Welcome once again to the Friday quiz. A mixed bag of trivia this week, along with the usual picture round – but first, it’s time for the news and weather…

Round 1 – News

Here are the headlines this week…

1. Why have the duos of Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland, Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka, and Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka all been in the news recently?
2. As detailed in a recent report in Nature, research done in Copenhagen, Denmark and Perth, Australia suggests that what important substance has a half life of approximately 521 years?
3. As detailed in another recent Nature news report, German geoscientists believe they may have solved the mystery of the curious scarcity of which noble gas in the Earth’s atmosphere?

Round 2 – Weather

How’s your mastery of matters meteorological?

1. What is the name of the scale, named after an Irish officer of the Royal Navy, that is used to measure wind speed?
2. What weather phenomenon is described by the United States National Weather Service as “”[a] large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere””?
3. The phenomenon known as ENSO is a periodic climate pattern seen in the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years, causing variations in the ocean’s surface temperature. The ‘SO’ of ENSO stands for ‘Southern Oscillation’ – but what does the ‘EN’ stand for?

Round 3 – The Picture Round

It’s another themed picture round this week – three pictures to identify, all linked by a theme.

1. What is this large sea mammal?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. What is the name given to the random movement of particles in a fluid, as depicted here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Who is this cognitive scientist, linguist and author?

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is the theme that links these three pictures? There’s a very general (and more obvious) theme, which is good enough – but for the film buffs among you, there is also a more specific cinematic theme (as a hint, three more pictures would have been required to complete the set).

Round 4 – A to Z

After last week’s Nobel-inspired hiatus, we continue our A to Z – this week, it’s J-L.

1. Which J is the geological period that started approximately 199 million years ago and ended 145 million years ago?
2. Which K is the surname of the German physician who gives his name to the set of postulates designed to establish a causal relationship between a causative microbe and a disease?
3. Which L is the name of a fundamental particle, of which the electron is one type?

Round 5 – Miscellany

A mixed bag of trivia to finish things off…

1. What are the only two letters not represented in any names or symbols in the periodic table?
2. (a) a word that is nowadays used almost exclusively metaphorically, “vitriol” is the old name for what substance?
   (b) what is the colloquial name for iron sulphide, a reference to its resemblance to a more valuable substance?
   (c) historically, if a substance was described as “jovial” (eg “jovial bezoar”), which metal did it contain?
3. Other than the fact that they are all centres of learning and research, what links Harvard University, the Cavendish Laboratory and the Conestoga College School of Engineering and Information Technology?

Good luck, and look out for the answers on Monday.