Quizology.Online

Tag: science

  • Gallimaufry IX — Answers

    Here are today’s answers.

    No theme today, just five general knowledge questions.

    Statue of Helvetia on the Federal Palace of Switzerland, Bern.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    One

    The image shown is that of ‘Statue of Helvetia on the Federal Palace of …’. What country finishes the previous statement, and in what city is the Federal Palace located?

    Answers: Switzerland; Bern.

    Helvetia, the national personification of Switzerland, is depicted with flowing clothing, with the Swiss flag, braided hair, and often with shield and a wreath. The name derives from the Helvetii, a Gaulish tribe.

    Two

    The …, or boreal forest, is the world’s largest land biome. In North America, it covers most of inland Canada, Alaska, and parts of the northern contiguous United States. In Eurasia, it covers most of Sweden, Finland, much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific Ocean (including much of Siberia), much of Norway and, some of the Scottish Highlands, some lowland/coastal areas of Iceland, and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan (on the island of Hokkaido).

    The above quote from Wikipedia describes a biome whose name has been omitted. What is that missing name?

    Answer: Taiga.

    taiga /ˈtʌɪɡə /
    ▸ (the taiga) noun [mass noun] the swampy coniferous forest of high northern latitudes, especially that between the tundra and steppes of Siberia: the coniferous forest of the taiga.

    – ORIGIN late 19th century: from Russian taĭga, from Mongolian.
    — Oxford English Dictionary

    Three

    What word completes the title of this 1957 sci-fi novel: The Midwich …; and who wrote it?

    Answers: Cuckoos; John Wyndham.

    The Midwich Cuckoos, a 1957 sci-fi novel by John Wyndham, explores moral ambiguities in an English village where women become pregnant by aliens.

    Four

    What calendar was replaced in England by the Gregorian in 1752?

    Answer: Julian.

    The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, is a solar calendar with a leap year every four years. It gained one day every 128 years compared to the solar year, leading to a drift against the solar year. The Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582, corrected this by eliminating occasional leap days, reducing the average year length to 365.2425 days. Although introduced in 1582 it took a lot longer to be adopted by individual nations. As stated in the question England adopted it in 1752 but Greece and turkey did not adopt until the 1920s and Saudi Arabia’s adoption of it was not until 2016.

    Five

    Who played the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk television series which originally aired between 1978 and 1982?

    Answer: Lou Ferrigno.

    The Incredible Hulk is a CBS series starring Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk. Banner, a scientist transformed by gamma radiation, travels the U.S. helping others while pursued by reporter Jack McGee. The series aired 80 episodes from 1978 to 1982, starting with a pilot on November 4, 1977. In 1988, New World Television acquired filming rights from MCA/Universal for TV movies to conclude The Incredible Hulk series, with NBC broadcasting. They produced three films: The Incredible Hulk Returns, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and The Death of the Incredible Hulk, directed by Nicholas J. Corea and Bill Bixby.

  • Gallimaufry IX

    No theme today, just five general knowledge questions.

    Statue of Helvetia on the Federal Palace of ….
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    One

    The image shown is that of ‘Statue of Helvetia on the Federal Palace of …’. What country finishes the previous statement, and in what city is the Federal Palace located?

    Two

    The …, or boreal forest, is the world’s largest land biome. In North America, it covers most of inland Canada, Alaska, and parts of the northern contiguous United States. In Eurasia, it covers most of Sweden, Finland, much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific Ocean (including much of Siberia), much of Norway and, some of the Scottish Highlands, some lowland/coastal areas of Iceland, and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan (on the island of Hokkaido).

    The above quote from Wikipedia describes a biome whose name has been omitted. What is that missing name?

    Three

    What word completes the title of this 1957 sci-fi novel: The Midwich …; and who wrote it?

    Four

    What calendar was replaced in England by the Gregorian in 1752?

    Five

    Who played the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk television series which originally aired between 1978 and 1982?

    Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.

  • Who and Where — Answers

    Today’s answers are shown below.

    Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, 1953.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    These questions all relate to people born this day, 15th May, and where they were born.

    One

    Born on this day in 1914, the Sherpa who, along with Edmund Hillary, was the first to stand on the summit of Mount Everest. Who was this Sherpa, and in what country was he born according to either his own autobiography or a later biography co-written by his son?

    Answers: Tenzing Norgay (aka Sherpa Tenzing); (either) Nepal or Tibet.

    Conflicting accounts exist regarding his birthplace so either Nepal or Tibet is acceptable. Tenzing Norgay was born to Tibetan parents in either in Nepal or Tibet, and likely grew up in Khumbu, Nepal. His birth name was Namgyal Wangdi, and at some point in his childhood, he took the name Tenzing Norgay. Norgay and Hillary stood on the summit of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953.

    Two

    Born this day in 1937, the woman who would become the first female U.S. Secretary of State. Who was she, and in what city was she born?

    Answers: Madeleine Albright; Prague.

    Madeleine Albright, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic), was the first female U.S. Secretary of State (1997-2001) and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (1993-1997). Her family fled Czechoslovakia twice, first due to Nazi occupation and later due to a communist coup, eventually settling in the United States. As a human rights advocate, Albright championed military intervention, democracy, and human rights, notably advocating for NATO bombings in Kosovo. After leaving government service, she founded the Albright Group and supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns.

    Three

    Abraham …, born on this day in 1905, a clothing manufacturer, became famous for a short piece—less than 30 seconds—of 8 mm film captured in Texas in 1963. What was Abraham’s surname, in what country was he born and what event did the film capture?

    Answers: Zapruder; Ukraine; the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

    Abraham Zapruder, a Ukrainian-born American clothing manufacturer, captured the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on film in Dallas, Texas. His footage, considered the most complete of the event, captured 26.6 seconds in 486 frames of the motorcade including the fatal headshot (frame 313). He sold the rights of the film to Life magazine, donating part of the proceeds to the widow of J.D. Tippet, the Dallas police officer shot by Lee Harvey Oswald less than an hour after the president’s assassination.

    Four

    Tik-Tok of Oz (1914) was the eighth book in a series. Who, born this day in 1856, was the author of this book and series, and in what U.S. state was this author born?

    Answers: L. Frank Baum; New York.

    American author Lyman Frank Baum, best known for his children’s fantasy books set in the land of Oz, especially The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was born in Chittenango, New York. Tik-Tok of Oz is the eighth book of Baum’s Oz Series in which Tik-Tok is a ’mechanical man’. He has been termed ‘the prototype robot’, and is widely considered to be one of the first robots to appear in modern literature, though the term ‘Robot’ was not used until the 1920s, in the play R.U.R.

    Five

    Born this day in 1859, a scientist who, along with his wife, became the first married couple to win a Nobel Prize. Who was this male scientist and in what city was he born?

    Answer: Pierre Curie; Paris.

    Pierre Curie (1859–1906) was a French physicist and chemist known for his work in crystallography, magnetism, and radioactivity. He shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, marking the first Nobel win by a married couple. Born in Paris, he excelled in mathematics and became a Professor of Physics. With his brother Jacques, he discovered piezoelectricity and invented the piezoelectric quartz electrometer. Their research led to the isolation of polonium and radium, coining the term ‘radioactivity’. Curie’s work on magnetic coefficients and radiation emissions advanced nuclear physics, influencing fields like plate tectonics and nuclear energy. Pierre Curie in 1906, in a street accident in Paris after slipping and being struck by a horse-drawn carriage.

  • Who and Where

    Edmund Hillary and …, 1953.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    These questions all relate to people born this day, 15th May, and where they were born.

    One

    Born on this day in 1914, the Sherpa who, along with Edmund Hillary, was the first to stand on the summit of Mount Everest. Who was this Sherpa, and in what country was he born according to either his own autobiography or a later biography co-written by his son?

    Two

    Born this day in 1937, the woman who would become the first female U.S. Secretary of State. Who was she, and in what city was she born?

