Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 25th November 2024 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | Deadly if untreated, what insect is responsible for transmitting human sleeping sickness? |
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Tsetse fly / Tik-tik fly | |
| 2. | For their work on what recent discovery were James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for medicine? |
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DNA ("for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material") | |
| 3. | In reference to a coherent beam of light, what does the 'A' in the acronym LASER stand for? |
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Amplification (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) | |
| 4. | What is measured by a hygrometer? |
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Humidity | |
| 5. | In the Domain Name System of the Internet, what country has the top-level domain .ch? |
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Switzerland | |
| 6. | What illness, often associated with food poisoning, is named after the Latin word for 'sausage'? |
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Botulism (Latin: botulinus) | |
| 7. | What name is given to the female reproductive organs of a flower, comprising the stigma, style, and ovary? |
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Pistil | |
| 8. | Native to Africa, what 'S' describes this wild cat? |
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Serval | |
| 9. | What 'P' describes an acute, viral, infectious disease sometimes called infantile paralysis? |
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Poliomyelitis / Polio (Poliovirus) | |
| 10. | What name is given to a straight line that touches a curve but does not pass through it? |
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Tangent (from the Latin tangere, 'to touch'.) | |
| 11. | What 'R' is the name of the psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and analysed? |
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Rorschach (created by Hermann Rorschach in 1921) | |
| 12. | Orbiting 35,786 km above the equator, what 'G' describes satellites that remain above the same point on the Earth's surface? |
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Geostationary | |
| 13. | What chemical element has the symbol Se? |
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Selenium | |
| 14. | In the International System of Units (SI), what is the unit of frequency? |
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Hertz | |
| 15. | Meaning "little moon" in Latin, what 'L' describes the crescent-shaped whitish area at the bed of a fingernail or toenail? |
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Lunula | |
| 16. | The farthest distance away from Earth travelled by humans was 400,171 km by astronauts Lovell, Swigert and Haise. What was the name of their mission? |
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Apollo 13 | |
| 17. | The "Goliath birdeater" is, by mass, the largest known species of what? |
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Spider (Tarantula) | |
| 18. | What 'S' is a fatal, degenerative disease that affects the nervous systems of sheep and goats? |
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Scrapie | |
| 19. | Which planet in our Solar System has two moons, Phobos and Deimos? |
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Mars | |
| 20. | More than five times heavier than a human's, what species of whale has the largest brain on Earth? |
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Sperm whale | |
| 21. | What is the name of the scale that classifies wind speed based on observed conditions on sea or land. |
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Beaufort Scale | |
| 22. | If you are going to a surgeon for a 'rhytidectomy', what are you seeking? |
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Facelift (literally, the surgical removal of wrinkles) | |
| 23. | What star is also known colloquially as the "Dog Star"? |
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Sirius (the brightest star in the Earth's night sky) | |
| 24. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for tin, oxygen, rhenium, and sulphur? |
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Snores | |
| 25. | What single word describes a branch of Old World tailless simians native to Africa and Southeast Asia? |
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Apes (Hominoidea) | |
| 26. | What has the chemical symbol Pt? |
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Platinum (Plutonium is Pu) | |
| 27. | What are the two bones of the forearm? |
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Radius & Ulna | |
| 28. | Where are the smallest bones in the human body located? |
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Ear | |
| 29. | What 'N' is a cloud that produces rain, hail, snow, or sleet? |
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Nimbus | |
| 30. | Vanessa atalanta is a colourful butterfly found in temperate Europe, Asia and North America. By what name is it better known? |
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Red Admiral | |
| 31. | American Yorkshire, Gloucester Old Spot and Wessex Saddleback are all types of what? |
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Pig (Domestic breeds) | |
| 32. | In computer terminology, what does LAN stand for? |
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Local area network | |
| 33. | What name is given to a non-working male bee, without a stinger, whose primary role is to mate with an unfertilised queen? |
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Drone | |
| 34. | How many Troy ounces are there in a Troy pound? |
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12 | |
| 35. | What 7-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for Iodine, Rhenium, Lanthanum, and Neodymium? |
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Ireland | |
| 36. | A disorder characterised by pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep is known as sleep ... what? |
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Apnea | |
| 37. | What breed of dog is this? |
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Shih Tzu (aka the Chrysanthemum Dog or Chinese Lion Dog) | |
| 38. | Native to the Far East, what subspecies of tiger is the largest living member of the cat family? |
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Siberian tiger / Amur tiger | |
| 39. | What 'V' describes a diagram that shows all possible logical relations between a finite collection of different sets? |
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Venn diagram (introduced in 1880 by John Venn) | |
| 40. | What two elements make up the alloy brass? |
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Copper and Zinc | |
| 41. | First entering service in July 2015, what name is given to the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth multi-role fighter? |
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Lightning II | |
| 42. | What 5-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for tungsten, silver, and einsteinium? |
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Wages | |
| 43. | In biology, what 'S' describes a close and often long-term mutually beneficial association between two or more different species? |
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Symbiosis / Symbiotic (e.g. clownfish and sea anemone; cleaner fish) | |
| 44. | What 4-letter word can be speltusing the chemical symbols for Tungsten, Indium and Potassium? |
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Wink | |
| 45. | What is the lowest number on the Beaufort wind force scale? |
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0 (Calm - wind speed less than 0.7 mph) | |
| 46. | Name the two long bones that make up the forearm? |
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Radius and Ulna | |
| 47. | Where on your body is your gluteus maximus? |
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Buttocks | |
| 48. | The second largest living fish, what type of shark is this? |
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Basking | |
| 49. | In the U.S., what single unit of measurement is equal to 231 cubic inches? |
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1 U.S. Gallon (3.78541 litres) | |
| 50. | Retired in 2008, by what name is the Lockheed F-117 stealth attack aircraft known? |
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Nighthawk | |
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