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Ig Nobel Prizes | "In 2010, Andre Geim became the first person to receive both the Nobel Prize and what other unusual prize whose ceremony closes with ""If you didn't win a prize - and especially if you did - better luck next year!""?" |
Gorilla | Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo that was established in 1925 as Africa's first national park was created mainly to protect what animal? |
Ozone layer | "The Montreal Protocol that went into force in 1989 and which was hailed by Kofi Annan as ""... the single most successful international agreement to date ..."" was aimed at protecting what?" |
Fish | The terms anadromous and catadromous describe what type of living thing referring to its mode of migration? (hint: 'ana' is up and 'cata' is down in Greek) |
Tim Berners-Lee | On 25 December 1990 while working at CERN, he implemented the first successful communication between a HTTP client and server via the Internet. In less than 10 years, Time named him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century. Who? |
Pierre de Fermat | A note written in 1637 in the margin of a book says that there are no positive integers x, y and z such that xn + yn = zn, where n is an integer greater than two. This wasn't proved until 1995. Who is the author of this note? |
Tree-rings | Dendrochronology is the method of determining age/timeline by the counting of what 'circles'? (hint: 'dendron' in Greek is?) |
Galvanization | In the hardware industry, what 'stirring' word describes the process of coating of iron/steel with zinc to prevent rusting? |
Maxwell's demon | What namesake thought experiment intended to demonstrate the limitation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics features a malevolent creature opening doors in a chamber? |
God particle | A hypothetical elementary particle called the Higgs boson that is the subject of studies using the Large Hadron Collider has been given what 'divine' name by the mainstream media? |
Lek | In biology, what 3-letter word derived from the Swedish for 'play' is a gathering of males of certain bird species for the purposes of mating display? |
Ice ages | Global warming be damned. The 19th century biologist Louis Agassiz who studied Alpine glaciers was the first to propose that the Earth had been subject what phenomena in the past? |
Orangutan | If Jane Goodall is to chimpanzees, Birutė Galdikas, who worked for a long time in Borneo is to what animal? |
"""Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny""" | In biology, the theory that states that an animal's development from embryo to adult resembles the stages in the evolution of its ancestors is commonly expressed as what three word phrase? |
Jesus Christ lizard | The common basilisk is a lizard found in Central and South American rain-forests and is known for its ability to run on water. What is its appropriate nickname? |
Uranus | What is the only major planet of the Solar System that takes its English name from Greek mythology? |
Fractals | The mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot is best known for his work on the geometry of what unusual shapes? |
Punctuated equilibrium | What controversial theory in evolutionary biology proposes that most sexually reproducing species will experience little or no evolutionary change and remain in an extended state called stasis? |
Lunar eclipse | The Danjon Scale is a five-point scale for measuring the appearance and luminosity of a particular heavenly body during what type of event? |
Asbestos | Mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining of the body's internal organs (the mesothelium) is usually caused by exposure to what substance? |
Lise Meitner | Which lady physicist was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission for which her colleague Otto Hahn won the Nobel and is often mentioned as the most glaring example of womens scientific achievement overlooked by the Nobel committee? |
Hayflick limit | Named for a scientist who discovered it in 1961, what is the term for the number of times a normal cell population will divide before it stops? |
Pregnancy | There is no such thing as knowing this a little. The 'rabbit test' developed in 1927 by Bernhard Zondek and Selmar Aschheim was used to check for what? |
Paraffin | In chemistry, what is the common name for the alkane hydrocarbons with the general formula C(n)H(2n+2), the simplest form of which is the methane (CH4) gas? |
Pluto | Were he alive in 2006, the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh would have been disappointed as his discovery was 'dwarfed.' What did he discover in 1930? |
Chandra | NASA's series of Great Observatories satellites are the following four powerful space-based telescopes. What is the missing word? (hint: An Indian-born American scientist known for his 'limit') 1. The Hubble Space Telescope 2. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory 3. The Spitzer Space Telescope 4. ___ X-ray Observatory |
Hitchhiker's thumb | What non-technical term is given to a condition where the thumb, when extended (as in a 'thumbs-up'), stretches backwards toward the nail and outwards? |
Epinephrine | Literally meaning 'on the kidney', what hormone that participates in the 'fight or flight' response of the body is produced by the adrenal glands? |
Marine science | Woods Hole, Massachusetts is famous for having many institutes in what field of science? |