    Three

    Abraham …, born on this day in 1905, a clothing manufacturer, became famous for a short piece—less than 30 seconds—of 8 mm film captured in Texas in 1963. What was Abraham’s surname, in what country was he born and what event did the film capture?

    Four

    Tik-Tok of Oz (1914) was the eighth book in a series. Who, born this day in 1856, was the author of this book and series, and in what U.S. state was this author born?

    Five

    Born this day in 1859, a scientist who, along with his wife, became the first married couple to win a Nobel Prize. Who was this male scientist and in what city was he born?

    Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.

  • Take Your Pick — Answers

    Here are today’s answers.

    Charles Darwin, c.1868.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    Today’s questions are multiple-choice and don’t have a specific theme.

    One

    … was one of the names commonly used for evolutionary ideas in the 19th century before Charles Darwin published On The Origin of Species (1859).
    — Wikipedia

    Which of these words is missing from the beginning of this quote from Wikipedia?

    1. Transactional
    2. Transmutation
    3. Transubstantiation

    Answer: 2. Transmutation.

    Transmutation, a term used for evolutionary ideas before Darwin, was coined by Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter to describe species changes through hybridisation. The term ‘evolution’ gained widespread use in the 1860s.

    Two

    Who was an American Formula 1 driver?

    1. Mario Andretti
    2. Mario Puzo
    3. Mario Lanza

    Answer: 1. Mario Andretti.

    Mario Andretti, an American former racing driver, competed in Formula One from 1968 to 1982 and IndyCar from 1964 to 1994. He won the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship in 1978 and achieved numerous victories in various racing disciplines, including the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500. Andretti’s legacy as a racing icon is cemented by his 111 official victories and his induction into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Mario Puzo, an American author, wrote The Godfather. Mario Lanza was an American tenor and actor.

    Three

    Which of these is a World Heritage Site described as ‘an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns’?

    1. Skara Brae
    2. Giant’s Causeway
    3. Macgillycuddy’s Reeks

    Answer: 2. Giant’s Causeway.

    The Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, features 40,000 interlocking basalt columns formed by an ancient volcanic eruption. Owned by the National Trust, it is a popular tourist attraction, receiving nearly one million visitors annually.

    Four

    What noun means ‘a herd of wild swine’?

    1. Blunder 
    2. Pounder
    3. Sounder

    Answer: 3. Sounder.

    Sounder’s origin is described by the Oxford English Dictionary as

    – ORIGIN late Middle English: from Old French sundre, sonre, of Germanic origin. — Oxford English Dictionary 

    Five

    What Hollywood actress was born with the surname FitzSimons, in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland on 17 August 1920.

    1. Carole Lombard 
    2. Maureen O’Hara 
    3. Rita Hayworth

    Answer: 2. Maureen O’Hara.

    Maureen O’Hara was an Irish-American actress known for her roles in Westerns and adventure films, particularly her collaborations with John Ford and John Wayne. She was nicknamed “the Queen of Technicolour” and starred in numerous successful films throughout the 1940s to 1960s. O’Hara retired in 1971 but returned to acting in 1991 and received an Honorary Academy Award in 2014.

  • Take Your Pick

    Charles Darwin, c.1868.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    Today’s questions are multiple-choice and don’t have a specific theme.

    One

    … was one of the names commonly used for evolutionary ideas in the 19th century before Charles Darwin published On The Origin of Species (1859).
    — Wikipedia

    Which of these words is missing from the beginning of this quote from Wikipedia?

    1. Transactional
    2. Transmutation
    3. Transubstantiation

    Two

    Who was an American Formula 1 driver?

    1. Mario Andretti
    2. Mario Puzo
    3. Mario Lanza

    Three

    Which of these is a World Heritage Site described as ‘an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns’?

    1. Skara Brae
    2. Giant’s Causeway
    3. Macgillycuddy’s Reeks

    Four

    What noun means ‘a herd of wild swine’?

    1. Blunder 
    2. Pounder
    3. Sounder

    Five

    What Hollywood actress was born with the surname FitzSimons, in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland on 17 August 1920.

