Miscellaneous Science Trivia

1. Which statistical term can also be used to describe someone who isn't very friendly?

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 19

Answer: Mean

In mathematics, the mean is simply another word for average. The mean that is most commonly used in day-to-day life is the arithmetic mean, i.e. the result obtained by adding all of the numbers together and dividing by the number of numbers. However, other means, such as the geometric mean, are more useful in some mathematical situations.

Question by player pagea

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 19

Answer: Nightshade

The nightshades, or Solanaceae, comprise a wide variety of useful and medicinal plants and grow on every continent except for Antarctica. Chili peppers and sweet peppers are also members of this family.

Question by player wampum47

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 18

Answer: Opium

Laudanum was a cough suppressant which contained opium; it sometimes contained cinnamon, cloves, or honey as well. Mary Lincoln and the poet Coleridge both became addicted to it. It was cheaper than other depressants such as alcohol, because its tax was lower. In the nineteenth century, before such substances were regulated, it was commonly used to help ease the pain of cramps or diarrhea.

Question by player garrybl

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 16

Answer: Pressure

Although the bar is not an SI unit it is used across Europe and other countries as it is roughly equal to one atmosphere of pressure at sea level. Smaller divisions of the bar include the decibar and the millibar.

Question by player pagea

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 15

Answer: At the tail end of a spinal column

The coccyx is the last few vertebrae fused together at the end of the spinal column of many mammals. Of the ones with tails, the tail extends from the coccyx.

Question by player daBomb619

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 13

Answer: Adipose Tissue

Adipose tissue is 'loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes' according to www.sciencedaily.com. It stores energy besides insulating and cushioning internal organs, so it is a good thing - but one can have too much of this good thing.

Question by player mfc

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 12

Answer: Ears

Most people associate ears with hearing, but there are actually two other senses that use the ear. In each ear is a saccule and a utricle, which detect movement and orientation (balance). Also in the ear are the semi-circular canals, which are used to detect rotational acceleration (how fast you turn your head).

Question by player qrayx

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 11

Answer: nickel and cadmium

NiCad cells were popular in part because of their nominal voltage (1.2 V), which was close enough to the nominal voltage of an alkaline battery (1.5 V) to allow their use in many popular electronic devices. The greater specific energy of lithium ion batteries, along with environmental concerns about cadmium toxicity, led to a gradual phasing out of NiCad batteries.

Question by player LordRayleigh

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 10

Answer: Astronomy

Astronomy, which also deals with supernovae explosions and cosmic background radiation, is one of the oldest branches of science known to man. The work of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton was crucial to the Scientific Revolution and the development of modern science. Here's an old joke about the branches of science and technology: If it's green and wiggles, it's biology; if it stinks it's chemistry; and if it doesn't work, it's physics (or engineering).

Question by player gracious1

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 9

Answer: biosphere

The word "biosphere" was coined by Austrian geologist Eduard Suess in his four-volume treatise "The Face of Earth" to describe the place where all Earth's life dwells. The biosphere extends above the atmosphere for few kilometers and to the bottom of the ocean where deep-sea vents were found. The difference between ecosystem and biosphere is that the former can be simply defined as a single community of living organisms while the later is the global sum of all ecosystems on Earth.

Question by player pomophagist44

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 8

Answer: internet protocol

TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. An IP address is a numerical identifier for a device in a computer network. The most well-known IP address is 127.0.0.1 also known as localhost.

Question by player p4r4n01d

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 7

Answer: Their irises are two different colours.

Eye colour is determined by the amount of melanin in a person's eye. Heterochromia iridis is a condition that affects the colour of a person's iris. It means that the right eye will be lighter or darker than the left eye. For example, Rise Against musician Tim McIlrath has a blue left eye and a brown right eye.

Question by player AcrylicInk

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 4

Answer: Carbon

Diamonds are the purest naturally occuring form of carbon. They consist of about 99.95% carbon. The remaining 0.05% is made up of trace elements - atoms that are not among diamonds' essential chemistry. Diamonds formed about 3billion years ago, deep inside the Earth, due to intense heat and pressure that caused carbon atoms to crystallize.

