Q 01/05

A contraceptive recipe in an Egyptian papyrus from about 1850 BC called for the dung of which animal?

A) Hippopotamus

B) Crocodile

C) Donkey

D) Jackal

Answer · why

B) Crocodile

Crocodile dung was shaped into a pessary in the Kahun Gynecological Papyrus, which also suggests acacia gum, an ingredient later shown to have real sp...

Q 02/05

Which marsupial faces its own chlamydia epidemic, an infection that can attack its eyes and urinary tract?

A) Koala

B) Wombat

C) Wallaby

D) Quokka

Answer · why

A) Koala

Koala hospital records kept over 30 years show chlamydia was the most common reason for admission after injuries.

Q 03/05

The hormones in the first birth control pills were made from a wild Mexican variety of which root vegetable?

A) Taro

B) Beet

C) Yam

D) Turnip

Answer · why

C) Yam

Yam roots from the rain forests of Veracruz gave chemist Russell Marker a cheap source of progesterone, and steroid prices plummeted once the trade to...

Q 04/05

Which condom brand was launched in 1929 by the London Rubber Company?

A) Trojan

B) Ramses

C) Sheik

D) Durex

Answer · why

D) Durex

Durex is short for durability, reliability and excellence, a name the London Rubber Company coined three years before it began making condoms under it...

Q 05/05

Which British royal held hands with an AIDS patient in 1987, challenging fears that touch could spread the illness?

A) Princess Diana

B) Princess Anne

C) Princess Margaret

D) Sarah Ferguson

Answer · why

A) Princess Diana

Princess Diana was the first British royal to make physical contact with AIDS patients, and she later opened a home for young patients in Washington, ...