Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 26th January 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | With regard to sleep patterns, what does REM stand for? |
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Rapid Eye Movement | |
| 2. | What name is given to the tendon that connects the calf muscles to the heel bone? |
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Achilles tendon / Calcaneal tendon | |
| 3. | What 'C' is the correct term for Siamese Twins? |
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Conjoined twins | |
| 4. | What is the most commonly known brand name for diazepam? |
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Valium (also Antenex, Apaurin, Apzepam, Apozepam, Diazepan, Hexalid, Normabel, Pax, Stesolid, Stedon, Vival, Valaxona) | |
| 5. | What organ of the body is affected by Bright's Disease? |
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Kidney | |
| 6. | In nature, what 'P' describes a layer of ground (soil, rock or sediment) that remains frozen for more than two consecutive years? |
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Permafrost | |
| 7. | What is the collective noun for a group of leopards? |
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Leap / Lepe | |
| 8. | What 'D' describes a mosquito-borne virus whose symptoms include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash? |
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Dengue | |
| 9. | What 'H' is a more common name for the medical terms pyrosis and cardialgia? |
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Heartburn | |
| 10. | What 'A' is a more common name for the hormone epinephrine? |
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Adrenaline | |
| 11. | What 'O' describes rain that is produced when moist air is forced upwards over rising terrain, such as a mountain? |
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Orographic | |
| 12. | An industry standard for cables and connectors, what does USB stand for? |
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Universal Serial Bus | |
| 13. | How many bones are there in an adult human hand? |
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27 | |
| 14. | The atmosphere of Mars is largely made up of 2% argon, 2.8% nitrogen, and 95% of what chemical compound? |
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Carbon dioxide | |
| 15. | In what decade did Albert Einstein publish his Annus Mirabilis papers on what is now called special relativity? |
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The 1900s (1905) | |
| 16. | Scheelite is an important ore of what metal? |
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Tungsten (CaWO4) | |
| 17. | To the nearest 2%, what is the percent mass of oxygen in water? |
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88.8% (rougly 16 ÷ 18, more accurately 15.99999 ÷ 18.01528) | |
| 18. | Named after an indigenous people of the United States, what is the largest species of Pacific salmon? |
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Chinook | |
| 19. | After the Sun and the Moon, what is the third brightest celestial object as seen by the naked eye from the Earth? |
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Venus (followed by Jupiter and Mars) | |
| 20. | Would a strong acid have a pH value nearer to 0 or 14? |
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0 | |
| 21. | What 'P' describes this breed of toy spaniel? |
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Papillon | |
| 22. | Horse is to equine as pig is to what? |
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Porcine / Suine | |
| 23. | Deuterium oxide (2H2O or D2O) is commonly known as what? |
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Heavy water | |
| 24. | What part of the small intestine derives its name from the Latin for "twelve"? |
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Duodenum (duodenum digitorum: twelve fingers' breadth) | |
| 25. | What do Chiropterans have that most other mammals don't? |
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Wings (i.e. bats) | |
| 26. | What 'B' describes an instrument used for measuring atmospheric pressure? |
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Barometer | |
| 27. | The name of what animal is derived from the Malay and Indonesian words meaning "person of the forest"? |
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Orangutan (orang "person" and hutan "forest") | |
| 28. | What family of seabirds include species called White, Spectacled, Common, Black, and Arctic? |
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Tern | |
| 29. | What simple name is given to the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound? |
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Acoustics | |
| 30. | What 8-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for barium, rubidium, tungsten, iodine, and rhenium? |
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Barbwire | |
| 31. | Wapiti (Cervus canadensis) are one of the largest species in the deer family. By what name are they more commonly known? |
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Elk | |
| 32. | In geometry, a hendecagon (also undecagon or endecagon) is a polygon with how many sides? |
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11 (from Greek hendeka "eleven" / from Latin undecim "eleven") | |
| 33. | Which part of a horse consists of a dock and a skirt? |
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Tail | |
| 34. | How many Troy ounces are there in a Troy pound? |
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12 | |
| 35. | C22H28N2O is a major contributor to fatal and non-fatal overdoses around the world, particularly in the United States. What 'F' is the generic name for this synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine? |
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Fentanyl | |
| 36. | Cs is the symbol for what metal element? |
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Caesium | |
| 37. | In engineering, what 'G' describes a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis? |
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Gimbal | |
| 38. | In 1873, Norwegian physician Gerhard Hansen discovered the bacillus that causes what infectious disease? |
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Leprosy (Hansen's disease) | |
| 39. | What 'P' is the stomach enzyme that serves to digest proteins found in ingested food? |
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Pepsin | |
| 40. | What chemical element has the atomic number 5? |
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Boron | |
| 41. | What metal element is combined with a halogen to produce a light-sensitive chemical compound, most commonly used in photographic film and paper? |
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Silver | |
| 42. | The chemical compound HCN is commonly known as Hydrogen ... what? |
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Cyanide (Prussic acid) | |
| 43. | What planet has 27 known moons, all of which are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope? |
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Uranus | |
| 44. | Usually used underwater, the acronym SONAR stands for ____ ____ and ____ (fill in the blanks.) |
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Sound navigation and ranging | |
| 45. | The brightest stars in Ursa Major, how many visible stars make up the Big Dipper, or Plough? |
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7 | |
| 46. | Named for the markings on its back and sides, what name is given to this, the smallest and most common seal in the Arctic? |
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Ringed seal | |
| 47. | Which scientist was dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park"? |
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Thomas Edison | |
| 48. | The heaviest known bony fish in the world, with adults weighing up to 1,000 kg, what species of fish is this? |
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Sunfish / Mola (Ocean sunfish / Common mola) | |
| 49. | On what part of the body might a doctor use an otoscope? |
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Ear | |
| 50. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for silver, rhenium and einsteinium? |
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Agrees | |
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