    1. Carole Lombard 
    2. Maureen O’Hara 
    3. Rita Hayworth

    Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.

  • Binary II — Answers

    Here are today’s answers.

    Logo of the Wimbledon Championships.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    Today’s questions are all either true or false.

    One

    Agrajag is a tragic and piteous creature who is continually reincarnated and subsequently killed, each time unknowingly, by …
    — Wikipedia

    Is it true or false that this quote from Wikipedia refers to a character from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels who is unknowingly killed by Mort across several incarnations?

    Answer: False.

    Agrajag is a tragic and piteous creature who is continually reincarnated and subsequently killed, each time unknowingly, by Arthur Dent.
    — Wikipedia

    Agrajag is repeatedly killed by Arthur Dent, the hapless protagonist of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. First appearing in Life, the Universe and Everything, Agrajag’s past incarnations include a bowl of petunias, a rabbit, and an old man, all meeting their ends due to Arthur. Agrajag seeks revenge, redirecting Arthur to a Cathedral of Hate, but fails repeatedly. In Mostly Harmless, Arthur inadvertently kills Agrajag again, allowing Arthur to die. Douglas Adams voiced Agrajag in the radio series. In And Another Thing…, cosmic balance shifts, benefiting Arthur. Agrajag also appears in the 2017 TV series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency as a dog which suffers the expected consequences.

    Two

    Is it true or false that the 1936 Olympic Summer Games were opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II?

    Answer: False.

    Adolf Hitler, the de facto legal dictator of Germany, opened these games. Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor, reigned from 1888 to 1918, ending the Hohenzollern dynasty’s rule. His erratic foreign policy and naval build-up alienated the rest of Europe, leading to World War I. After Germany’s defeat, he abdicated in 1918, fled to the Netherlands, and died in 1941 during that country’s Nazi occupation.

    Three

    Is it true or false that a filoplume is a type of small crusty specimens of lava?

    Answer: False.

    A filoplume is a feather.

    Filoplumes are hairlike feathers with a few soft barbs near the tip. They are associated with contour feathers and may be sensory or decorative in function. Bristlelike, vaneless feathers occur around the mouth, eyes, and nostrils of birds. They are especially conspicuous around the gape (corners of the mouth) of birds that catch insects in the air.
    — Encyclopædia Britannica 

    Four

    Is it true or false that in 2000 Venus Williams was the first African American woman to win the ladies singles championship at Wimbledon?

    Answer: False.

    Williams was the first Black and African American woman to win the title since Althea Gibson in 1958. In 1957, Althea Gibson’s year, she became the first Black champion at Wimbledon, defeating Darlene Hard in the singles final. She received the trophy from Queen Elizabeth II, marking a significant milestone. Gibson also won the doubles championship for the second consecutive year, highlighting her exceptional season. Upon returning home, Gibson became the second Black American, after Jesse Owens, to receive a ticker tape parade in NYC. Mayor Wagner awarded her the Bronze Medallion. She won her first US National Championship, reached eight Grand Slam finals in 1957, and won multiple titles, including Wimbledon and US National singles.

    Five

    Is it true or false that mainland China, which is approximately 5,000 km from east to west, has five time zones?

    Answer: False.

    China uses a single official time zone, UTC+08:00, despite spanning five geographical zones, making it the largest country to do so. This standard is known domestically as Beijing Time and internationally as China Standard Time, and it has not observed daylight saving time since 1991. The system applies uniformly across Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Standardised timekeeping developed from 19th-century Shanghai, where observatory-based time signals evolved into a GMT+8 standard used by coastal ports. Although multiple time zones were proposed in 1918, including five regional standards, the country ultimately adopted a single unified time based on Beijing.

  • Binary II

    Logo of the Wimbledon Championships.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    Today’s questions are all either true or false.

    One

    Agrajag is a tragic and piteous creature who is continually reincarnated and subsequently killed, each time unknowingly, by …
    — Wikipedia

    Is it true or false that this quote from Wikipedia refers to a character from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels who is unknowingly killed by Mort across several incarnations?

