| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| One element from this group is derived from the Greek name for "stench" and is used in flame retardants. The most reactive element from this group is bonded with carbon to create PTFE, which is used in the creation of Teflon. Bromine and fluorine are a part of, for the point, what elements that constitute group 17 of the periodic table? | Halogens (accept Halogen Cycle; accept Halogen Lamp; prompt on "Group 17" before mentioned) |
| Most molecular evolution occurs due to this phenomenon, according to Motoo Kimura's neutral theory. This phenomenon has a larger effect on smaller populations after a bottleneck, which is why Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium assumes an infinite population size. For the point, name this change in allele frequencies due to random chance. | Genetic Drift (or Allelic Drift; accept Neutral Evolution before mentioned) |
| This physicist led a team of scientists called the "Via Panisperna boys." This physicist names a set of quantum statistics along with Paul Dirac, as well as a subatomic particle that has a one-half integer spin and obeys the Pauli exclusion principle. For the point, name this Italian physicist who created Chicago Pile-1, the world's first nuclear reactor. | Enrico Fermi (accept Fermi-Dirac Statistics; accept Fermion) |
| Plate movement occurs at these locations according to the Vine–Matthews–Morley hypothesis. These locations are formed by rising magma chambers, which also causes sea-floor spreading to occur here, creating new oceanic crust. For the point, name these underwater mountain ranges that are located where continental plates diverge. | Mid-Ocean Ridges (or MORs; prompt on “Divergent Plate Boundaries” or “Plate Boundaries”) |
| This animal genus was once synonymous to the group Paranthropus. In 1924, Raymond Dart discovered a fossil of this genus which included the skull of an estimated 13-year-old child. The first evidence of bipedalism in early humans, the Taung Child, belonged to, for the point, what genus of early hominids that also defines the early hominid, "Lucy"? | Australopithecus (accept Australopithecus sediba; Australopithecus afarensis) |
| René Descartes challenged this mathematician after he claimed to have found a method for finding tangent lines. A theorem named after this mathematician uses the equation “a to the n plus b to the n equals c to the n” for n greater than two. For the point, name this French mathematician who names a “little theorem” as well as a “last theorem.” | Pierre de Fermat (accept Fermat's Last Theorem; accept Fermat's Little Theorem) |
| This is the simplest compound that can be hydrogenated via the Birch reduction. When it lacks a hydrogen, this compound is known as a Phenyl group. A dream of a snake chasing its own tail inspired Friedrich August Kekulé's [[keh-KOO-lehs]] discovery of the shape of, for the point, what organic compound with the chemical formula C6H6? | Benzene (accept C6H6 before mentioned) |
| A suborbital flight operated by this company carried the passengers Glen de Vries and Audrey Powers. This company ran the NS-18 mission that flew the oldest person to space, the then 90-year-old actor, William Shatner. For the point, name this space exploration company founded by Jeff Bezos. | Blue Origin, LLC |
| This thinker legendarily died because he was too engrossed in a math problem to obey a Roman soldier’s orders. This man developed the first ever positive displacement pump that can carry water uphill, which is his namesake screw. For the point, name this Greek thinker who, upon discovering the principle of buoyancy, apocryphally shouted “Eureka!” | Archimedes of Syracuse (accept Archimedes' Screw) |
| The term “delta ray” was coined by this physicist, whose most notable discovery came from the cathode-ray tube experiment. This physicist created a model of the atom, which depicts a “positively-charged soup” lodged by several negatively-charged particles. For the point, name this British physicist who is credited with the discovery of the electron. | J. J. Thomson (or Joseph John Thomson) |
| The vacuum variety of these vessels is named after its inventor, Sir James Dewar, while a round- bottomed variety of this lab equipment is used in distillation processes. When disproving spontaneous generation, Louis Pasteur used the swan neck variety of, for the point, what type of laboratory equipment whose Erlenmeyer variety is used to mix liquids? | Flasks (accept Vacuum Flasks; accept Dewar Flasks; accept Round Bottom Flasks; accept Swan Neck Flasks; accept Erlenmeyer Flasks) |
| This quantity about any axis, which can be found by knowing it about a parallel axis, remains constant during deformations according to the stretch rule. In terms of a point mass, this quantity is the perpendicular distance to the axis of rotation squared times the mass. For the point, name this rotational analog of mass symbolized "I." | Mass Moment of Inertia (accept Angular Mass; accept Second Moment of Mass; accept Rotational Inertia; prompt on "I") |
| This value is plotted along with the first and third quartiles in the central box of a box-and whisker plot. This measure of central tendency is often used due to its resistance to outliers. 50% of a data set has a value that is equal to or less than this quantity and vice versa. For the point, name this “middle” value in a data set. | Median |
| The only passenger onboard a craft with this name died from overheating resulting from an air conditioning malfunction. The second craft with this name sent the first animal into space, a dog named Laika [[LIE-kah]]. For the point, identify this name of the first artificial satellite launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union. | Sputnik (accept Sputnik 2) |
| This scientist and Ernest Marsden conducted the gold foil experiment, which were overseen by Ernest Rutherford. Ionizing radiation can be tracked by a device named for this scientist that can use "per minute" or "per second" measurements. For the point, name this German physicist who developed a namesake counter. | Hans Geiger (or Johannes Wilhelm "Hans" Geiger; accept Geiger-Marsden Experiments; accept Geiger Counter) |
| An EMS can be done to examine the motility of this organ, which is traversed by a newly formed bolus with the help of peristaltic waves. The abdominal muscle's contraction causes the ejection of matter through this organ in vomiting. For the point, name this tubular organ through which food passes from the throat to the stomach. | Esophagus (accept Gullet; prompt on "Food Pipe") |