Question by player Tarkowski

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 3

Answer: Goose bumps

Cutis anserina, otherwise known as goose bumps, are small, raised bumps which occur at the base of body hair. They often occur as the result of feeling cold or afraid, and are linked to the sensation of feeling the hairs on the back of the neck stand on end. That being said, goose bumps can also occur in response to feelings of pleasure. American author, R. L. Stine, also wrote a series of horror novels for children, under the title of "Goosebumps", which involve being in scary situations. Stine's first novel in the series, "Welcome to Dead House", was released in 1992. By 1997, Stine had published an additional sixty-one books in the series, and his name had appeared on the "New York Times'" Best Seller List for children.

Question by player poshprice

From Quiz FunTrivia Sci / Tech Mix: Vol 2

Answer: It has become extremely popular.

'Going viral' means that a video (often a YouTube clip) has been widely disseminated across the internet. The clip has captured public imagination for its quality, humor, quirkiness or in some cases its bizarre nature. The term arises from the analogy to a (pathogenic) virus spreading through a host organism or community.

Question by player MikeMaster99

From Quiz The Science of Cows

Answer: Smallpox

British physician Edward Jenner noted that milkmaids who had been exposed to cow pox seemed to be resistant to the much deadlier disease smallpox. Jenner had an extensive background in zoology as well as medicine, and this led him to investigate the link between cowpox and smallpox. While other British physicians had discovered the link between cowpox and smallpox as early as 1770, Jenner did the first practical research in vaccination against the disease. In May 1796, Jenner took cowpox pus from a milkmaid named Sarah Nelmes, that she had gotten from a cow named Blossom. Jenner inoculated a young boy named James Phipps, who developed an immunity to smallpox. Jenner proved that vaccination was effective and by 1800 it was being widely used to prevent the spread of smallpox. In the 200 years since, vaccination has helped to save hundreds of millions of lives, making Jenner one of the greatest medical benefactors in the history of mankind. The word vaccine comes from Jenner, who designated cowpox as Variolae vaccinae (cow smallpox).

From Quiz Really Tough Trivia Stuff

Answer: Collagen

Collagen makes up around 25 to 35 percent of the total body protein content. It can be found in bones and cartilages. It is a strong and flexible protein. Keratin can found in human hair and nails. Tubulin regulates intracellular transport. Arginine is an essential amino acid which means our body needs this amino acid from an external source and cannot produce it on its own.

From Quiz The Science of Baking

Answer: Heat

Baking involves, without going into too much detail, the preparation of food with the use of surrounding heat. Using this process, external heat, usually via element or fire if you're using a conventional oven, cooks food from the outside and transfers that heat inwards. This is why if you're using a microwave (or a general oven), checking the inside of whatever you are cooking is generally an indicator of your culinary skill; there are ways to cook foods where you overcook the outside and leave the inside raw, making this option perhaps a bit more scientific than a lot of other cooking methods. Heat is a catalyst for chemical change and has a strong effect on several food types we would normally look to when considering baking as an option.

From Quiz Spelling It Out With Science!

Answer: Barometer

All of these are sensors, sure enough, but the barometer is typically used to measure environmental air pressure and give us important insight into weather tracking and the movement of weather fronts. If barometric pressure sharply dips, for instance, it's usually indicative of a coming storm. The word 'barometer' literally breaks down to the Greek words for 'weight' and 'measure'. As for the rest, an altimeter is used to measure altitude, a Geiger counter is for radiation, and a thermometer is for temperature.

From Quiz A Scientific Smorgasbord

Answer: Poland

Hevelius was born, and carried out most of his observations, in Danzig, now known as Gdansk. He is credited with identifying ten different constellations, one of which he named Scutum Sobiescianum, in honour of the Polish king, Jan III Sobieski. The name means 'shield of Sobieski' which, over time, became shorted to just Scutum.

