Q 01/05

Which vehicle's name is often painted in reverse so that drivers ahead can read it in a mirror?

A) School bus

B) Ambulance

C) Tow truck

D) Taxi cab

Answer · why

B) Ambulance

Ambulance is spelled out in mirror writing so the word reads the right way round in a rear-view mirror. Leonardo da Vinci wrote most of his personal n...

Q 02/05

Which legume gave the lens its Latin name, because a lens bulging on both sides has the same shape?

A) Chickpea

B) Soybean

C) Lentil

D) Peanut

Answer · why

C) Lentil

Lentil in Latin is simply lens. English borrowed the word in the 1690s for glass that regulates light rays, by analogy with the shape of the seed.

Q 03/05

How long does sunlight take to reach Earth, when light from the next nearest star takes over four years?

A) 8 seconds

B) 8 minutes

C) 8 hours

D) 8 days

Answer · why

B) 8 minutes

8 minutes is the trip through space, so we see the Sun as it was a little while ago. The energy first spends 10,000 to 170,000 years working its way o...

Q 04/05

Which colour appears on a screen when red and green light are combined at equal intensity?

A) Brown

B) White

C) Purple

D) Yellow

Answer · why

D) Yellow

Yellow is a secondary colour of light, made on screens whose pixels glow only red, green and blue. Cyan and magenta are the other two secondaries.

Q 05/05

Which Founding Father is generally credited with inventing bifocal glasses for near and far vision?

A) Benjamin Franklin

B) Thomas Jefferson

C) John Adams

D) Alexander Hamilton

Answer · why

A) Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was one of the first people known to wear split lenses. One account says he cut his lenses in half so he could lip-read French speak...