Gnomon | Meaning 'indicator' in Greek, what is the part of a sundial that casts the shadow called? |
Heavy water | In 1931, the American physical chemist Harold Urey demonstrated the existence of what type of 'weighty' liquid that proved important in the development of the atomic bomb? |
Pica | Taking its name from the Latin word for magpie, what medical disorder is characterized by an appetite for non-nutritive substances (e.g., clay)? |
Syphilis | Until it was named for a character in Ovid's Metamorphoses, what deadly disease had been called the 'French disease' in Italy and Germany, and the 'Italian disease' in France? Guess nobody wanted to associate themselves with it! |
Cartesian geometry | What algebraic system taught in present-day schools is one of the legacies of the philosopher René Descartes to which he lent his name? |
Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto | What are the four Galilean moons of Jupiter that are named after the lovers of Zeus in Greek myth? |
Towers of Hanoi | What mathematical puzzle that consists of three pegs and a number of disks of different sizes in which the objective is to move the entire stack of disks from one peg to another is used in computer science to teach recursion to students of programming? |
Canada | When it launched the satellite Alouette 1 in 1962, which country became the first non-superpower to enter the space race? |
Taser | What non-lethal weapon was named by its inventor Jack Cover after the teen science fiction character Tom Swift? |
Backdraft | Also the title of a 1991 Ron Howard film, what is the term for a situation which can occur when oxygen is re-introduced to a fire that is starved of it resulting in an explosive effect? |
Protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. | Derived from the name of an ancient King of Pontus, what is the practice of Mithridatism? |
Island gigantism | What term is given to the biological phenomenon where the size of animals isolated on an island increases dramatically over generations? |
Ricin | What potent toxin is extracted from the castor bean? |
Nitric acid | What substance is the basis of the gold refining technique known as 'inquartation and parting' since it can dissolve silver and other base metals but not gold? |
Homeopathy | What controversial form of alternative medicine that aims to treat 'like with like' traces its origins to the late 18th century when it was founded by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann? |
Conjecture | In mathematics, what is a statement that appears likely to be true but has not been formally proven to be true under the rules of mathematical logic? |
Ants | When all their individual contributions are added up, what insects may constitute up to 15 to 25% of the total terrestrial animal biomass? |
Arthur Eddington | Who is the British astrophysicist who announced Einstein's Theory of General Relativity to the English-speaking world in 1919? |
Parthenogenesis | What biological term from the Greek for 'virgin creation' denotes the growth and development of an embryo or seed without fertilization by a male? |
Collagen | What is the most abundant protein in mammals making up about 25% of their total protein content? |
Boabab | What is the common name of the Adansonia species of tree native to Africa and Australia that is noted for its capacity to store enormous quantity of water? |
Cellulose | What organic compound is the primary structural component of green plants and also makes-up their primary cell wall? |
Sulphur | Which element is added to rubber in the vulcanization process? |
Nikola Tesla | Because of his advocation for the use of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution, Thomas Edison developed a bitter rivalry with which other genius who advocated alternating current (AC)? |
Arsenic | Due to its use by the ruling class to murder one another and for its potency and discreetness, which element has been called the 'Poison of Kings'? |
Zircon | What 'Z' mineral found in Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia with an age of 4.404 billion years might be the oldest mineral on earth? |
Vitamins | What nutrients required by the human body for metabolic reactions are classified as water-soluble and fat-soluble? Did you take yours today? |
Siberian tiger | What is the largest living sub-species of the tiger? |
Chinook | What is the largest species of the salmon family that also shares its name with an Indian tribe? |
Superconductivity | What was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911 when he was studying the resistance of solid mercury at cryogenic temperatures? |
Radiocarbon dating | In 1949, what process developed by Willard Libby revolutionized archaeology? |
Mars | Olympus Mons is the tallest known volcano and mountain in our Solar System. Where is it located? |
Oxygen | Which element gets its name from the Greek for 'acid producer' because the scientist Lavoisier who named it erroneously thought that it was a constituent of all acids? |
Cluster headache | What rare form of headache whose name refers to its tendency to occur periodically has been called by some experts as the most painful condition known to medical science? |
Möbius strips | The Klein bottle which has no distinction between inside and outside surfaces can be made by gluing two of what similar objects? |
Merino | What breed of sheep that is also the most numerous in the world is prized for its wool? |
