Science & Nature50 randomly selected Science & Nature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 15th June 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | In radio communication terms, what does A.M. stand for? |
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Amplitude Modulation | |
| 2. | What 'E' describes the scientific study of insects? |
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Entomology | |
| 3. | Native to Africa, what type of animal is a vervet? |
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Monkey | |
| 4. | Chalcopyrite is the main source of what metal element? |
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Copper | |
| 5. | Where in our solar system would you find the Colombo Gap, Maxwell Gap, Bond Gap, and Dawes Gap? |
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Rings of Saturn (C Ring) | |
| 6. | What four letter word is a more common name for hydrated magnesium silicate? |
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Talc | |
| 7. | Native to Australia and New Guinea, what 'B' describes this small marsupial? |
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Bandicoot / Bilby | |
| 8. | What is the term for an electrode through which conventional current (positive charge) flows into a device? |
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Anode | |
| 9. | Name either one of the two poisonous gases associated with acid rain. |
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Sulphur dioxide / Nitrogen oxide (SO2 / NOx) | |
| 10. | In computing, what does the letter 'S' stand for in 'ASCII'? |
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Standard (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) | |
| 11. | Native to China and closely related to the weasel, raccoon and skunk families, what animal is this? |
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Red panda / Lesser panda (also known as the red bear-cat, and the red cat-bear) | |
| 12. | What 'T' is the SI unit of magnetic flux density? |
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Tesla | |
| 13. | What naturally occurring family of silicate minerals get their name from the Ancient Greek for "inextinguishable"? |
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Asbestos (Ancient Greek: ἄσβεστος) | |
| 14. | The nephron is the basic structural and functional unit of what organ of the body? |
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Kidney | |
| 15. | The main constituent of many blackboard chalks, hydrated calcium sulphate, has the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. What is its more common name? |
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Gypsum (from the Greek word γύψος (gypsos), "chalk" or "plaster") | |
| 16. | What common long-term skin disease is caused by inflammation of the sebaceous glands? |
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Acne | |
| 17. | What single mechanical unit of measurement is equal to 745.7 watts? |
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Horsepower | |
| 18. | In terms of distance from the Sun, what planet comes between Saturn and Neptune? |
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Uranus | |
| 19. | The chemical symbol for manganese is the same as the two-letter abbreviation for what U.S. state? |
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Minnesota (Mn) | |
| 20. | What is removed from the body during a phlebotomy? |
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Blood (from the Greek words phlebo-, meaning "pertaining to a blood vessel", and -tomy, meaning "to make an incision") | |
| 21. | Ailurophobia is a persistent, irrational fear of what? |
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Cats | |
| 22. | Named after its Scottish inventor, Napier's Bones were the 17th century equivalent of what modern-day electronic device? |
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Calculator | |
| 23. | What chemical element takes its name from the Greek word for pale green? |
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Chlorine (Greek: χλωρóς khlôros) | |
| 24. | What simple name is given to the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound? |
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Acoustics | |
| 25. | What was the name of the probe, numbered 4, that took the first close-up photographs of another planet during its flyby of Mars on 14th July 1965? |
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Mariner | |
| 26. | Completed in Pennsylvania in 1945, what five letters describe the world's first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer? |
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ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) | |
| 27. | What 'H' describes the fruit of the rose plant? |
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Hip / Haw / Hep | |
| 28. | What 5-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for Bismuth, Technetium and Hydrogen? |
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Bitch | |
| 29. | What two body parts are connected by the Eustachian tube? |
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Ear and nose (a narrow passage leading from the nasopharynx to the cavity of the middle ear) | |
| 30. | What 9-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for copper, lead, oxygen, argon, and darmstadtium? |
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Cupboards | |
| 31. | A common file format for images, what does PNG stand for? |
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Portable Network Graphics | |
| 32. | Measurements of HDL and LDL are used to determine the level of what in the bloodstream? |
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Cholesterol | |
| 33. | What is the main diet of xylophagous insects? |
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Wood | |
| 34. | The five basic tastes that can be detected by humans are generally regarded as sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and what? |
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Savoury / Umami (Japanese: うま味 "pleasant savoury taste") | |
| 35. | What single word describes a viral disease characterised by a painful skin rash with blisters caused by the reactivation of varicella zoster virus (chicken pox) in a person's body? |
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Shingles (Herpes Zoster) | |
| 36. | The atmosphere of Mars is largely made up of 2% argon, 2.8% nitrogen, and 95% of what chemical compound? |
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Carbon dioxide | |
| 37. | What 6-letter word can be spelt using the chemical symbols for gold, titanium, and samarium? |
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Autism | |
| 38. | What 'G' is used to describe a lump or swelling at the front of the neck caused by a swollen thyroid? |
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Goitre / Goiter | |
| 39. | What is the SI unit of electrical current? |
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Ampere | |
| 40. | What 'D' describes any substance that promotes the production of urine? |
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Diuretic | |
| 41. | Mn is the chemical symbol for what element? |
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Manganese | |
| 42. | A member of the starling family, what 'M' describes this bird? |
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Myna / Mynah (Common or Indian myna pictured Acridotheres tristis - Thai: นกเอี้ยงสาลิกา) | |
| 43. | Hexadecimal has how many base numbers? |
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16 (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F) | |
| 44. | What is the collective noun for a group of monkeys? |
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A troop | |
| 45. | What name is given to the 800+ species of crab who've adapted to scavanging empty shells to protect their soft exoskeleton? |
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Hermit crab | |
| 46. | What name is given to an atom or molecule with a net electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons? |
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Ion | |
| 47. | The SETI Institute's mission is to "explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe". What does SETI stand for? |
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Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence | |
| 48. | What 'A' describes any alloy of mercury and another metal, most commonly silver or gold? |
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Amalgam | |
| 49. | Where, exactly, on the human body is the columella? |
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Nose (the fleshy external end of the nasal septum) | |
| 50. | What name is given to this dinosaur? |
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Triceratops | |
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