Saturday Night Liver Trivia Quiz

Answer: Prometheus

And you thought you were having a bad day...sheesh! While there are several variations of this myth, Aeschylus wrote the most famous one as Prometheus, the son of a titan, angered Zeus by stealing fire and helping humanity. He ended up paying with his liver...again and again.

The fact that scientists have now learned of the liver's amazing capacity for regeneration (as little as 25% of a liver can regenerate into a whole one) makes them wonder if the Greeks were on to something.

Answer: Haruspicy

Haruspicy (Latin for gut-watching) involved using various parts of the entrails (particularly the liver) to discern the future. Haruspicy is mentioned in the Bible as being practiced by the Babylonians in Ezekiel 21:21. Mesopotamian priests, known as Barus, were trained to interpret the divine will by the omens presaged in various sectors of the liver.

The Etruscans and Romans also practiced different varieties of this form. Hippomancy is divination by the observation of horses, especially their neighing. Alectryomancy is interpreting rooster behavior. And hakata divines the future using bones or dice.

Answer: Plato

Writing in Timaeus, Plato imagined that the liver housed emotions like wrath, greed and jealously. The degree to which these "lower" appetites influenced a person would be reflected on the shiny surface of the liver. The trick, as Plato envisioned it, was to get these animal instincts under the control of the brain which controlled the higher, rational soul.

Answer: around 3 lbs

The liver is both the largest internal organ (the skin is larger but is external) and the largest gland. It is mainly composed of water (96%) and is thus very soft.

Answer: lobes

The four lobes are: left, right, caudate, quadrate. That's all I have to say about that.

Answer: bile

Bile, also called gall, is crucial for our digestion. It breaks down food (especially fats) so that our body can use them fully. It also helps eliminate excess bilirubin and neutralizes excess stomach acid. Bile is stored in the gall bladder but produced in the liver. Plasma is the watery portion of blood. Chyme is found in the stomach, and urine is...well...urine.

Answer: 500

Busy guy! It plays major roles in metabolizing and synthesizing various amino acids, carbohydrates, fats, etc. It removes toxins from your blood, as well as storing vitamins, minerals, and sugars for later use. Many of these functions are done in combination with other organs. So your liver is not only a multi-tasker but it plays well with others!

Answer: John "Liver Eating"Johnson

A true mountain man of 19th century America, Johnson supposedly avenged the death of his wife by a Crow warrior by going on a vendetta against the tribe and eating the liver of each man he killed. Whether fava beans and a nice chianti were included remains unknown. I made the rest of them up.

Answer: Skate

Nothing like some delicious beignets de foie de raie (Skate-liver Fritters) to start your day in Paris, or poached skate liver on toast to end a perfect evening in London. A skate is like a stingray.

Answer: "Macbeth" by Shakespeare

Yes, one of history's foremost neologists strikes again. Since a lily was pale and a brave man was supposed to be hot-blooded, to be lily-livered implied being bloodless and timid. In Act 5, Scene 3 of the play, Macbeth hides his own fear by lashing out at a servant who is reporting on approaching soldiers by crying, "Go prick your face and hide your fear in a red face, you lily-livered boy".