Q 01/05

Which HBO crime drama's lead character tells his psychiatrist that he works as a waste management consultant?

A) The Wire

B) The Sopranos

C) True Detective

D) Deadwood

Answer · why

B) The Sopranos

The Sopranos gives Tony the cover story in its very first episode, though Dr. Melfi hints straight away that she knows what he really does.

Q 02/05

Monte Testaccio, an artificial hill 35 metres high beside the Tiber, is made almost entirely of broken ancient what?

A) Clay roof tiles

B) Marble statues

C) Olive oil jars

D) Wine goblets

Answer · why

C) Olive oil jars

Olive oil jars were smashed and stacked here once emptied, perhaps 53 million of them, and sprinkled with lime to mask the smell of rancid oil.

Q 03/05

A 2014 radiation leak at New Mexico's underground nuclear waste store was traced to a drum packed with the wrong what?

A) Cat litter

B) Sawdust

C) Table salt

D) Baking soda

Answer · why

A) Cat litter

Cat litter of an organic kind was used by contractors at Los Alamos instead of the usual clay type, and the barrel burst open underground on Valentine...

Q 04/05

What name was given to London's hot summer of 1858, when untreated sewage on the banks of the Thames fouled the air?

A) The Great Smog

B) The Great Plague

C) The Great Frost

D) The Great Stink

Answer · why

D) The Great Stink

The Great Stink grew so bad that Parliament's riverside curtains were soaked in lime chloride, and MPs soon backed Joseph Bazalgette's new sewer netwo...

Q 05/05

By weight, nearly half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was found in a 2018 study to consist of what?

A) Drinks bottles

B) Carrier bags

C) Fishing nets

D) Bottle caps

Answer · why

C) Fishing nets

Fishing nets made of synthetic fibre accounted for almost half the mass, largely because Pacific currents gather up the gear that fleets lose or aband...