Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 2nd March 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | What 'C' is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption? |
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Caldera | |
| 2. | What 'H' describes the iron-containing, oxygen-carrying protein in blood? |
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Haemoglobin / Hemoglobin | |
| 3. | What name is given to the condition where too much bile in the bloodstream creates a yellowing of the skin? |
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Jaundice | |
| 4. | What 'H' collectively describes the group in the periodic table consisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine, and tennessine? |
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Halogens | |
| 5. | What name is given to a second full moon occurring in the same calendar month as another? |
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Blue moon (as in the expression "once in a blue moon") | |
| 6. | What does the internet slang abbreviation IMHO mean? |
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In My Humble/Honest Opinion | |
| 7. | Native to Africa, what is this animal called? |
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Meerkat / Suricate | |
| 8. | GRID was the name first proposed in 1982 to describe an "unexpected cluster of cases" of a disease now known as what? |
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AIDS (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) | |
| 9. | What illness, often associated with food poisoning, is named after the Latin word for 'sausage'? |
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Botulism (Latin: botulinus) | |
| 10. | What English chemist invented the miners' safety lamp and also discovered sodium and potassium? |
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Sir Humphry Davy | |
| 11. | To what family of amphibians do mudpuppies belong? |
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Salamander | |
| 12. | German Mastiff is another name for which large dog? |
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Great Dane | |
| 13. | One of the largest of its kind in the world, with up to 21 limbs, what type of starfish is this? |
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Crown-of-thorns | |
| 14. | What element has the atomic number 6? |
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Carbon | |
| 15. | Where did Eugene Cernan set a vehicular speed record of 18 km/h in April 1972? |
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The moon (Apollo 16 lunar rover LRV-2) | |
| 16. | What unit of weight is another name for the snow leopard? |
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Ounce | |
| 17. | At 273 Kelvin, what happens to water? |
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Freezes (0° Celsius) | |
| 18. | At 0.5mm thick, where is the thinnest layer of skin on the human body? |
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Eyes (under the eyes and around the eyelids) | |
| 19. | Deuterium oxide (2H2O or D2O) is commonly known as what? |
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Heavy water | |
| 20. | With a highly developed sense of smell, unusual in a bird, what are the only birds with nostrils at the end of their long beaks? |
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Kiwis | |
| 21. | On the periodic table, how many elements are represented by a symbol consisting of only one letter? |
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14 | |
| 22. | What 'S' describes a person who studies earthquakes? |
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Seismologist | |
| 23. | The chemical symbol for manganese is the same as the two-letter abbreviation for what U.S. state? |
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Minnesota (Mn) | |
| 24. | What single unit of area is approximately 4,047 square metres? |
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Acre | |
| 25. | What gas makes up over 90% of natural gas? |
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Methane | |
| 26. | What was the name of the probe, numbered 4, that took the first close-up photographs of another planet during its flyby of Mars on 14th July 1965? |
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Mariner | |
| 27. | Where in the human body are the cellular elements of the blood produced, including platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells? |
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Bone marrow | |
| 28. | How is the binary number 101010 represented as a decimal number? |
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42 | |
| 29. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for uranium, niobium, oxygen, and radon? |
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Unborn | |
| 30. | Reputed to have the second most painful insect sting in the world, this wasp's name comprises a type of spider and a type of bird. What is it called? |
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Tarantula hawk | |
| 31. | What is a more common name for the medical term nocturnal enuresis? |
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Bedwetting | |
| 32. | In the Domain Name System of the Internet, what country has the top-level domain .ch? |
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Switzerland | |
| 33. | What 'S' describes the longest muscle in the human body, a long thin superficial muscle that runs down the length of the thigh? |
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Sartorius | |
| 34. | At just over one millimetre in length, the stapedius is the smallest skeletal muscle in the human body. Where is it located? |
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Ear (its purpose is to stabilize the smallest bone in the body, the stapes or strirrup bone of the middle ear) | |
| 35. | What 'C' describes a domestic cat of any breed with a tri-colour coat? |
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Calico | |
| 36. | What four-letter word is the mathematical term for the value that appears most often in a set of data values? |
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Mode | |
| 37. | What breed of dog is this? |
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Newfoundland | |
| 38. | At more than 11 inches in diameter, what creature has the largest eyes documented in the animal kingdom? |
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Colossal squid | |
| 39. | What is the collective name for substances such as adrenaline, insulin, thyroxine and testosterone? |
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Hormones | |
| 40. | Adenoid Hynkel was the main antagonist in what 1940 film? |
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The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin) | |
| 41. | What organ is surgically removed in a nephrectomy? |
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Kidney | |
| 42. | What is the nominal output voltage of an alkaline AA battery? |
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1.5 V | |
| 43. | Which scientist was dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park"? |
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Thomas Edison | |
| 44. | In our solar system, what is the fifth planet from the sun? |
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Jupiter (Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune) | |
| 45. | Mycology is the study of what? |
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Fungi (from the Greek μύκης, meaning "fungus") | |
| 46. | In reference to aircraft such as the Harrier Jump Jet, what does VTOL stand for? |
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Vertical Take-Off and Landing | |
| 47. | How many major planets are there in our solar system? |
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8 (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune - in 2006, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet) | |
| 48. | Illegally trafficked due to unfounded beliefs in Asia that its ground-up scales can cure cancer or asthma, what 'P' describes this endangered mammal? |
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Pangolin | |
| 49. | What 'L' describes the system of delicate tubes throughout the body that circulate excess fluid and help fight disease? |
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Lymphatic | |
| 50. | What term is used to describe a packet of data sent by an Internet server to a browser, subsequently returned by the browser each time it accesses the same server in order to identify the user or track their access to the server? |
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Cookie | |
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