Q 01/05

Which stirrup-shaped bone of the middle ear is the smallest and lightest bone in the human body?

A) Malleus

B) Stapes

C) Incus

D) Hyoid

Answer · why

B) Stapes

The stapes takes its name from the Medieval Latin for stirrup. Classical Latin had no such word, because stirrups did not exist in the ancient world.

Q 02/05

Which raised-dot system, devised by a blind French teenager, lets people read with their fingertips?

A) Braille

B) Morse code

C) Moon type

D) Shorthand

Answer · why

A) Braille

Braille began as an improvement on night writing, a tactile code built from 12-dot cells. Louis Braille, aged fifteen, cut each cell down to six dots.

Q 03/05

Which chirping insects listen to one another's songs through hearing organs set in their front legs?

A) Cicadas

B) Grasshoppers

C) Locusts

D) Crickets

Answer · why

D) Crickets

Crickets hear through thin membranes on the shins of their front legs. Only the males sing, and they do it by scraping their leathery front wings toge...

Q 04/05

Which leafy herb tastes like soap to some people because of a variant in a smell-receptor gene?

A) Parsley

B) Lemon balm

C) Cilantro

D) Basil

Answer · why

C) Cilantro

Cilantro divides diners because of the gene OR6A2, which builds a smell receptor: people with certain variants perceive the leaves as soapy or rotten.

Q 05/05

Which lizard can swivel each eye independently, watching two different objects at the same time?

A) Chameleon

B) Iguana

C) Gila monster

D) Basilisk

Answer · why

A) Chameleon

Chameleon eyelids are joined, leaving only a pinhole to see through. When prey appears, both eyes swing forward to lock onto the same target.