From Quiz Color Me Purple Part 9 - The Science of Purple

Answer: non-spectral color

Of those listed, only non-spectral color is a real thing in the field of optics. While purple exists in the art world, and in other aspects, it's not a naturally occurring color. While many people consider purple as a base color, with violet being a variation, the color violet appears naturally and was described by Isaac Newton when he identified the colors with their own wavelengths. Purple does not. (Question by Shadowmyst2004)

From Quiz Six Geese Study Science

Answer: Perfect

The definition of a perfect number, from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, is 'a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its proper divisors'. Six can be divided by 1, 2 and 3, which also add up to six. The next perfect number is 28, which can be divided by 1, 2, 4, 7 and 14. The knowledge of the existence of perfect numbers dates back to at least early Greek history, with Euclid referring to them in 300 BC.

From Quiz In the Year 2525

Answer: He transplanted a monkey's head.

The monkey was able to see, hear and feel, but was alive only due to life support - dying about nine days after the operation from rejection syndrome. Dr. White concluded it would be decades before doctors would even have hope of fully restoring the brain's control of the body. He continued his research until his death in 2010.

From Quiz The Jury's Still Out on Science

Answer: Fraud

Using indexed Pubmed retractions from 1977, Ferric Fang et al "Misconduct accounts for the majority of retracted scientific publications" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012) found that blatant fraud led to far more retractions than genuine error (as was previously thought). Also found was that retraction rates were rising, and that prestigious journals were hardest hit by fraud because of 'publish or perish' scientists wanting to further their careers with spectacular data more likely to get published than anything humdrum. The authors believed that ethical breaches can be prevented by better mentoring at universities and a system of research auditing, but conceded that the scientific community is loath to change the status quo.

From Quiz Phase

Answer: The Moon's orbit around the Earth

The Moon's orbit around the Earth is locked so we always see the same side. Throughout the four weeks of its orbit, sunlight strikes the Moon's surface at different angles, illuminating all, part, or none of it from our perspective. This cycle of illumination and thus visibility from the Earth is known as the phases of the Moon.

From Quiz If cats have kittens...

Answer: spores

Mushrooms are fungi and shed their spores from between the gills on the underside of the cap, in a brown powder. With mushrooms, you sometimes see this in the paper bag you have bought them in. They are so light and tiny that even the gentlest breeze will cause them to drift to new places.

From Quiz The Science of the Dark

Answer: Hadal zone

The euphotic zone is the highest zone of the ocean and usually less than 100 meters deep. The twilight zone actually is a zone in the ocean, also referred to as the disphotic zone, because of the low amounts of light that get through. The abyssal zone is in the aphotic zone 3,000-6,000 meters deep. And only in deep trenches will you find the 6,000-11,000 meters deep hadal zone, where very few creatures exist and generally in pure darkness (except for bioluminescence).

From Quiz Our Planet and its People

Answer: Peter Higgs

In the sixties, Peter Higgs predicted the existence of an elementary particle which conferred mass but it was not until 2012 that it was detected by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. He shared the award with Belgian physicist Francois Englart.

From Quiz To Pee or Not to Pee

Answer: Robots

By the year 2010, almost 9,000,000 robots were being used right around the world in different places and for different work functions. This has led scientists to look into more feasible and cost effective ways of powering them and their ever increasing numbers. The means of robotic power is normally either solar energy, batteries or electricity. Scientists at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory have designed an artificial robotic "heart" that pumps urine into an internal microscopic power "station" in the robot. This in turn converts the urine into electricity. How amazing is that? Perhaps they could call the model R2P2.

From Quiz The Space Between

Answer: So they can scratch their noses

Velcro has many amazing uses, including that of being used on space trips to hold various objects to the walls of rockets to prevent their floating away. The nose scratching task is the most amusing, but why not? An itchy nose inside a space helmet is impossible to reach without removing that helmet. Velcro was invented by a Swiss engineer way back in 1948.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:44 AM

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