Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 20th May 2024 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | Wapiti (Cervus canadensis) are one of the largest species in the deer family. By what name are they more commonly known? |
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Elk | |
| 2. | What term describes a person who studies family history? |
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Genealogist (from Greek: γενεά genea "generation" and λόγος logos "knowledge") | |
| 3. | Myosotis is a genus of plants colloquially known in the northern hemisphere as what? |
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Forget-me-not / Scorpion grass | |
| 4. | Invented at IBM by Alan Shugart in 1967, the first floppy drives introduced in 1971 used a disk that was how many inches in diameter? |
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8 (evolving into the 5.25-inch disk that was used on the first IBM Personal Computer in August 1981) | |
| 5. | What 'C' describes a large watertight chamber, open at the bottom from which the water is kept out by air pressure and in which construction work may be carried out under water? |
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Caisson | |
| 6. | What 'D' describes the large muscle responsible for lifting the arm and giving the shoulder its range of motion? |
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Deltoid | |
| 7. | Originally from northern China, and noted for its characteristic blue-black tongue, what is the name of this dog breed? |
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Chow Chow | |
| 8. | What is the more common name for Hansen's disease? |
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Leprosy | |
| 9. | What type of animals are studied by a lepidopterist? |
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Butterflies / Moths | |
| 10. | 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 | |
| 11. | To what group of animals do Chuckwallas belong? |
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Lizard / Iguana | |
| 12. | Mostly recognised due to its prominent role in the Jurassic Park film series, what 'V' describes this dinosaur? |
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Velociraptor | |
| 13. | What is a more common name for the medical term nocturnal enuresis? |
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Bedwetting | |
| 14. | What bone gets separated from the scapula when you dislocate your shoulder? |
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Humerus | |
| 15. | What 'T' describes an electrical device used to increase or decrease voltage through inductively coupled electrical conductors? |
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Transformer | |
| 16. | What is the chemical symbol for Antimony? |
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Sb (from Latin: stibium) | |
| 17. | 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) | |
| 18. | Lupine is to wolf as vulpine is to what? |
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Fox | |
| 19. | What four-letter word is used to describe a female red deer? |
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Hind | |
| 20. | What unit of power is defined as a derived unit of 1 joule per second? |
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Watt | |
| 21. | "Consumption" was the most common nineteenth century English word for what disease? |
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Tuberculosis | |
| 22. | In forensic science, what does the 'F' in AFIS stand for? |
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Fingerprint (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) | |
| 23. | What 'G' is a soft, silvery metal that melts at 30°C (86°F)? |
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Gallium | |
| 24. | Where on the human body is the olfactory epithelium? |
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Nose (part of the olfactory system directly responsible for detecting odors) | |
| 25. | What is a more common name for herpes labialis? |
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Cold sores / Fever blisters | |
| 26. | First used in the Amazon Echo smart speaker in 2014, what is the name of Amazon's virtual assistant? |
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Alexa | |
| 27. | Smelling of rotten eggs, what colourless gas is sometimes referred to as sewer gas or stinkdamp? |
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Hydrogen sulfide / Sulfane (H2S) | |
| 28. | What was the name of the video cassette format introduced by Sony in May 1975? |
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Betamax | |
| 29. | Native to Madagascar, what is this animal called? |
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Aye-aye | |
| 30. | Ascorbic acid is the base constituent of what essential vitamin? |
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Vitamin C | |
| 31. | What word is used to describe an interstellar cloud of gas and dust? |
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Nebula | |
| 32. | What is the world’s largest and heaviest mammal? |
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Blue Whale | |
| 33. | Ailurophobia is a persistent, irrational fear of what? |
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Cats | |
| 34. | What 'L' describes a hare less than one year old? |
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Leveret | |
| 35. | Reed, Marsh, Sedge, and Grasshopper are varieties of what bird? |
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Warbler | |
| 36. | What would you use to send a heliographic message? |
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A mirror (Greek: Ἥλιος helios, meaning "sun", and γραφειν graphein, meaning "write") | |
| 37. | What is the name of this constellation? |
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Leo | |
| 38. | What 'M' is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi? |
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Mycology | |
| 39. | From what metal element are most incandescent light bulb filaments made? |
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Tungsten (Wolfram) | |
| 40. | Preceding Gemini and Apollo, what name was given to NASA's first human spaceflight program? |
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Mercury (1959-1963) | |
| 41. | The densest naturally occurring element, what 'O' describes this metal? |
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Osmium | |
| 42. | Alongside engineer Émile Gagnan, what French naval officer invented the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) in 1943? |
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Jacques Cousteau | |
| 43. | 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 | |
| 44. | What planet in our solar system has an axis-tilt of 98°, meaning its poles have sunlight for 42 years followed by 42 years of darkness? |
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Uranus | |
| 45. | What keyboard function key opens a "Save As" dialog box in many Windows programs and, in Mac OS 10.4 or later, shows or hides the Dashboard? |
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F12 | |
| 46. | Native to the South Island of New Zealand, what 'K' describes this large species of parrot? |
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Kea | |
| 47. | What are Röntgen rays better known as? |
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X-rays | |
| 48. | Where on your body is the ethmoid bone and septal cartilage? |
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Nose | |
| 49. | Succeeding the Enterprise prototype, how many operational Space Shuttle orbiters did NASA build? |
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5 (Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour) | |
| 50. | With a highly developed sense of smell, unusual in a bird, what are the only birds with nostrils at the end of their long beaks? |
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Kiwis | |
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