1 - For research in what field did Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield win the Nobel prize of Medicine in 2003?

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The study of AIDS

The genetic causes of degenerative brain diseases

The use of laser in open-heart surgery

2 - Of the following, who did NOT take part in the development of the first steam engines?

James Watt

Thomas Newcomen

Thomas Savery

James Hargreaves

3 - The Three Gorges Dam in China will be the world's biggest when complete. When did the construction start?

1991

1994

1997

2001

4 - Which of these is an example of an extremophile?

Elephas maximus

Sequoiadendron giganteum

Architeuthis martensi

Bacillus infernus

5 - During WW2, the British created a machine called Colossus to break the German Fish cypher. Who was not involved in the project?

Albert Small

Max Newman

Alan Turing

Tommy Flowers

6 - What is the quark combination in a proton?

uud

udd

usd

ssd

7 - What is a perfect number?

A number such that the sum of its factors, excluding itself, is greater than itself

A number such that its only divisors are 1 and itself

A number such that the sum of its factors, excluding itself, equals itself

A number such that it cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers

8 - What scientific phenomenon is often (mistakenly) thought as having been first reported by Columbus?

The inversion of the sense of gyration of water emptying from a hole as one crosses the equator

The difference between the geographic & magnetic North Poles

The existence of Aurora Borealis above the ocean

The increase in the sea's level near the equator, due to the increased centrifugal force

9 - How far away from is the Earth from the Sun (on average) ?

1.5 x 10^8 km (9.32 x 10^7 miles)

1.3 x 10^7 km (8.08 x 10^6 miles)

1.8 x 10^10 km (1.12 x 10^10 miles)

1.2 x 10^7 km (7.46 x 10^6 miles)

10 - What is the greatest number of electrons that can fit into the first electron shell (also called an energy level)?

2

3

6

10

11 - Which Space mission was described by James Lovell and Neil Armstrong as 'The most significant in the history of US spaceflight'?

Apollo 13

Apollo 8

Apollo 14

Gemini 4

12 - What is the process by which a eukaryotic cell divides into two new cells?

citesism

meiosis

cytokinesis

fission

13 - We say a planet is in ________ when that planet is furthest away from the sun.

Perihelion

Aphelion

Apoapsis

Periapsis

14 - How many planets can be seen with normal 20/20 vision, unaided by telescopes, and unhindered by light polution?

6

7

9

8

15 - What is the name of the largest known cellestial body belonging to the Solar system that lies beyond the orbit of Pluto?

Deucalion

Quaoar

Varuna

Chaos

16 - What is the number phi equal to?

sqrt(2)*pi/2 = 2.2214...

(e^2-1)/4 = 1.5972...

(1+sqrt(5))/2 = 1.6180...

e^pi = 23.1407...

17 - Who sponsored the most widely adopted school computer in the UK in the early 1980's?

Acorn

Apple

International Business Machines

British Broadcasting Corporation

18 - Which British Astronomer has a Lunar crater named after him?

Sir Bernard Lovell

Henry Brinton

Sir Fred Hoyle

Sir Patrick Moore

19 - How do organisms use Adenosine Triphosphate?

as a digestive enzyme

as an energy carrier

to maintain cell membrane integrity

as a competitive inhibitor

20 - What has been found to be special about the star BPM 37093 in Centaurus?

It is the densest White Dwarf yet discovered

It has a core of solid diamond

It is currently the closest star to the Earth (apart from the Sun!)

It has been shown to possess a planetary system

 

  

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