Back in Time Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cell

The first life-forms are thought to be have been single-celled organisms, and rather basic/primitive lifeforms. Nobody can be sure where they came from or how they came to exist, and it is believed that they did not develop into larger, more complex lifeforms for many billions of years. Around 530 million years ago, a period called the Cambrian explosion is believed to have occurred, where multi-celled organisms began to develop. Yet, there is limited evidence to suggest exactly why that might have occurred after such a long period without change. History still holds many secrets, after all.

We, as humans, are built up of many of these cells. In fact, we are made of an estimated 50-100 trillion cells, and we replace millions of these cells every day. The numbers are mind-boggling even to think of.

Answer: Stegosaurus

The stegosaurus is believed to have had 17 plates on its spine, extending from the skin. It was a herbivore, so it did not eat meat, and was a member of the Thyreophora group, and Thyreophora literally means 'shield bearers' in Greek, reflecting the well-armoured quality of dinosaurs in this group. Although the stegosaurus was much larger and taller than any human, its brain was just the size of a walnut.

Often, people describe dinosaurs as reptiles. However, reptiles are cold-blooded, and, although evidence is limited, there is a theory that some dinosaurs were warm-blooded, which mean that they were not reptiles. They also differ in posture and standing style in some cases.

Answer: Pangaea

Wegener's theory was that the Earth's crust - its outer layer - floated and drifted on a liquid core. Around 130 million years ago, it is believed this supercontinent named Pangaea broke up into two smaller supercontinents, called Laurasia and Gondwana.

This theory is known as the continental drift theory. The Earth's crust is separated into a number of plates which slowly 'drift'. Earthquakes and volcanoes often occur at the boundaries of these plates, which is no coincidence as the plates interact in a number of ways.

When they press together (or converge), a volcano is often formed, for example.

Answer: The impact of an asteroid

Luis Alvarez was a physicist, and with his team, found that layers of sediment which would have been at the surface level 65 million years ago (but is now deep underground) had a greater than average amount of iridium. Iridium is a very rare element on Earth, but is abundant in asteroids.

The impact of an asteroid - or giant rock from space - was not necessarily what killed off the dinosaurs. Rather, it is believed the impact threw up a huge dust cloud. This partially blocked the sunlight, and since plants need sunlight to thrive, it led to the death of many plants. This, in turn, lead to more deaths as many larger animals needed these plants to live, and predatory dinosaurs in turn needed to eat animals to live. Only avian dinosaurs are believed to have survived this mass extinction, and they are believed to be the predecessors to the birds we know today.

Answer: The climate became hotter and more humid

The Paleogene period lasted for about 41 million years, ending around 24 million years ago. Initially, following the mass extinction, the climate remained warm and humid as it had been beforehand. However, the isolation of Antarctica caused its glaciation, and this ended up having an effect on the overall climate.

In addition, carbon dioxide levels reduced, and as carbon dioxide kept heat in the atmosphere, this reduction lead to less heat retention and thus a general cooling effect. Meanwhile, many of the mammals we know today evolved in this period, including the primates that would later evolve into us humans! It wasn't just the mammals, however; birds also thrived, along with some fish.

The dinosaurs may had left town, but life hadn't given up just yet.

Answer: Homo sapiens

A potted, abridged background to humanity goes somewhat as follows:

Primates mainly first came about in the Paleogene period (and a bit before that, too). Hominids, great apes, came into existence about 15 million years ago, developing from the initial primates. Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, a hominid that existed about 13 million years ago, is believed to be a common ancestor between the modern human and the other great apes. The hominids further developed until the first homo species, homo habilis, appeared around 2.5 million years ago, and these were able to use stone tools. They also had far less body hair, more closely resembling current humans than apes. Homo erectus followed around 1.8 million years ago, and was believed to resemble modern humans but had a smaller brain. Finally, around 200,000 years ago, fossil evidence suggests that the modern human appeared around then. Now, 200,000 years is a long time*, but anatomically at least we have not changed so much in that time.

* from a human perspective, at least. In terms of the planet's 4.5 billion year lifespan, 200 million years is just a scratch on the surface.

Answer: Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is nicknamed the 'cradle of civilisation' because it became the potential site of origin for many organised cultures, and became the home of one of the first systems of writing, cuneiform. These cultures included the Sumer, Assyrian and Babylonian civilisations, and all had their own organised set of social rules and cities. They were set apart from nomadic tribes who tended not to have permanent residences or as complex an infrastructure. Mesopotamia, between two rivers, was highly fertile, which also gave it the nickname 'the fertile crescent'.

However, the Nile River may also have sprouted a 'cradle of civilisation' of its own: at 4000BC, Egyptian mortar came into use, medical institutions were established by 3000BC, and the first of the famous pyramids, the Pyramid of Djoser was begun some time around 2640BC. All of this indicate a coordinated civilisation, and helped to shape culture throughout the years.

Answer: False

The Axial Age, coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers, is believed to have been a key age in the development of thought. Rather than particularly bringing great amounts of money, technology or progress, it was about spiritual directions for humanity and revolutional thinking. Several religions and philosophies developed in Greece, India, China and some other locations during this time period. Platonism, developed by Greek philosopher Plato, would influence Christianity, and the principles of Jainism and Buddhism were also put in place at this time, amongst several other religions/philosophies.

Whilst this age was good for promoting new ways of thinking, these philosophies and religions brought about conflict from those with conflicting beliefs, and some of these conflicts have remained constant over time.

Answer: The Renaissance

The heliocentric view was the belief that the sun was the centre of our universe. However, Galileo Galilei provided an alternative theory that the earth revolved around the sun, and this explanation was largely accepted over time. Once Columbus found the 'New World' (America) some previously suggested theories about the world's landscape were disproven, leading to a change in scientific thought.

There was a re-emergence of the supremacy of empiricism, objectivity and measurement in science: a more mechanical form of thinking emerged whereby the world could be quantified, analysed and tested.

Humanism is a school of thought that promotes learning in a particular way. The Humanists in the Renaissance believed that humans had a wonderful mind, and their life goal was to make the most of this mind (and their physical bodies) before they died. Overall, this was a culturally progressive stage compared to the Middle Ages, which had occurred shortly before the Renaissance. A 'rebirth' of culture indeed.

Answer: Information Age

A computer stores and processes data and information, and the internet is a network that can connect all of these computers, if they have the correct equipment. This facilitated the transfer of information between computers without people having to physically carry it themselves. Computers can hold information far more compactly than other physical media, for example a library, which can be quite large, could be stored on a computer and take up only a small slice of its storage space.

The Information Age has been excellent in exchanging information and optimising systems, enabling computers to do menial tasks.