaped slave who built a kingdom and defied an empireBorn free in a hidden forest settlement, captured by missionaries, and eventually becoming a legendary military strategist, Zumbi led the Quilombo dos Palmares. For decades, this …
99. Zurich began as Turicum, a Roman lakeside customs postSwitzerland’s largest city still sits where Lake Zurich meets the Limmat, a site occupied for more than two millennia. A late-second-century tombstone already labels the station T…
100. Zurvanism: The Forgotten Fatalistic Faith That Once Defined Sasanian PersiaZurvanism was a mysterious, fatalistic offshoot of Zoroastrianism that worshipped Infinite Time as the primordial creator. It famously proposed that the gods of light and darkness…
101. Zygmunt Bauman built his fame writing in his third languageForced out of Poland in 1968 and made to surrender his citizenship, Zygmunt Bauman restarted his career abroad, settling at the University of Leeds. Writing almost entirely in Eng…
102. Zygosity: The Genetic Yoke That Determines How Your Traits Are ExpressedZygosity describes the similarity between the two alleles you inherit from your parents. Whether you are homozygous, heterozygous, hemizygous, or nullizygous depends on whether th…
103. Zyklon B was a commercial pesticide before becoming a tool of industrial mass murder.Originally developed in the 1920s as a cyanide-based fumigant for ships and warehouses, Zyklon B was later repurposed by the Nazi regime. While its manufacturers marketed it as a …