Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 27th July 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 Some questions and answers may be outdated.)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 7-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for barium, sodium, nitrogen, and arsenic? |
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Bananas | |
| 2. | What chemical element with the atomic number 27 can be used to create a blue pigment? |
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Cobalt (as cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide CoAl2O4) | |
| 3. | 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") | |
| 4. | 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) | |
| 5. | Where on your body is the ethmoid bone and septal cartilage? |
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Nose | |
| 6. | Where on the human body is the common carotid artery? |
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Neck | |
| 7. | 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 | |
| 8. | What was the first name of the early 20th century American astronomer after whom the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope is named? |
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Edwin (Edwin Powell Hubble) | |
| 9. | What 'H' describes an organism with both male and female reproductive organs? |
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Hermaphrodite | |
| 10. | What 4-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for tin, oxygen and tungsten? |
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Snow | |
| 11. | In the International System of Units (SI), what is the unit of frequency? |
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Hertz | |
| 12. | What name is given to the positively charged polyatomic ion with the chemical formula NH4? |
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Ammonium (The compound ammonia is NH3) | |
| 13. | With regards to garments or equipment designed to safeguard the wearer's body from injury or infection, what does PPE stand for? |
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Personal protective equipment | |
| 14. | Ascorbic acid is the base constituent of what essential vitamin? |
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Vitamin C | |
| 15. | Containing approximately 75% of the atmosphere's mass, and also where all weather takes place, what name is given to the lowest portion of the Earth's atmosphere? |
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Troposphere | |
| 16. | What 'R' describes an alternative medicine involving application of pressure to the feet and hands with specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques without the use of oil or lotion? |
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Reflexology | |
| 17. | The becquerel (symbol Bq) is the SI derived unit of what? |
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Radioactivity | |
| 18. | At room temperature, what is the most malleable metal element? |
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Gold (a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square metre) | |
| 19. | Absolute zero is measured as -459.67° Fahrenheit or -273.15° Celsius. Name any one of the two scales on which it is measured as zero? |
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Kelvin / Rankine | |
| 20. | What 'E' describes the scientific study of insects? |
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Entomology | |
| 21. | In computing, what is the word bit short for? |
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Binary digit | |
| 22. | In mathematics, what does the abbreviation LCD stand for? |
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Lowest/Least Common Denominator | |
| 23. | In reference to aircraft such as the Harrier Jump Jet, what does VTOL stand for? |
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Vertical Take-Off and Landing | |
| 24. | What is the acute angle between the hands of a clock at half past three? |
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75° (acute < 90° / obtuse > 90° and < 180° / reflex > 180° and < 360°) | |
| 25. | What 7-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for astatine, tellurium, nitrogen, and darmstadtium? |
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Attends | |
| 26. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for uranium, niobium, oxygen, and radon? |
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Unborn | |
| 27. | What vitamin is thiamine, or thiamin? |
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B1 | |
| 28. | What is the name of the endocrine gland in the neck that primarily influences the metabolic rate and protein synthesis? |
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Thyroid | |
| 29. | At an average distance, and to the nearest minute, how long does it take light to travel from the Sun to the Earth? |
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8 (8 minutes 19 seconds) | |
| 30. | The SETI Institute's mission is to "explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe". What does SETI stand for? |
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Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence | |
| 31. | What 9-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for boron, iridium, dubnium, astatine, and hassium? |
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Birdbaths | |
| 32. | In mathematics, the integer below the line of a fraction is called the denominator. What is the integer above the line called? |
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Numerator | |
| 33. | What does this laundry care symbol mean? |
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Do not bleach | |
| 34. | What 'M' describes this New World monkey species? |
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Marmoset (Common Marmoset - Callithrix Jacchus) | |
| 35. | How many sides has a dodecagon? |
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12 | |
| 36. | Species found in North America are called chickadees, while species elsewhere in the genus are called what? |
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Tits | |
| 37. | What 'T' is the scientific name for the windpipe? |
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Trachea | |
| 38. | Twenty-four astronauts have flown around the moon, but how many of those have actually walked on the moon's surface? |
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12 (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John W. Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt) | |
| 39. | What part of the body does a rhinologist study? |
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Nose | |
| 40. | What is the chemical symbol for Antimony? |
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Sb (from Latin: stibium) | |
| 41. | What large object in our solar system was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory, Arizona in February 1930? |
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Pluto | |
| 42. | What 'E' describes the flap in the throat that keeps food from entering the windpipe and into the lungs? |
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Epiglottis | |
| 43. | Responsible for an estimated 300–500 million deaths during the 20th century, but officially certified as eradicated in 1979. What was it? |
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Smallpox | |
| 44. | At 273 Kelvin, what happens to water? |
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Freezes (0° Celsius) | |
| 45. | What was the name of Yuri Gagarin's famous space mission? |
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Vostok 1 | |
| 46. | What acid is found naturally in gastric acid, the digestive fluid formed in the stomach? |
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Hydrochloric acid (HCl) | |
| 47. | In what organ of the body is insulin produced? |
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Pancreas | |
| 48. | What acid was historically obtained by distilling the bodies of red ants? |
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Formic Acid (HCO2H - from the Latin word for ant, formica) | |
| 49. | How many pairs of chromosomes make up the cells of a normal human body? |
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23 | |
| 50. | The most common form of anaemia is caused by a deficiency of what? |
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Iron | |
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