Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 29th July 2024 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for sulphur, gold, nitrogen, and arsenic? |
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Saunas | |
| 2. | TON 618, NGC 4889, OJ 287, and Messier 87 are among the largest what so far discovered in space? |
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Black holes | |
| 3. | What 'S' describes a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand? |
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Shellac | |
| 4. | What two components make up the stamen, the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower? |
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Filament and Anther | |
| 5. | In engineering, what 'G' describes a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis? |
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Gimbal | |
| 6. | The giant-impact hypothesis, sometimes called the Big Splash, offers a theory about the creation of what celestial body? |
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The Moon | |
| 7. | What 'S' describes a form of therapy and the Japanese word for "finger pressure"? |
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Shiatsu (Kanji: 指圧) | |
| 8. | In 1824, this became the first genus of non-avian dinosaur to be validly named. From the Greek for "Great Lizard", what is it called? |
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Megalosaurus | |
| 9. | What 7-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for rhenium, sulphur, copper, and einsteinium? |
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Rescues | |
| 10. | Notable for its large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth, what type of whale is this? |
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Narwhal / Narwhale | |
| 11. | How many living species of elephant are there? |
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3 (the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant) | |
| 12. | Who was the decibel named after? |
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Alexander Graham Bell | |
| 13. | How many cycles per second are measured as 1 gigahertz? |
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1 billion - 109 | |
| 14. | A bone found in many placental mammals, where is the baculum located? |
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Penis (the baculum in female mammals is known as the baubellum, a bone in the clitoris) | |
| 15. | Tapis, Minas, Western Canadian Select, and Midway Sunset Heavy are some of the classifications of what commodity? |
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Oil | |
| 16. | A disorder characterised by pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep is known as sleep ... what? |
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Apnea | |
| 17. | What name is given to this engine component? |
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Crankshaft | |
| 18. | What name is given to the study and use of sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing? |
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Ultrasonics | |
| 19. | At standard pressure, caesium, rubidium, Francium and Gallium become liquid at or just above 25°C, but at 20°C, what are the only two liquid elements? |
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Bromine & Mercury | |
| 20. | A pseudoscience popular in the 19th century, what did a phrenologist study? |
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Skull / Brain | |
| 21. | Write down the chemical symbols for helium, nitrogen and sodium, in that order, to reveal a five-letter word. |
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Henna (He - N - Na) | |
| 22. | In both Imperial and U.S. customary units, what single unit is equal to a quarter of a pint? |
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Gill (5 Imperial fl oz or 4 US fl oz) | |
| 23. | In computing, what name is given to malicious software that threatens to publish the victim's data or perpetually block access to it unless a payment is made? |
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Ransomware | |
| 24. | What breed of dog is this? |
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Newfoundland | |
| 25. | What family of vitamins is essential for the blood clotting process and also the binding of calcium in bones and other tissues? |
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Vitamin K | |
| 26. | What type of animals are studied by a lepidopterist? |
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Butterflies / Moths | |
| 27. | 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 | |
| 28. | What name is given to this dinosaur? |
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Triceratops | |
| 29. | Who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1921 for "his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect"? |
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Albert Einstein | |
| 30. | What name is given to the medical condition caused by high levels of bilirubin in the bloodstream? |
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Jaundice / Icterus | |
| 31. | What 'I' describes a fraction with a top number (numerator) larger than the bottom number (denominator)? |
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Improper | |
| 32. | Sulphuric acid contains sulphur, oxygen, and what other element? |
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Hydrogen (H2SO4) | |
| 33. | What is the name of the cartilage in the nose that separates the nostrils? |
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Septum | |
| 34. | What is the collective noun for a group of leopards? |
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Leap / Lepe | |
| 35. | A set of internationally open standards for television, what does DVB stand for? |
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Digital Video Broadcasting | |
| 36. | Who became the first human in outer space and the first to orbit the Earth on 12th April, 1961? |
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Yuri Gagarin | |
| 37. | What is an adult male turkey called? |
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Gobbler | |
| 38. | In meteorology, an okta is a unit of measurement used to describe what? |
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Cloud cover (0 = completely clear, 8 = completely cloudy) | |
| 39. | Mycology is the study of what? |
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Fungi (from the Greek μύκης, meaning "fungus") | |
| 40. | What name is given to the scale of mineral hardness, rated between 1 (talc) and 10 (diamond)? |
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Mohs scale | |
| 41. | What 'D' is the medical term used to describe any substance that promotes the production of urine? |
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Diuretic | |
| 42. | What single unit of metric measurement is equivalent to 61.0237441 cubic inches? |
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Litre / Liter | |
| 43. | What 'H' describes a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots? |
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Haemophilia / Hemophilia | |
| 44. | What English chemist invented the miners' safety lamp and also discovered sodium and potassium? |
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Sir Humphry Davy | |
| 45. | The essential clotting protein found in blood is called Factor what? |
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8 / VIII | |
| 46. | What planet has 27 known moons, most of which are named after William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope characters? |
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Uranus | |
| 47. | What 'M' describes this creature? |
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Manatee (Sea Cow) | |
| 48. | What 'H' is a more common name for the medical terms pyrosis and cardialgia? |
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Heartburn | |
| 49. | In simple terms, what is Newton's second law of motion? |
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Force equals mass times acceleration (F = ma) | |
| 50. | During power exercises such as sprinting, what acid builds up in the muscles? |
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Lactic acid | |
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