Pop science, politics, pictures and puzzles in today’s Friday quiz – but when it comes to trivia, are you a Prometheus or a protozoa?

Round 1 – Popular Science

We start off with a look at some science’s finest communicators. In each question below you’ll see a selection of works from a prominent populariser of science. In each case, name the author:

1. The Panda’s Thumb; The Flamingo’s Smile; Bully For Brontosaurus
2. The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence; Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space; The Demon-haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark
3. The First Chimpanzee: In Search of Human Origins; Schrödinger’s Kittens and the Search for Reality; The Little Book of Science Continue reading →

Welcome to the latest installment of the Friday quiz! Science museums and unusually-named animals are among this week’s morsels. There are fifteen marks available – can you reach double figures?

Round 1 – Animal Etymology

Some animals have very curious names – can you choose the correct derivation of each of these names from the choices given?

1. Secretary bird:
(a) It has plumes protruding from its head, making it resemble a secretary with a pen behind their ear.
(b) Its tall, upright posture and hooked bill made it resemble the aquiline figure of the secretary of George II, who was a personal friend of the bird’s British discoverer.
(c) It is known for secreting items of food in various places around its territory so that it always has a food source nearby. Continue reading →

Welcome to the Friday quiz! Among the offerings this week are the start of what will be a recurring A to Z round, and some food and drink testers for you to chew on.

Round 1 – Scientific Inspiration

Edison famously said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Here’s a round dedicated to that vital 1% (the alternative of a round about perspiration didn’t appeal).

1. King’s School, Grantham and Woolsthorpe Manor are among those who claim ownership of the original tree, while its descendants can supposedly be seen at Trinity College, Cambridge and the University of York. Which tree is this?

2. In one of the most famous tales of scientific inspiration of all time, who cracked the problem of how to establish whether King Hiero II had been ripped off by a dishonest goldsmith?

3. In 1865 the German chemist August Kekule is said to have had a dream about a snake eating its own tail – a dream which gave him the idea needed to make what scientific discovery?

Continue reading →

It’s time once again to welcome in the weekend with some quizzing fun. Questions, puzzles and some rather lovely pictures of World Heritage Sites await:

Round 1 – True or False?

A simple start to today’s quiz – you simply have to identify whether each of the statements below are true or false – so you have at least a 50% chance for every question. As a hint, there are three true statements and three false ones:

1. When Jupiter’s great red spot was discovered in 1835 its discoverer, Prussian astronomer Albert Würzburg, initially kept it to himself for fear of offending the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm III, who himself had a prominent red blemish on his face.

2. If left undisturbed, snails can sleep for as long as three years, only waking when the conditions are amenable to them.

3. There are no known contemporary portraits of Robert Hooke so no one can really be sure what he looked like. The only known portrait of him got “lost” when his arch rival Isaac Newton moved the Royal Society headquarters shortly after his death. Continue reading →

It’s Friday, the weekend happily approaches once again, and so it’s also time for the Friday quiz. In store this week: great scientific quotations, a dip into maths and – do try and contain your excitement – a round all about belts.

Round 1 – Quotations

Scientists have come up with some snappy lines over the years – how many of them do you know?

1. Isaac Newton famously said “If I have seen further than others, it is by…” what?

2. Which famous 20th Century physicist, when asked if he believed in horseshoes replied:  “Not at all. I am scarcely likely to believe in such foolish nonsense. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you good luck whether you believe in it or not.”

3. Which double Nobel Prize-winning scientist offered the following words of advice: “Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error.” Continue reading →

It’s that time of week again, so why not usher in the weekend with some testing trivia? And this week sees the return of the popular anagram round. We start things off, however, with a trip to the cinema…

Round 1 – Science at the Movies

1. An article in Nature Geoscience last year reported that an outbreak of Pseudo-nitzschia, a toxin-producing algae, was responsible for the curious events of 1961 in North Monterey Bay, California. These events were read about by a famous film director, and subsequently inspired which classic thriller of 1963?

2.  Which Hollywood star co-authored (under her real name) a scientific paper on memory called ‘Frontal lobe activation during object permanence: data from near-infrared spectroscopy’, making her one of the few people to have a defined Erdos-Bacon number?

3. Which 1997 film, described in Nature as “a dystopian look at genetics”, has a title that is made up of the initial letters of the nucleobases that make up DNA? Continue reading →

It’s Friday so it must be quiz time. Some lateral thinking, cryptic crossword skills and – of course – a healthy dose of scientific knowledge are all required to tackle today’s teasers.

Round 1 – Links

What links each of the following?

1. Gondwana, Pangaea, Rodinia

2. Idaho Gem, Prometea, Dolly, Snuppy

3. Mount Everest, Olympus Mons, Rheasilvia Mons Continue reading →