    Two

    Is it true or false that the 1936 Olympic Summer Games were opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II?

    Three

    Is it true or false that a filoplume is a type of small crusty specimens of lava?

    Four

    Is it true or false that in 2000 Venus Williams was the first African American woman to win the ladies singles championship at Wimbledon?

    Five

    Is it true or false that mainland China, which is approximately 5,000 km from east to west, has five time zones?

    Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.

  • Bits and Bobs — Answers

    Here are the answers to my earlier questions.

    All of these questions are related to today’s date, April 19th. They also all start with the letter ‘B’.

    Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    One

    On 19 April 1999, in politics, what returned to Berlin for the first time in almost fifty years, and where had it returned from?

    Answers: Bundestag; Bonn.

    The first German Bundestag, the West German parliament, convened in Bonn on 7 September 1949. The Bundestag remained in Bonn until after reunification of Germany, when it returned to Berlin on 19 April 1999.

    Two

    In 1775, during the opening stages of a revolutionary war, a city was besieged for eleven months from April 19th. What city?

    Answer: Boston.

    The Siege of Boston (1775-1776) marked the start of the American Revolutionary War. American forces, led by George Washington, besieged the British Army in Boston, ultimately forcing their retreat to Nova Scotia after eleven months.

    Three

    Observed on April 19th, a celebratory day remembering an experiment where a chemist intentionally ingested LSD, documented it and then went home. What is the day called?

    Answer: Bicycle Day.

    On 19 April 1943, a few days after accidentally discovering LSD’s effects, which he believed had potential in psychiatry and neurology, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann intentionally ingested it and documented the first acid trip. After this experiment, he cycled home, leading to the observance of Bicycle Day, as Encyclopædia Britannica comments, ‘And now April 19 is observed as Bicycle Day—mostly by LSD enthusiasts, not cyclists’.

    Four

    A poet and playwright who died this day in 1824, first became a celebrity with the publication of the first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in 1812. Who is this poet?

    Answer: Byron.

    George Gordon Byron, a prominent British Romantic poet, is renowned for works like Don Juan and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. He lived in Italy for seven years, befriending Percy Bysshe Shelley, and later joined the Greek War of Independence, becoming a folk hero before his death at 36. Byron, along with Shelley and Keats, was a major figure in the second generation of English Romantic writers and was a literary celebrity known for both his poetry and personality.

    Five

    IIn 2011, Fidel Castro resigned from Cuba’s Communist Party central committee. The following March, in his role as an elder statesman, Castro briefly met a visiting dignitary, the sixteenth of the name. Who was this dignitary?

    Answer: (Pope) Benedict XVI.

    On 19 April 2011, Castro resigned from the Communist Party central committee, thus stepping down as First Secretary. Raúl was selected as his successor. Now without any official role in the country’s government, he took on the role of an elder statesman. In late March 2012, Pope Benedict XVI visited Cuba for three days, during which time he briefly met with Castro despite the Pope’s vocal opposition to Cuba’s government.

    Bits and Bobs

    The title is simply another way of saying bits and pieces, an assortment. It was chosen as the title as all the answers begin with the letter B.

  • Bits and Bobs

    All of these questions are related to today’s date, April 19th. They also all start with the letter ‘B’.

    Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    One

    On 19 April 1999, in politics, what returned to Berlin for the first time in almost fifty years, and where had it returned from?

    Two

    In 1775, during the opening stages of a revolutionary war, a city was besieged for eleven months from April 19th. What city?

    Three

    Observed on April 19th, a celebratory day remembering an experiment where a chemist intentionally ingested LSD, documented it and then went home. What is the day called?

    Four

    A poet and playwright who died this day in 1824, first became a celebrity with the publication of the first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in 1812. Who is this poet?

    Five

    IIn 2011, Fidel Castro resigned from Cuba’s Communist Party central committee. The following March, in his role as an elder statesman, Castro briefly met a visiting dignitary, the sixteenth of the name. Who was this dignitary?

    Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.