Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 8th September 2025 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | 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 | |
| 2. | Native to South America, the largest living rodent in the world, what 'C' describes this animal? |
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Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) | |
| 3. | What valuable product can be gained by mining kimberlites or lamproites? |
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Diamond | |
| 4. | What colour are Edelweiss flowers? |
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White (edel means "noble" and weiß means "white") | |
| 5. | In reference to automotive gear arrangements, what does LSD stand for? |
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Limited-slip differential | |
| 6. | What part of the body does a rhinologist study? |
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Nose | |
| 7. | What 'E' describes the mechanism in a timepiece that controls the transfer of energy from the power source to the counting mechanism? |
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Escapement | |
| 8. | What is the only bird that can fly backwards or upside down? |
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Hummingbird | |
| 9. | Diamond is a metastable allotrope of what chemical element? |
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Carbon | |
| 10. | The brachial artery is the major blood vessel of what part of the human body? |
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(Upper) arm (often used to measure blood pressure) | |
| 11. | What is the SI derived unit of electric potential and electromotive force? |
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Volt | |
| 12. | What single word describes this equation? |
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Photosynthesis (Carbon Dioxide + Water → Sugar + Oxygen) | |
| 13. | How many cubic feet are there in five cubic yards? |
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135 (3 x 3 x 3 x 5) | |
| 14. | What was the surname of the man who invented vulcanised rubber in 1839? |
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Goodyear (Charles Goodyear) | |
| 15. | In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound is how many metres per second? |
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342 | |
| 16. | What two body parts are connected by the Eustachian tube? |
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Ear and nose (a narrow passage leading from the nasopharynx to the cavity of the middle ear) | |
| 17. | By what name is ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate more commonly known? |
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Super Glue / Krazy Glue | |
| 18. | What does the letter 'D' stand for in RADAR? |
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Detection (Radio detection and ranging) | |
| 19. | What 'S' is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas state, without passing through the liquid state? |
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Sublimation | |
| 20. | In computing, colloquially termed a web address, what does URL stand for? |
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Uniform Resource Locator | |
| 21. | What 'M' describes this creature? |
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Manatee (Sea Cow) | |
| 22. | Former British athlete Zola Budd was born in what country? |
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South Africa | |
| 23. | What 'E' is the medical term for the outermost layer of human skin? |
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Epidermis | |
| 24. | Native to China and closely related to the weasel, raccoon and skunk families, what animal is this? |
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Red panda / Lesser panda (also known as the red bear-cat, and the red cat-bear) | |
| 25. | What type of animal are sakis, tamarins and capuchins? |
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Monkey (New World monkeys) | |
| 26. | Replaced with Minesweeper in Windows 3.1, what was the first video game included with Microsoft Windows 1.0 thru 3.0? |
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Reversi (Solitaire was introduced in Windows 3.0) | |
| 27. | What 'V' describes the science, production and study of grapes? |
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Viticulture / Viniculture | |
| 28. | From what type of tree is nearly all the world's natural cork obtained? |
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Oak (Cork Oak - Quercus suber) | |
| 29. | What type of animal is a brown booby? |
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Bird | |
| 30. | What 7-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for cobalt, tungsten, protactinium, and tennessine? |
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Cowpats | |
| 31. | 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 | |
| 32. | In computing, what is the word bit short for? |
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Binary digit | |
| 33. | If you have XY sex chromosomes, are you male or female? |
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Male | |
| 34. | What 'G' is a soft, silvery metal that melts at 30°C (86°F)? |
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Gallium | |
| 35. | What planet in our solar system is named after the Roman messenger to the Gods? |
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Mercury | |
| 36. | In physics, what comes in six flavours: up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom? |
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Quarks | |
| 37. | A U.S. government agency, what does NASA stand for? |
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration | |
| 38. | What 'S' describes types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water? |
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Sedimentary | |
| 39. | Sildenafil, tadalafil and vardenafil are the generic names of drugs used to treat what medical condition? |
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Erectile dysfunction (a.k.a. Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, et. al.) | |
| 40. | Rounded to the nearest million, how many million metres does light travel in a vacuum in 1 second? |
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300 (299,792,458) | |
| 41. | In mammals, what organ contains the vestibular system? |
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Ear (enables body balance) | |
| 42. | What does the internet slang abbreviation IMHO mean? |
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In My Humble/Honest Opinion | |
| 43. | What is the aquatic larva of an amphibian more commonly called? |
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Tadpole | |
| 44. | All kittens are born with what colour eyes? |
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Blue (when they get older the melanin changes their eyes to copper, orange, yellow or green) | |
| 45. | On the Beaufort wind force scale, what number represents hurricane force winds? |
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12 | |
| 46. | What three-letter word is the SI derived unit of illuminance? |
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Lux (symbol: lx) | |
| 47. | What chemical element was historically called brimstone? |
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Sulphur / Sulfur | |
| 48. | Also the name of an astrological sign, what constellation includes the two stars Castor & Pollux? |
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Gemini | |
| 49. | Developed as an improved, non-patented replacement file format for the GIF, what does PNG stand for? |
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Portable Network Graphics | |
| 50. | What single mechanical unit of measurement is equal to 745.7 watts? |
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Horsepower | |
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