Drop a Letter 17 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tapetum

The tapetum is also called the tapetum lucidum. The tapetum is present just behind the retina and reflects back light rays. This increases the amount of light that photoreceptors of the eyes can detect. The tapetum layer is also present in nocturnal animals such as bats, as well as aquatic organisms such as sharks.

In the novel 'The Invisible Man' by H.G. Wells, it is mentioned that the tapetum is the only part of a cat that would remain visible if a cat is made invisible.

Answer: Mutate

The alteration of the genetic material, such as DNA, is called mutation. Genes can mutate due to errors during cell division, especially meiosis, or due to exposure to radiation. While the mutation of genes is necessary for evolution, sometimes genes may mutate to cause diseases like cancer.

Answer: Matte

Mattes can be static, for example when the actors perform their scenes in front of a constant background, or travelling, if the background changes with time in the scene. The most common form of using mattes is chroma keying. This involves using a 'bluescreen' or a 'greenscreen', where the background to be replaced in the actor's frame has the same hue.

These techniques are widely used in genres such as fantasy or action.

Answer: Meat

Meat eaten throughout the world can be of various animals, such as pigs, chickens, goats and sheep. Meat of all kinds is very rich in proteins. Meat is also a rich source of fat, which can lead to health problems if consumed in excess. Interestingly, the word 'meat' comes from the Old English word 'mete', which means 'food' in general. Various religions and cultures prohibit the consumption of different kinds of meat.

Answer: Mat

Mats are of various kinds. A doormat is commonly used to remove dirt from shoes. It is made of tough material such as coir or palm. In gymnastics, mats are used for safety to break the fall in case a gymnast fails to perform the step properly. The lining of such mats is usually made of plastic.

Answer: MA

The United States Postal Service adopted the ISO 3166-2:US code, and implemented two letter abbreviations in capital letters so that optical character recognition (OCR) could be done easily. Massachusetts' capital and largest city is Boston, with a majority of the population living in the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area. Massachusetts is home to Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, two of the world's most renowned universities.

Answer: map

When a small area is represented in a map, there is negligible distortion. However, when a world map is made, relative distances or relative areas may get distorted.
The study and practice of making maps is called cartography. The word 'map' comes from the shortening of the Latin phrase 'mappamundi' where 'mappa' meant 'napkin/cloth' and 'mundi' meant 'world'. Apart from geographical maps of the world, other common maps include star chart maps. In numerous civilizations, people have studied the night sky and have made maps, by marking the brightest stars and imagining constellations.

Answer: Palm

Palm trees are part of the botanical family Arecaceae. Taxonomically, they are monocotyledonous angiosperms, meaning they produce fruits with proper seeds, which contain one cotyledon. The stem, which does not possess branches, usually ends at the top with a large crown of leaves.

The leaves are evergreen, and are usually either fan-shaped or feather-shaped. Palm trees include coconut palm and date palm, whose fruits are used as food.

Answer: Lamps

Original oil lamps used the oil of various nuts and seeds, or animal fat, as the fuel used to light the lamps. Later varieties of lamps used fuels such as kerosene. After the invention of electricity, newer varieties of lamps were made. This included the arc lamp invented by Humphrey Davy or fluorescent lamps that depended on the fluorescence of mercury vapour.

Answer: Sample

A sample of a larger population is often taken to conduct surveys, for example, political surveys. This is done mainly when the size of the entire population is too big for all the people to be surveyed. Care must be taken so that the sample chosen is truly random, only then will the sample population be a true representation of the entire population. Else, errors due to bias can happen.