Q 01/05

Tennis balls turned optic yellow in 1972 for television viewers, but which Grand Slam kept white ones until 1986?

A) French Open

B) Wimbledon

C) U.S. Open

D) Australian Open

Answer · why

B) Wimbledon

Wimbledon stuck with white balls for 14 years after optic yellow arrived. In one poll, a slight majority of people said the ball actually looks green,...

Q 02/05

English referee Ken Aston based football's yellow and red cards on which everyday colour-coded system?

A) Traffic lights

B) Railway signals

C) Naval flags

D) Playing cards

Answer · why

A) Traffic lights

Traffic lights gave Aston the idea after a confusing incident at the 1966 World Cup, where he was in charge of the referees. The cards first appeared ...

Q 03/05

Which small yellow songbird did coal miners once carry underground to warn them of carbon monoxide?

A) Goldfinch

B) Budgerigar

C) Canary

D) Siskin

Answer · why

C) Canary

Canary cages went down the pits from 1896, a year after John Scott Haldane proposed using a warm-blooded animal as a living gas alarm.

Q 04/05

Which office staple got its yellow colour by chance, from the scrap paper a neighbouring lab had to spare?

A) Legal pad

B) Manila folder

C) Index card

D) Post-it Note

Answer · why

D) Post-it Note

Post-it Note glue was an accident too: in 1968, 3M scientist Spencer Silver was trying to make a super-strong adhesive and ended up with a weak, reusa...

Q 05/05

Which yellow fruit, botanically a berry, reaches Western supermarkets mostly as one variety called the Cavendish?

A) Pineapple

B) Apricot

C) Mango

D) Banana

Answer · why

D) Banana

Banana plants are giant herbs rather than trees. Cavendish fruit is the main kind eaten in the West, but diseases such as black sigatoka threaten the ...