2024 is winding to a close and 2025 is just around the corner. What better way to celebrate than with a science quiz!
This quiz contains (almost) all of the science trivia questions featured in Double Helix Extra throughout 2024. There’s over 100 science questions to discover!
To make the quiz more manageable, it only displays 10 questions at a time. If you want more trivia, hit the refresh button to bring up a brand new selection of brain-busting science.
Results
Well done! You’re a real science whiz!
Oh dear! better brush up before the next quiz!
#1. What can warm-blooded (endothermic) animals do to keep warm on a cold day?
Warm-blooded animals have many strategies to stay warm. Shivering moves muscles, which generates heat. Snuggling up in a nest saves heat. Redirecting blood away from the skin and back to the core means less heat is lost from the skin. This last one is a big reason why your hands and feet get cold in winter!
#2. Evidence of maths can be found in ancient history. Which of the following maths-related leaps were found in ancient Babylonian tablets?
Impressively, Babylonian tablets show evidence of fractions, interest rates and some impressively large Pythagorean triples. Some tablets look like graded homework!
#3. The current record for high jump for humans is 2.45 metres. Which of the following animals can beat that leap?
Fleas can jump 50-100 times their body length but that’s still much smaller than 2.45 metres. Similarly, rabbits can jump high for their size, but still only about a metre. Of these choices, only the impala can top the human with a vertical leap of 3 metres!
#4. In biology, an “orbit” is the part of the skull that holds an eyeball. Which of the following animals has the largest orbit?
Blue whales have eyes the size of grapefruit! Though this is very small compared to their overall body size. Owls have big eyes for their size, but a blue whale’s eye is bigger than most owls’ heads!
#5. Which of the following scientific leaps happened after 1900?
Perhaps surprisingly, the theory of plate tectonics is quite new, starting with ideas proposed in 1912 and supported by evidence gathered in the 1950’s and 60’s. The theory has since revolutionised Earth sciences.
#6. Which of the following features of polymer banknotes make them hard to fake?
There are lots of holograms on banknotes, including a different bird on each note that appears to fly. Raised ink, called intaglio print, can be felt by running a finger across the portraits. All banknotes have clear, plastic windows, too. All of these features are hard to copy.
#7. True or False? Polymer bank notes were invented in Australia to combat counterfeiting.
True. Counterfeiting means to make a fake copy of something valuable. It was a massive problem in Australia and so the Reserve Bank of Australia asked CSIRO scientists to combat it. CSIRO scientists invented polymer banknotes with lots of anti-counterfeit measures including see-through windows!
#8. The Large Hadron Collider is made up of 27 kilometres of tunnel. Inside the tunnel the tiniest bits of matter are accelerated and rammed into each other. What shape is the Large Hadron Collider?
The Large Hadron Collider is a circular ring where tiny bits of matter, like protons, are accelerated to near the speed of light. Since it’s a circle, the particle beams can keep going around and around, getting faster and faster each loop!
#9. Which of the following pieces of hardware help protect your digital files?
USB security keys are computer chips that are specially designed to hold passwords and be tamper resistant. Biometric scanners are also hardware that use your body as a type of password. Last but not least, your house’s locks physically protect your devices!
#10. What are polymer banknotes made of?
A synthetic plastic. The plastic is made of long chains of chemicals called polymers (which means “many parts”). It has a distinctive feel and it will return back to its original shape if it’s scrunched up.
Want even more? Try past megaquizzes:
Leave a Reply