Q 01/05

How many bones does a typical adult human skeleton have?

A) 103

B) 206

C) 412

D) 824

Answer · why

B) 206

206. That is only the textbook count: an extra rib or tiny extra bones along the skull's seams mean some adults have a few more.

Q 02/05

What happens to most of the 'extra' bones a baby is born with as the child grows up?

A) Fuse together

B) Dissolve away

C) Turn into ligaments

D) Become bone marrow

Answer · why

A) Fuse together

Fuse together. A newborn has dozens more separate bones than an adult, and joining them takes years: the five vertebrae of the sacrum do not fuse into...

Q 03/05

Which division of the skeleton holds the limbs and their girdles?

A) Axial skeleton

B) Dermal skeleton

C) Visceral skeleton

D) Appendicular skeleton

Answer · why

D) Appendicular skeleton

Appendicular skeleton. The name comes from the Latin for 'to hang upon': the arms and legs hang from the central column of skull, spine and ribs.

Q 04/05

Rickets, which softens children's bones, usually comes from a lack of which vitamin?

A) Vitamin A

B) Vitamin C

C) Vitamin D

D) Vitamin K

Answer · why

C) Vitamin D

Vitamin D. The gut cannot absorb calcium without it, and because skin makes the vitamin in sunlight, children who get too little sun are among those m...

Q 05/05

Which bone is the largest and thickest in the human body?

A) Femur

B) Skull

C) Sternum

D) Pelvis

Answer · why

A) Femur

Femur. The thigh bone makes up about a quarter of a person's height, so forensic scientists can estimate how tall someone stood from this single bone.