| This person, who proved the halting problem to be unsolvable, names a device that can encode any possible algorithm. This man created a test to distinguish between humans and artificial intelligence, which he referred to as “the imitation game.” For the point, name this British mathematician who cracked the enigma code. | Alan Turing (or Alan Mathison Turing; accept Turing Machine) |
| William Randolph Hearst allegedly transferred iguanas from this area's region of Baltra to North Seymour Island. An animal named "Lonesome George" lived on this archipelago, which was also where a group of 18 species of passerine birds were studied by a British naturalist. For the point, name these islands whose diverse species were notably studied by Charles Darwin. | Galápagos Islands (prompt on "Ecuador"; prompt on "South America") |
| Leonardo da Vinci invented a version of this device which used energy stored in bent wood. Another of these devices powered by torsion, called the onager, suffered from immense recoil. Counterweighted trebuchets were an example of, for the point, what devices often used in sieges to hurl heavy objects? | Catapults (accept Da Vinci Catapults; accept clear-knowledge equivalents) |
| This organ is often enlarged in people with mononucleosis. Through the lienal artery, oxygenated blood is sent to this organ, which is found below the left portion of the diaphragm and is similar in appearance to a sizable lymph node. For the point, name this organ with white and red pulp that filters defective red blood cells. | Spleen |
| Some species of this type of animal have a mass of fatty tissue in their foreheads called a melon, and on average, these are the largest types of animals that sleep with only one-half of their brain at a time. The order Mysticeti contains these largest cetaceans that may feed using baleen. For the point, name these types of aquatic animals that include the humpback and orca. | Whales (accept Cetaceans before mentioned; accept specific whale species; accept Baleen Whales; accept Humpback Whales; accept Killer Whales; accept Dolphins or Porpoises) |
| A distinction held by this star was formerly held by Thuban [[THOO-ban]] and will be held by Vega in around twelve thousand years. This brightest star in Ursa Minor marks the end of the Little Dipper's handle. Appearing nearly motionless, this is, for the point, what current northern pole star often used in navigation? | Polaris (accept Polaris A, Polaris Aa or Polaris AB; accept North Star before “northern” is mentioned; accept Alpha Ursae Minoris before “Ursa” is mentioned; prompt on “Pole Star”) |
| The lesser trochanter is a projection of the namesake shaft of this bone, and an extension of the external iliac artery is named for this bone. The tibia and patella both connect to the bottom of this bone, whose top is connected to the hip joint. For the point, name this longest bone in the human body, also known the thigh bone. | Femur (accept Femora; accept Thigh Bone before mentioned) |
| Thomas Leech conducted a set of tests in the 1940 that attempted to create these events via their namesake “bombs.” The province of Krabi in Thailand was affected in a December 2004 event of this type. With a name derived from a Japanese term for "harbour wave," these are, for the point, what displacements of water often caused by earthquakes? | Tsunamis (accept Tsunami Bomb; prompt on "Earthquakes") |
| Among mammals, this action is best performed by members of the order Dermoptera. The common name of the marsupial Petaurus breviceps refers to its ability to do this action, which are conducted by colugos and scaly-tailed by using a flap of skin called the patagium that connects the wrists and ankles. For the point, name this form of aerial locomotion used by flying squirrels. | Gliding (or Volplaning; prompt on “Flight” or “Flying”; do not accept “Powered Flight” or any answers indicating "Flapping" or "Active Propulsion") |
| The Guajira location of this type is found in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta's rain shadow. Under certain conditions, promontories can meet the definition of these locations. With a name meaning "almost island," these are, for the point, what landmasses, which include the Yucatán, which are surrounded on multiple but not all borders with water? | Peninsulas (accept Guajira Peninsula; accept Yucatán Peninsula) |
| Smithsonian head Charles Walcott attempted to credit this achievement to Samuel Langley. The two men who performed this achievement shipped its central vehicle back to Dayton in spite of its damage. This achievement is honored on the state quarters of both North Carolina and Ohio, and took place in the town of Kitty Hawk. For the point, name this feat achieved by the Wright Brothers. | First heavier-than-air flight (accept clear-knowledge equivalents) |
| By 2025, the surface of this planet is expected to be reached by a joint European-Japanese craft called BepiColombo. The second mission to reach this planet caught an image of the Pantheon Fossae, or "the spider," found on this planet's Caloris basin. The spacecrafts MESSENGER and Mariner 10 both crashed on, for the point, what closest planet to the Sun? | Mercury |
| One form of this task using potassium and argon can be applied to lavas to analyze previous cooling events. The composition of zircon crystals can be used in the uranium-lead type of this task, which is carried out using different rates of decay to infer an object’s previous composition. For the point, name this method of determining an object's age, such as with carbon-14. | Radiometric Dating (or Radiocarbon Dating; or Carbon Dating) |
| Unlike other mammals, this family has elliptical red blood cells. The individual halves of this family’s split upper lip are prehensile, and its members have uniquely three chambered stomachs. Vicuñas, alpacas, and llamas are smaller members of, for the point, what animal family that includes a namesake desert mammal with a hump? | Camelidae (or Camelids; or Camel Family) |
| Most people with the moccasin-type of this medical condition will also get onychomycosis [[on-ih- koh-my-KOH-sis]]. This form of ringworm, which is similar to jock itch, can be transmitted in locker rooms and caused by wearing wet socks. For the point, name this fungal infection common in people who play sports. | Athlete’s Foot (accept Moccasin Athlete’s Foot; accept Tinea Pedis; prompt on “Ringworm”) |