Event horizon | In the general theory of relativity, what is the term for a boundary in spacetime beyond which events cannot affect the observer? |
Butterfly effect | Which phrase, also the title of a 2004 Ashton Kutcher movie, encapsulates the notion of 'sensitive dependence on initial conditions' of Chaos theory? |
Five | How many operational space shuttles were built by NASA? |
pH scale | What scale measures cola at 2.5, orange juice at 3.5, beer at 4.5, coffee at 5.0, tea at 5.5, milk at 6.5 and blood at nearly 7.4? |
Iridium | The name of which artificial satellite constellation system was taken from the name of the element with atomic number 77? |
Broca's area | In the human brain, what is the area that is involved in language processing, speech production and comprehension? |
Minamata disease | What neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning is named after a Japanese city where it was first discovered? |
Sidereal period | What is the term for the time that it takes an object to make one full orbit around the Sun, relative to the stars? |
Hedy Lamarr | True versatility! Which actress achieved her biggest success in Samson and Delilah and co-invented the first form of spread spectrum, a key to modern wireless communication? |
Pioneer 10 | What appropriately named spacecraft launched in 1972 has become the first artificial object to leave the Solar System? |
Polaroid photography | What did Edwin Land invent because of his daughters' wish for instant and 'snappy' results? |
Snake eating | What type of diet is ophiophagy, notably practiced by the king cobra? |
Parrot | Endemic to New Zealand and currently listed as critically endangered, the kakapo is world's only flightless species of which common bird? |
Helmet | The use of what equipment in cricket which has come to sad attention in Nov, 2014 was pioneered into regular usage by English batsman Dennis Amiss? |
USA | Think outside Scandinavia. What is the only country that won a gold medal at every Winter Olympics? |
(Arpad) Elo | What is the name of the Hungarian-born American professor whose rating system was approved at a meeting of the United States Chess Federation in St. Louis in 1960? |
John Forbes Nash | "Who along with Mel Hausner, Lloyd S. Shapley and Martin Shubik invented a board game called ""So Long Sucker"" in 1950 which involves game theory strategies?" |
Hiking | Naismith's rule, not connected with basketball, is a rule of thumb that helps plan what popular activity? |
Hungary | Which land-locked European country whose teams have excelled in water polo and fencing holds the record for having won the most medals of any nation to never host the Olympics? |
Sauna | When legendary Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi was asked about the reason for his success at the 1924 Olympics despite high-heat conditions, he mentioned what tradition of his country as part of his training? |
The poem Invictus | "Nelson Mandela once gave the South African rugby player Francois Pienaar a copy of Theodore Roosevelt's ""The Man in the Arena"" speech for inspiration. In a 2009 movie adaptation however, what literary work was used instead of Roosevelt's speech?" |
Colombia | "In the 2014 Soccer World Cup, which country's players celebrated a victory by dancing to ""Hips Don't Lie""?" |
Curling | Bonspiel is a tournament of what Olympic sport that many people may not even consider a sport, at first glance? |
Sri Lanka | Sprint events at the Olympics are usually dominated by countries from the western hemisphere. As of 2012, Susanthika Jayasinghe is the first and only Asian to win an Olympic medal in any of 100 m, 200 m or 400 m sprint events. What country did she represent? |
Watermelons | In the Japanese fun-game of suikawari, which is similar to a piñata, what objects are typically smashed? (hint: fans of comedian Gallagher should know) |
Queen's Club | If the Eastbourne International serves as a warm-up event for women for Wimbledon, what is the equivalent tournament for the men? |
Chicago Cubs | Long suffering fans of what professional team trace their woes to a curse placed in 1945 by Billy Sianis when he was asked to leave the stadium because of his maladorous goat? |
Cricket | British politician Norman Tebbit created controversy in 1990 commenting on the perceived lack of loyalty of South Asian and Caribbean immigrants towards the English team playing which game? |
Othello | The strategy board game Reversi played on a 8*8 board is marketed under the name of which Shakespearean character? |
High-five | The baseball player Glenn Burke is credited with pioneering what form of now ubiquitous gesture? |
Cyclops | Used till the 2000s when it was supplanted by superior technology, what was the camera system that was used to judge service line calls in tennis which took its name from Greek myth? |
"""Grandmasters""" | In a 1914 chess tournament in St. Petersburg, what did Tsar Nicholas II call the five finalists Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, and Frank Marshall? |
Grass | What word completes this unique and 'grand' list? Plexicushion, Clay, ___, Decoturf |
Water polo | The aquatics discipline at most Olympics and related events usually features diving, swimming, synchronized swimming and what other sport? |
Karate | The policy of banning weapons enforced in Okinawa in medieval Japan influenced the development of what combat technique from Ryukyu Islands? |
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