Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 16th March 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | One of the largest of its kind in the world, with up to 21 limbs, what type of starfish is this? |
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Crown-of-thorns | |
| 2. | Often referred to as brown coal, what 'L' is a soft brown combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat? |
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Lignite | |
| 3. | What part of the body is affected by scoliosis? |
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Spine (a condition in which a person's spine has a sideways curve) | |
| 4. | Derived from the Latin word for 'fire', what 'I' describes a type of rock formed from the cooling and solidification of magma or lava? |
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Igneous | |
| 5. | With regard to sleep patterns, what does REM stand for? |
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Rapid Eye Movement | |
| 6. | What is the more common term for the medical condition hydrocephalus? |
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Water on the brain | |
| 7. | What animal is feared by a hippophobe? |
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Horse | |
| 8. | Which two islands are the only places wild Orangutans currently inhabit? |
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Sumatra and Borneo | |
| 9. | What name is given to the longest side of any right-angled triangle? |
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Hypotenuse | |
| 10. | Which is the only letter that does not appear in the periodic table of chemical elements? |
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J | |
| 11. | Laying down the the foundation for classical mechanics, how many laws of motion were compiled by Isaac Newton in his 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy? |
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Three | |
| 12. | Which is larger, a US fluid ounce or an Imperial fluid ounce? |
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US fluid ounce (29.57 mL vs 28.41 mL) | |
| 13. | What three initials describe the human form of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE)? |
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CJD (Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease) | |
| 14. | What is a more common name for the scientific process of dendrochronology? |
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Tree-ring dating | |
| 15. | What 'H' collectively describes the group in the periodic table consisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine, and tennessine? |
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Halogens | |
| 16. | Which planet in our Solar System has two moons, Phobos and Deimos? |
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Mars | |
| 17. | What was the name of the probe, numbered 4, that took the first close-up photographs of another planet during its flyby of Mars on 14th July 1965? |
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Mariner | |
| 18. | What organ of the body is affected by Bright's Disease? |
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Kidney | |
| 19. | By definition, what does a polyorchid person have at least three of? |
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Testicles | |
| 20. | What type of animal can be ringed, bearded, hooded, spotted, and ribbon? |
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Seals (Pinnipeds) | |
| 21. | What unit of electric potential is equivalent to one joule of energy per coulomb ? |
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Volt | |
| 22. | How many claws does a domestic cat have in total? |
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18 (five on their two front paws, four on their two rear paws) | |
| 23. | Native to Australia, what type of animal is this? |
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Wombat | |
| 24. | What is the common term for hypotension? |
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Low blood pressure (hypertension is high blood pressure) | |
| 25. | A family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages, what does the acronym BASIC stand for? |
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Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code | |
| 26. | What 'G' describes the fine silk used by small spiders for ballooning or kiting? |
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Gossamer | |
| 27. | What organs of the body are affected by exotropia? |
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Eyes | |
| 28. | What is both the heaviest internal organ and the largest gland in the human body? |
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Liver | |
| 29. | If a million has 6 zeros, how many does an octillion have? |
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27 | |
| 30. | Native to India, what 'G' describes this fish-eating crocodile? |
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Gharial / Gavial | |
| 31. | Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, and Miranda are the major moons of what planet? |
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Uranus | |
| 32. | What 'M' is the process of using low-energy X-rays to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening? |
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Mammography | |
| 33. | What is the chemical symbol for copper? |
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Cu | |
| 34. | Correctly spell the name of this dog breed. |
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Chihuahua | |
| 35. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for tungsten, aluminium, potassium, and erbium? |
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Walker | |
| 36. | How many edges does a tetrahedron have? |
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6 | |
| 37. | The sugar C6H12O6, when produced by photosynthesis, is given what common name? |
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Glucose (D-Glucose / Dextrose / Grape sugar / Corn sugar) | |
| 38. | What metal element is the main constituent of pewter? |
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Tin (85–99%) | |
| 39. | 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'.) | |
| 40. | 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 | |
| 41. | Name the only two islands on which orangutans can be found in the wild? |
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Borneo and Sumatra | |
| 42. | What type of creature does a sericulturist farm? |
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Silkworms | |
| 43. | What system of alternative medicine was created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, based on his doctrine of like cures like, a claim that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people would cure similar symptoms in sick people? |
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Homeopathy | |
| 44. | What is the collective noun for a group of crows? |
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Murder / Horde | |
| 45. | Rigel, Betelgeuse and Bellatrix are the brightest stars of what constellation? |
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Orion | |
| 46. | What part of the small intestine derives its name from the Latin for "twelve"? |
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Duodenum (duodenum digitorum: twelve fingers' breadth) | |
| 47. | An astronomical unit (AU) is a unit of length defined by the mean distance between which two celestial objects? |
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Earth and Sun | |
| 48. | Who discovered Radium and Polonium, won two Nobel Prizes, and died of radiation poisoning in 1934? |
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Marie Curie | |
| 49. | What is the single word term for a cubic decimetre (dm3)? |
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Litre / Liter | |
| 50. | How many legs does a cockroach have? |
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6 | |
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