This Month's 'Smithsonian' Trivia Quiz

Answer: Reluctance to take revenge

'Smithsonian' writer Abigail Tucker gives special attention on an experiment named "Krackerz!" which saw Yale researchers show year-old children puppet scenarios repeatedly. In some scenarios, an orange bunny puppet kept a lamb puppet from opening a plastic box with a toy inside.

In other scenarios, a green bunny helped the lamb open the box to get the toy. After the show, both bunny puppets would offer each child a graham cracker simultaneously. Consistently, the children would take crackers from the "helper" puppet at rates greater than chance. On occasion, the children would overdo it a bit, whacking the hindering puppet with whatever was handy. Tucker goes on to describe several other experiments at Yale and other major research institutions, including demonstrations where toddlers will consistently help an adult get objects positioned out of reach or take pains to retrieve cans that experimenters "carelessly" let roll off of tabletops.

Answer: The Emancipation Proclamation

The article by Louis Masur highlights Lincoln's courage in going forward with emancipation after announcing his intentions in September, 1862. Lincoln's own hometown paper, the 'Illinois State Register', warned that the proposition was unprecedentedly far reaching and bordered on the unconstitutional. Many critics questioned whether or not Union soldiers would continue to fight in a conflict that had ostensibly become a war to free the slaves. Ultimately, Lincoln's thought was a good deal more radical than it had been in his first draft. He abandoned the idea of shipping freed slaves to Africa or Central America as colonists, and opened the Army to freemen. In signing the document on New Year's Day 1863, Lincoln offered that "if my name goes into history, if will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it."

In more recent years, it has become fashionable to detract from Lincoln's work by pointing out the limitations in The Emancipation Proclamation. Those wishing to do so may write their own quizzes; I will have no part in it. I will admit that I have never done anything in my life that demanded the moral courage that Abraham Lincoln showed on that day, and I leave it at that.

Answer: The way in which an organism's development to maturity will change based on its environment

Boston University biologist Karen Warkentin demonstrates how red-eyed tree frog eggs will hatch prematurely in response to exterior vibrations - such as those from predators like snakes - or if they are in danger of drying out. Warkentin has advanced the idea that this plasticity may be a driving force in evolution, in contrast to traditional ideas that only random DNA mutations cause lasting changes within species.

Answer: Rio de Janeiro

In November 2011, Brazilian law enforcement (including military troops) occupied Rio's most violent "favelas" (high crime districts), disarming drug dealers and setting up visible outposts. Though Brazil's police force has a past reputation for corruption and excessive force, most community leaders have kind words for the "occupation" of the favelas, citing a removal of the fear that had plagued the community for decades. Anxieties persisted, however, with many fearing that police presence would taper off after the 2016 Olympics, despite the Brazilian Congress' guarantee of police presence for 25 years.

Answer: The Moulin Rouge

The Moulin Rouge was a Vegas hotspot that year. Though located in the rundown part of the city allocated to blacks in the segregated Jim Crow era, it attracted performers like Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland to come sit in with black artists like Nat King Cole and Dinah Washington during the Moulin Rouge's after-hours shows.

The Moulin Rouge was a welcome oasis for performers like Louis Armstrong and Harry Belafonte who were not able to stay in the upscale hotels where they performed. Unfortunately, bad management (and suspected mafia backlash) closed the casino later that year. Even so, the legacy of interracial entertainment and fellowship was carried forward by artists like Sinatra, who would personally escort black guests to their tables if they had trouble with segregationist doormen. Las Vegas effectively integrated in 1960, though the process would continue for years afterward.

Answer: An insect related to the modern katydid

By comparing the preserved details of the extant fossils and comparing them to the surviving insects, University of Lincoln scientist Fernando Montealegre-Zapata has been able to create a reasonable approximation of the insect's call, giving us a sound that has not been heard since brachiosauri roamed the Earth. According to Switek, this is "the most ancient call ever recreated" to date.

Answer: Anthropocene

Though this new classification of geologic time has garnered favor among environmentalists and has been used in numerous published scientific articles, Smithsonian editorial assistant Joseph Stromberg does not give it a good chance to be approved by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), the official keepers of such things. According to SUNY College of Brockport geologist Whitney Austin, recognition of a new epoch must be marked by a specific change in rock layers that can be consistently defined. As Austin says, Anthropocene verbiage "provides eye-catching jargon, but from the geologic side, I need the bare bones facts that fit the code." An official IUGS ruling on this nomenclature is expected in 2016 pending the research of a select panel.

Kudos to you if you got all the jokes in the wrong answers to this question.

Answer: Jesus Christ

As the story goes, Jesus studied in Japan during the "lost years" of his life not documented by canonical scripture. After he escaped crucifixion, he is said to have settled in rural Japan as a garlic farmer. Though the area is not a Christian settlement, the region's eclectic religious landscape (overlain by a mixture of Buddhism, Shinto, and folk ritual) includes a tradition that it once harbored a lost tribe of Israel, and threads of Christianity do circulate within local belief.

It is more likely that the shrine is the grave of sixteenth-century Christian missionaries, but this too is unconfirmed.

Answer: Obesity

Ronneberg's study of over 65,000 adults found that two-thirds of them consistently slept at least an hour longer on weekend nights than they did on workdays. By his reckoning, every hour of social jet lag translates to a 33% higher chance of obesity. Not one for hypocrisy, the researcher has applied these findings in his own life by not setting an alarm clock and letting his body get the sleep it demands - unless he has to catch a plane!

Answer: Increasing costs of individual participation

Like most of us, Lanier (who is a professional musician in addition to his computer work) does not shed a tear for big music stars who have actually benefitted from file sharing and the resulting larger following attending their life shows. He does lament the small distributors who are effectively extinct in the days of free music. By way of example, he says it is now common among musicians to throw frequent benefit concerts for former studio owners who are now without health insurance. On a larger scale, Lanier largely blames computer technology for the disappearance of the middle class, asserting that it has enabled rapid commodificaton of labor and equity, resulting in disinterested parties like day traders and hedge funds being actual business owners.

He also compares the wildfire spread of extreme political ideas to the Holocaust that destroyed most of his family. Though most early internet forecasters theorized about the "wisdom of the crowd," Lanier sees signs that we are instead seeing the genesis of a digital lynch mob.