Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 6th 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 Some questions and answers may be outdated.)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 farm animal has the Latin name Gallus gallus domesticus? |
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Chicken | |
| 2. | Ichthyology is the scientific study of what? |
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Fishes | |
| 3. | What chemical element has the symbol Se? |
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Selenium | |
| 4. | Hematite or haematite is a major mineral source of what metal element? |
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Iron | |
| 5. | "Saffron Scourge" is an old name for what kind of fever? |
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Yellow fever | |
| 6. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for silver, rhenium and einsteinium? |
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Agrees | |
| 7. | The smallest bird in the world, what two words describe this species? |
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Bee hummingbird | |
| 8. | What is the common name for the physiological condition also called desynchronosis or circadian dysrhythmia? |
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Jet lag | |
| 9. | What Greek mathematician first declared that in a right-angled triangle, the area of the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares of the other two sides? |
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Pythagoras | |
| 10. | To the nearest whole number, how many times stronger is Earth's gravity compared to that of the Moon? |
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6 (9.807 m/s2 / 1.622 m/s2) | |
| 11. | "Consumption" was the most common nineteenth century English word for what disease? |
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Tuberculosis | |
| 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 the anatomical term for your kneecap? |
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Patella | |
| 14. | What unit of electric potential is equivalent to one joule of energy per coulomb ? |
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Volt | |
| 15. | First launched from a modified Boeing 747 in 1977, though incapable of space flight, what was the name of the very first Space Shuttle? |
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Enterprise | |
| 16. | What 'P' describes rocks composed solely or primarily of volcanic materials? |
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Pyroclastic | |
| 17. | Partly named after its native U.S. state, what two words describe this, the world's largest domesticated cat breed? |
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Maine Coon | |
| 18. | What 'T' is the SI unit of magnetic flux density? |
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Tesla | |
| 19. | What name is given to the green alkaline fluid produced by the liver? |
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Bile | |
| 20. | For what important historical application is radioactive carbon-14 used? |
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Carbon dating | |
| 21. | What has the chemical symbol Sr and derives its name from a village in the Scottish Highlands near where it was first discovered? |
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Strontium (Strontian, Lochaber) | |
| 22. | What hormone promotes the absorption of carbohydrates, especially glucose from the blood into liver, fat and skeletal muscle cells? |
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Insulin | |
| 23. | Which element has the symbol Fe? |
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Iron (from Latin: ferrum) | |
| 24. | Typically, how many Imperial pints are there in a flagon? |
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2 | |
| 25. | How many wings does a mosquito have? |
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2 | |
| 26. | First defined in 1913 by radiochemist Frederick Soddy, what 'I' describes variants of a chemical element with the same proton number, but different neutron number? |
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Isotopes | |
| 27. | What 'R' describes any quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length? |
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Rhombus | |
| 28. | What 4-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for tin, oxygen and tungsten? |
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Snow | |
| 29. | What 'A' describes the fluid that protects a fœtus during pregnancy? |
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Amniotic | |
| 30. | How many hearts does an octopus have? |
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Three | |
| 31. | Including zero, how many different values can be stored in 8 bits of memory? |
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256 (28, 0-255 unsigned, or -128 to 127 signed) | |
| 32. | What type of animals are Minke, Gray and Bowhead? |
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Whales | |
| 33. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for tin, oxygen, rhenium, and sulphur? |
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Snores | |
| 34. | What chemical element has the atomic number 7? |
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Nitrogen | |
| 35. | What 'A' is the most commonly used family of rockets launched by the European Space Agency? |
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Ariane | |
| 36. | Tapis, Minas, Western Canadian Select, and Midway Sunset Heavy are some of the classifications of what commodity? |
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Oil | |
| 37. | The leaves of what tree make up most of a Koala Bear's diet? |
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Eucalyptus | |
| 38. | In the body, what colour blood cells are leukocytes? |
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White | |
| 39. | What does the 'T' stand for in both CT scan and CAT scan? |
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Tomography (Computed Tomography / Computed Axial Tomography) | |
| 40. | What name is given to a fabric or yarn made from the fleece of the Angora goat? |
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Mohair | |
| 41. | The introduction of Foucault's pendulum in 1851 provided the first simple proof of what? |
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The rotation of the Earth | |
| 42. | Named after the French physicist who accidentally discovered it in 1896, what is the SI unit for radioactivity? |
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Becquerel (Antoine Henri Becquerel) | |
| 43. | What is the only species of penguin that lives north of the equator? |
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Galápagos | |
| 44. | Which of the 8 major planets in our solar system comes fourth alphabetically? |
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Mercury (Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Venus) | |
| 45. | To what genus of flowering plants do these belong? |
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Hibiscus | |
| 46. | The asteroid belt is a series of rocks that orbit the sun, roughly between the orbits of Mars and which other planet? |
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Jupiter | |
| 47. | What 'A' describes the clear, slightly yellowish liquid that surrounds an unborn baby during pregnancy? |
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Amniotic fluid | |
| 48. | What material powers the world's five largest power producing facilities? |
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Water (Hydroelectric dams) | |
| 49. | Is a substance with a pH value less than 7 acid or alkali? |
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Acid | |
| 50. | What is the fastest animal on two legs? |
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Ostrich | |
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