Holiday Pop Quiz: Metal Band or Microbe?

It's time to test your scientific acumen — or your knowledge of a very specific musical subculture. Plenty of microbes have seriously badass names. Lots of metal bands have names that sound like weird microbial diseases. Can you tell the difference between Thergothon and Eperythrozoon? Take our quiz!

Here's how this works: below you'll find a list of 20 names. They are all either names of metal bands or names of microbial taxa (or, in some cases, both). Take a look at the list and keep score. Then head over to the answer key to find out which is which. You'll learn a few things about microbes and watch some metal videos along the way.

Microbiologists and Tolkien fans will have a slight advantage here.

1. Moraxella lacunata

2. Mortuus Caelum

3. Acidianus

4. Cirith Ungol

5. Paramaecium

6. Metalium

7. Metallosphaera

8. Schizomycetes

9. Serratia

10. Xenophilus

11. Anthrax

12. Circle of Dead Children

13. Nachtmystium

14. Toxothrix

15. Thermovorax

16. Amon Amarth

17. Thergothon

18. Eperythrozoon

19. Chromatium minus

20. Agathodaimon

Check your answers here.