Q 01/05

Which organ did Soviet doctor Leonid Rogozov cut out of his own body at an Antarctic base in 1961?

A) Gallbladder

B) Spleen

C) Appendix

D) Thyroid

Answer · why

C) Appendix

The appendix had to come out, and Rogozov was the only doctor on a base more than 1,600 km from the nearest Soviet station. A driver and a meteorologi...

Q 02/05

Which animals' intestines usually supplied the catgut that long stitched wounds and strung violins?

A) Cats

B) Sheep

C) Dogs

D) Rabbits

Answer · why

B) Sheep

Sheep and goats were the usual source, and catgut has never been documented as coming from a cat. The name may be a muddle of an old dialect word for ...

Q 03/05

Which medieval tradesmen also pulled teeth and amputated limbs, sharing a London guild with surgeons from 1540?

A) Barbers

B) Butchers

C) Blacksmiths

D) Tanners

Answer · why

A) Barbers

Barbers already owned razors and had the dexterity, so they did the cutting at a time when physicians rarely operated. Their striped pole once adverti...

Q 04/05

Which Renaissance artist gives his name to the robotic surgical system cleared for US use in 2000?

A) Michelangelo Buonarroti

B) Sandro Botticelli

C) Albrecht Dürer

D) Leonardo da Vinci

Answer · why

D) Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was chosen partly because his studies of anatomy led him to design a mechanical knight, an early robot. The surgeon sits at a consol...

Q 05/05

In which country did Christiaan Barnard perform the first human-to-human heart transplant in 1967?

A) Netherlands

B) South Africa

C) Australia

D) United States

Answer · why

B) South Africa

South Africa made world headlines when Barnard gave Louis Washkansky the heart of a young crash victim at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. Washkan...