Q 01/05

A giraffe's neck is built from how many vertebrae, exactly the same number as a human neck?

A) Seven

B) Fourteen

C) Thirty

D) Sixty

Answer · why

A) Seven

Seven is the limit for almost every mammal, so the giraffe's neck grew by stretching each bone instead of adding more. Every one of them is over 28 cm...

Q 02/05

Which Greek Titan, condemned to hold up the heavens, names the vertebra that supports the skull?

A) Prometheus

B) Cronus

C) Atlas

D) Hyperion

Answer · why

C) Atlas

Atlas bore the weight of the sky, and the topmost vertebra bears the head in the same way. Unlike the bones below, it is a simple ring with no solid b...

Q 03/05

Measured standing, at what time of day is a healthy person usually tallest, by a centimetre or more?

A) Evening

B) Afternoon

C) Midday

D) Morning

Answer · why

D) Morning

Morning wins, because hours of lying down add length that a day spent upright takes away again. In one study, 100 children averaged 1.54 cm shorter by...

Q 04/05

Which birds can swivel their heads about 270 degrees each way, thanks to fourteen neck vertebrae?

A) Eagles

B) Owls

C) Parrots

D) Herons

Answer · why

B) Owls

Owls also have extra-wide artery channels in those bones, so twisting the neck that far never cuts off the blood supply to the brain.

Q 05/05

What do astronauts gain within a month in orbit, thanks to what weightlessness does to the spine?

A) Height

B) Bone density

C) Muscle mass

D) Body weight

Answer · why

A) Height

Height increases by about 2.5 cm, roughly an inch, once gravity stops pressing the spine and the rest of the skeleton together.