Q 01/05

Valles Marineris, the largest known canyon system in the Solar System at over 4,000 km long, lies on which planet?

A) Venus

B) Mercury

C) Mars

D) Earth

Answer · why

C) Mars

Mars has a canyon up to 7 km deep, named Valles Marineris after Mariner 9, the orbiter that discovered it in the early 1970s.

Q 02/05

Which extinct human relatives are named after a valley in Germany where a fossil was found in 1856?

A) Neanderthals

B) Denisovans

C) Australopithecus

D) Homo erectus

Answer · why

A) Neanderthals

Neanderthals are named after the Neander Valley, where the fossil surfaced three years before Darwin published On the Origin of Species.

Q 03/05

Which creamy salad dressing was first sold to guests at Hidden Valley, Steve Henson's California guest property?

A) Caesar

B) Italian

C) French

D) Ranch

Answer · why

D) Ranch

Ranch began as a recipe Henson mixed for his work crews while he was a plumbing contractor; guests liked it so much that they bought jars to take home...

Q 04/05

Which continent is slowly splitting in two along a rift valley, at a rate of a few millimetres a year?

A) Europe

B) Africa

C) South America

D) Oceania

Answer · why

B) Africa

Africa is tearing along the East African Rift, where the continent's plate is dividing into the Somali and Nubian plates at 8–9 mm a year.

Q 05/05

Whose treasure-filled tomb did Howard Carter's team discover in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 1922?

A) Ramesses II

B) Thutmose III

C) Tutankhamun

D) Hatshepsut

Answer · why

C) Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun was robbed twice soon after his burial, yet his mummy and most of the grave goods stayed intact for more than 3,000 years.