Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 11th May 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
|
|
|
|
| 1. | What name is given to the tendon that connects the calf muscles to the heel bone? |
|
Achilles tendon / Calcaneal tendon | |
| 2. | What acid was historically obtained by distilling the bodies of red ants? |
|
Formic Acid (HCO2H - from the Latin word for ant, formica) | |
| 3. | What is the aquatic larva of an amphibian more commonly called? |
|
Tadpole | |
| 4. | How many humps does a Bactrian camel have? |
|
2 (a dromedary camel has 1 hump) | |
| 5. | What does a dipsomaniac have an uncontrollable craving for? |
|
Alcohol | |
| 6. | At 0.5mm thick, where is the thinnest layer of skin on the human body? |
|
Eyes (under the eyes and around the eyelids) | |
| 7. | What single unit of measurement was historically defined as being equivalent to one minute of latitude? |
|
1 nautical mile | |
| 8. | Primarily used as cover glass for portable electronic devices, what is the brand name of the specialised toughened glass developed and manufactured by Corning? |
|
Gorilla Glass | |
| 9. | What is the only known genus of fish to have a prehensile tail? |
|
Seahorse | |
| 10. | What does the 'V' stand for in the fertility treatment IVF? |
|
Vitro (In vitro fertilization) | |
| 11. | Built by the American corporation SpaceX, on 30th May 2020, _____ 2 became the first private spacecraft to carry astronauts into orbit. (fill in the blank) |
|
Dragon | |
| 12. | How many nanoseconds are there in 1 millisecond? |
|
1 million ((1 second = 1 billion nanoseconds) / 1000 milliseconds) | |
| 13. | What part of the body is removed during a glossectomy? |
|
Tongue | |
| 14. | What 'A' is a syndrome defined as a mild form of autism combined with relatively normal language and intelligence? |
|
Asperger's | |
| 15. | What is the common term for hydrogen nitride gas? |
|
Ammonia | |
| 16. | What endangered animal is the symbol of the World Wide Fund for Nature? |
|
(Giant) Panda | |
| 17. | All crewed Russian spaceflights are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. In what country is it? |
|
Kazakhstan | |
| 18. | What 6-letter word is a short form description of a medical device for injecting a measured dose of adrenaline, most often used for the treatment of anaphylaxis? |
|
EpiPen (Epinephrine autoinjector) | |
| 19. | What 'L' derives its name from the Latin for "wool oil"? |
|
Lanolin (Latin: lāna, ‘wool’, and oleum, ‘oil’) | |
| 20. | Malic acid derives its name from the Latin word for which fruit? |
|
Apple (Latin: mālum) | |
| 21. | What was the surname of the man who invented vulcanised rubber in 1839? |
|
Goodyear (Charles Goodyear) | |
| 22. | "A Silly Dancing Frog Giggles Happily" and "Jazzy Kangaroo's Little Semi" are two examples of mnemonics used to help remember what? |
|
Keyboard characters (Middle row) | |
| 23. | In which organ of the human body would you find the alveoli ? |
|
Lungs (Latin: alveolus "little cavity") | |
| 24. | Endemic to Africa and largely terrestrial, hunting its prey on foot, what 'S' describes this bird of prey? |
|
Secretarybird | |
| 25. | In the diagram below, What are the axes labelled A. and B. called? |
|
A. Pitch B. Yaw | |
| 26. | In modern day terms, how many inches are there in a cubit? |
|
18 | |
| 27. | Discovered in 1986, Cordelia is the innermost known moon of what planet? |
|
Uranus (Discovered on 20th January 1986 in images taken by Voyager 2) | |
| 28. | What four letter acronym describes the organisation in charge of the Large Hadron Collider beneath the France-Switzerland border near Geneva? |
|
CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) | |
| 29. | What is the surname of the 17th century German mathematician whose three laws of planetary motion are named after him? |
|
Kepler (Johannes Kepler - Kepler's laws of planetary motion) | |
| 30. | Nitrogen and Oxygen make up 99% of the Earth's atmosphere. At 0.934%, what is the third-most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere? |
|
Argon (followed by carbon dioxide at 0.04%) | |
| 31. | What 'F' describes the plant whose fibres are used to make linen? |
|
Flax | |
| 32. | Barnacle, Emperor and Greylag are all species of what? |
|
Goose | |
| 33. | In computing, what does the acronym ROM stand for? |
|
Read Only Memory | |
| 34. | What Greek scholar reportedly proclaimed "Eureka!" when he stepped into a bath and noticed the displacement of water? |
|
Archimedes | |
| 35. | Native to eastern Africa, Impatiens walleriana is a popular houseplant around the world. What is its more common name? |
|
Busy Lizzie / Patient Lucy | |
| 36. | South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first successful what in December 1967? |
|
Heart transplant | |
| 37. | What type of creature is a cockchafer? |
|
Beetle | |
| 38. | What is the densest planet in our solar system? |
|
Earth | |
| 39. | What is the fastest animal on two legs? |
|
Ostrich | |
| 40. | What large animal can be White, Black, Indian, Javan, or Sumatran? |
|
Rhinoceros | |
| 41. | Hyperopia is a medical term for what? |
|
Far-sightedness / Longsightedness (Myopia is nearsightedness / shortsightedness) | |
| 42. | What name is given to the clear, straw-coloured liquid that holds blood cells in suspension? |
|
Plasma | |
| 43. | Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of what? |
|
Heights | |
| 44. | How many cubic feet are there in five cubic yards? |
|
135 (3 x 3 x 3 x 5) | |
| 45. | What animal is the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare)? |
|
Mule | |
| 46. | A gas above -269 °C, at -272.2° C, what chemical element has the lowest freezing point? |
|
Helium | |
| 47. | My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos is one of several mnemonics used to assist remembering what? |
|
Order of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) | |
| 48. | What is the only species of deer in which both male and female have antlers? |
|
Reindeer / Caribou | |
| 49. | Write down the chemical symbols for potassium, nitrogen, oxygen and tungsten, in that order, to reveal a four-letter word. |
|
Know (K - N - O - W) | |
| 50. | In mental health terms, what do the initials ADHD stand for? |
|
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder | |
|
Back to Top Hide Answers Back to Category Index Back to Quiz Index |
|