Welcome to another Friday quiz, and with the sun starting to shine (in London, from where this blog is created, at least) today’s blog celebrates the onset of spring, as well as a very important anniversary.

Round 1 – Spring

A round devoted to all things spring.

1. What botanical feature, particularly associated with the onset of spring, can be called terminal, axillary or adventitious, depending on location, or scaly, naked or hairy, depending on its morphology?
2. During the time of a new moon or full moon, the range of a tide is at its maximum – this is called the “spring tide” – what is the name given when a tide’s range is at its minimum?
3. Most mechanical springs obey a law that says that the force required to extend or compress it a certain distance is proportional to that distance. This law was first discovered and published (in anagram form!) in 1660 by what famous British scientist?

Round 2 – Migration

Remaining, more or less, on our seasonal theme (although many species will have finished their summer migration by now), a look at the phenomenon of the natural world that is migration.

1. In the days and weeks before beginning their migration, many bird species enter a state called “hyperphagia” – what particular behaviour characterises this state?
2. Every year the “great migration”, in which over 1 million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of other animals migrate to more fertile lands, begins in which region of Tanzania?
3. Which bird species holds the record for the longest migration distance, flying from its Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic, and then back again, every year?

Round 3 – DNA

Avid readers of Nature will have seen that last week saw the 60th anniversary of the publication of Watson and Crick’s landmark paper on the structure of DNA. Here, then, are some questions on all things double-helical.

1. So-called “Photo 51” provided crucial evidence that led Watson and Crick to their discovery of the double-helix model of DNA – who took Photo 51?
2. What are the four main nucleotides that make up DNA?
3. What is the name of the long structures into which DNA is organised within cells?

Round 4 – The Picture Round

Three more picture charades to be solved this week – each of which is related in some way to one of the preceding three rounds. Do your best to decipher them:

1.

{credit}PD / Charles Haynes / Alvesgaspar{/credit}

2.

{credit}RedSoxFan274 / David Monniaux / PD{/credit}

3.

{credit}Alan Light / Portzamparc Francais / Alan D. Wilson{/credit}

Round 5 – Anagrams

The life sciences have somewhat dominated the quiz so far this week, so in a treat for all you physicists out there, today’s anagrams are all words or phrases relating in some way to light and the study thereof. Do your best to unscramble this lot:

1. ACE LAND
2. CORNEA RIFT
3. POOCH NITS
4. LEMON SCIENCE LECTURE
5. CURTAILED A VIEW APTLY

That’s all for this week – have a great weekend and look out for the answers in a few days time.