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Quiz
Think you know the news? Test
your memory with our quiz on the science stories that made headlines this
year.
1. In January, 66-year-old Adriana Iliescu became the oldest
woman ever to do what?
a. Donate a kidney
b. Become a mother
c. Climb Mount Everest
d. Enrol in Russia’s space-tourism programme
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050117/full/050117-4.html
2. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association suggested what as the best way to lose weight?
a. Ensure that no more than 10% of your calories come from carbohydrate
b. Pick the diet that’s easiest for you to follow
c. Copy whatever your thinnest friend eats
d. Keep a daily food diary recording every last morsel you consume
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050103/full/050103-3.html
3. Physicists suggested in February that it might be possible
to make what science-fiction device a reality?
a. A wormhole to another dimension
b. Dilithium crystals
c. A time machine
d. An invisibility shield
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050228/full/050228-1.html
4. What was the unfortunate consequence of local climate change
for the hapless voyagers aboard an Alaskan cruise ship this year?
a. Increased sea-ice melting meant that the nearest polar bear was out
of range of their cameras
b. A bacterium usually only found hundreds of miles further south infected
the local oysters, causing a nasty outbreak of diarrhoea
c. An unusual northerly wind caused temperatures on deck to plummet to
an unprecedented ?60 °C
d. Particulate pollution in the atmosphere meant that the famed aurora
borealis, or ‘northern lights’, was totally invisible
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051003/full/051003-8.html
5. Research unveiled in March showed vampire bats to possess
what surprising skill?
a. They can mimic the mating calls of a range of birds to attract a meal
b. They can see in infra-red
c. They can describe to fellow bats the route to the nearest source of
blood
d. They can break into a run
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050314/full/050314-9.html
6. A simple sniff of a bottled version of the brain hormone oxytocin
was shown to boost what?
a. Confidence
b. Sexual magnetism
c. Empathy
d. Trust
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050531/full/050531-4.html
7. Who or what was ‘Clint’, one of the year’s
most notable contributors to science?
a. The chimp who provided most of the DNA for the chimpanzee genome sequencing
effort
b. A rat who evaded researchers for a staggering 18 weeks on a remote
island off New Zealand
c. A now discredited stem-cell biologist nicknamed Clint for his maverick
(some might say cowboyish) approach to research
d. One of the instruments aboard the Huygens probe (short for Calibrating
Light Instrument with Nuclear Tensimetry)
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050829/full/050829-9.html
8. Conspiracy theorists were crowing over what Big Brother-style
revelation this year?
a. Every newborn child in Singapore receives a subcutaneous silicon chip
bearing their government identification number
b. Online photo-sharing websites are automatically monitored for images
of illegal behaviour
c. Laser printouts carry a series of secret yellow dots that can be used
to work out when and where the document was printed
d. FBI researchers have developed a video camera that can be implanted
into the retina
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051017/full/051017-9.html
9. Hurricanes have rarely been far from the news during the second
half of 2005. But what, according to meteorologists, is crucial in forecasting
whether the Atlantic is in for a heavy hurricane season in a given year?
a. Showers in April
b. Days of sunshine in June
c. Wind patterns in July
d. Ocean currents in August
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050418/full/050418-10.html
10. Astronomers were arguing this year over the number of what
in the Solar System?
a. Hydrogen molecules
b. Derelict spacecraft
c. Planets
d. Alien radio messages
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050801/full/050801-2.html
11. Researchers found prions, the rogue proteins that cause a
range of deadly brain diseases, in which part of a sheep's body,
raising fears of a new route for transmission to humans?
a. Mammary glands
b. Salivary glands
c. Shoulder joints
d. Wool
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051031/full/051031-7.html
12. In December, naturalists announced the sighting of the 'Beast
of Borneo', the first new carnivore to be found on the island for
more than a century. What was the previous animal, discovered in 1895?
a. Oriental otter-beaver
b. Malaysian tiger-monkey
c. Borneo ferret-badger
d. Pacific donkey-macaque
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051205/full/051205-3.html
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