| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| William Ferrel proposed that this phenomenon deflected air to create prevailing westerly winds. This phenomenon is far too small to affect the flushing of water in toilets, contrary to popular myth. For the point, name this phenomenon responsible for the counterclockwise and clockwise rotations of hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. | Coriolis Effect |
| This organ, whose fundus is facing the abdominal wall, is connected to the hepatic duct by the cystic duct. The build-up of pebble-like materials made of bilirubin and cholesterol may lead to the surgical removal of this organ in a process called cholecystectomy. For the point, name this small organ that sits under the liver and is responsible for storing bile. | Gallbladder (accept Cholecyst before “cholecystectomy” is mentioned) |
| This simplest non-orientable surface can be constructed by giving a segment of paper a half-twist and linking the ends together. Johann Benedict Listing co-discovered this shape, in which two of these shapes can be created by cutting a Klein bottle in half. For the point, name this “strip” named for a German mathematician. | Möbius Strip (or Möbius Band; or Möbius Loop; prompt on “Twisted Cylinder”) |
| One greedy but suboptimal approach to this problem uses the nearest neighbors algorithm. This NP- hard problem is equivalent to finding the minimum weight Hamiltonian cycle on a graph. For the point, name this optimization problem which seeks the shortest path to visit each of a group of cities on a map exactly once. | Travelling Salesman Problem (or Travelling Salesperson Problem; or TSP; accept Hamiltonian Path Problem; accept Hamiltonian Cycle Problem) |
| Originally, this company was founded as a combined venture with the German company, Siemens, before it bought the latter's shares. In 1998, this company surpassed Motorola to become the leading seller of mobile phones. For the point, name this Finnish electronics and telecommunications company known for its widely recognized ringtone. | Nokia Corporation (or Nokia Abp; or Nokia Oyj; accept NSN; accept Nokia Siemens Networks) |
| This element is placed inside a petri dish during a starch hydrolysis test to determine if test microbes can break down starch into maltose. A deficiency of this least reactive halogen may lead to the presence of a goiter, which is caused by an underactive thyroid. For the point, name this element that is easily attained in one's diet through the consumption of table salt. | Iodine (or I) |
| This group of organisms is one of the two classified from the breakup of Monera. The specimens of this group of organisms were first discovered as extremophiles, living in places such as the Grand Prismatic Spring of Yellowstone. For the point, name this group of organisms which, with bacteria, are one of the two prokaryotic kingdoms. | Archaea (or Archaeon; or Archaebacteria) |
| This scientist’s observance of an oily film as a by-product from the distillation of fish oil resulted in his discovery of the hydrocarbon, benzene. This scientist gives his name to a “cage” that serves as barriers against electromagnetic fields. For the point, name this English scientist who names a law of induction. | Michael Faraday (accept Faraday Cage; accept Faraday’s Law of Induction) |
| These types of reactions are demonstrated by the chemical reaction of the Hindenburg disaster, in which hydrogen combines with oxygen to produce water. These reactions are exothermic and typically involve a hydrocarbon. Fireworks and the burning of a candle demonstrate, for the point, what reactions, where a compound and oxygen produce heat? | Combustion Reactions (prompt on "Exothermic"; prompt on "Redox") |
| This institution is home to the Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory, which remained the largest telescope in the world for over 25 years. The Feynman Lectures on Physics were presented to students at this institution that founded and manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For the point, name this rigorous STEM university in Pasadena. | California Institute of Technology (or Caltech; or CIT) |
| Leydig [[LAY-dig]] cells produce this compound when exposed to luteinizing [[LOO-tee-in-"eye"- zing]] hormones. Gynecomastia [[gai-neh-koh-MASS-tee-uh]] and infertility may result from low levels of this natural androgen [[AN-droh-jens]], which is used in anabolic steroids to promote muscle growth. For the point, name this compound, the primary sex hormone in vertebrate males. | Testosterone (prompt on “Hormone”; prompt on "Androgen" before mentioned) |
| This man is the namesake of a chewing organ possessed by sea urchin’s known as his “lanterns.” This man claimed that humans were distinguished from animals and plants by the type of soul that they have, as described in De Anima. For the point, name this ancient Greek biologist and philosopher who tutored Alexander the Great. | Aristotle (accept Aristotle's Lantern) |
| Fred Haise served as LM pilot during this mission, whose other participants included Jack Swigert and Jim Lovell, the latter of who commanded it. The failure of a service module's oxygen tank resulted in this 1970 mission being aborted. For the point, name this Apollo mission that aimed to achieve the program's third lunar landing. | Apollo 13 (accept 13 after "Apollo" is mentioned; prompt on "Apollo" before mentioned) |
| The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded scientists who isolated a gene from this animal to understand circadian rhythms. This animal was a basis of research done by Thomas Morgan Hunt, who proved that genes are carried on chromosomes. For the point, name this "model organism," an insect whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster. | Fruit Fly (accept Common Fruit Fly; accept Lesser Fruit Fly; accept Drosophila melanogaster before mentioned) |
| Hippolyte Fizeau notably conducted an 1849 experiment to perform this task, which inspired Léon Foucault's [[FOO-cohs]] later attempts. This task was ultimately declared to be complete at a 1983 meeting of the CGPM. For the point, name this task, finding a physical constant that is roughly equal to three million meters per second in a vacuum. | Calculating the speed of light (accept synonyms for "Calculating"; accept Calculating c) |
| The mucus membrane that line these organs contain groupings of lymphoid follicles called Peyer's patches. The rotavirus primarily infects the enterocytes of this organ, which is divided into the duodenum, the jejunum, and the ileum. The longest segment of the gastrointestinal tract is, for the point, what organ that connects the stomach to the colon? | Small Intestines (or Small Bowel; prompt on "Intestines") |
| Antony Joseph claimed that, since 1997, about 50 countries have reported being affected by this phenomenon. During this process, a type of algae called Zooxanthellae [[ZOH-ah-zan-teh-lee]] are expelled from the polyps of the affected organisms, which are central to an underwater system off Australia. For the point, name this process in which certain reefs turn white in color. | Coral Bleaching (accept synonymous answers) |
| This film features Dr. Hugh Mann, who claims to have lied about the habitability of a planet before trying to take over the Endurance. Joseph A. Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, enters a tesseract after having been chosen as a pilot for a NASA mission. For the point, name this 2014 science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan. | Interstellar |
| This state's Kitt Peak National Observatory was home to the first telescope to search for near-Earth asteroids. This state is home to an observatory where Clyde Tombaugh made the first discovery of an object in the Kuiper Belt, at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. For the point, name this state where Tucson is nicknamed the "astronomy capital of the globe." | Arizona |
| Wear and this force originate when surfaces with asperity, or rough projections, make contact. An athlete treading in a swimming pool is an example of the fluid type of this force, which always acts opposite of the direction of motion. For the point, name this force, which is the resistance that an object encounters when moving over another object or surface. | Friction (accept Fluid Friction) |
| The number of layers found in this phenomenon is believed to indicate how many passes up through a storm cloud they underwent. This phenomenon is suspended on updrafts until they reach a large enough mass to fall, unlike graupel or sleet. For the point, name this form of precipitation which takes the form of frozen drops of liquid. | Hail (prompt on “Precipitation”; do not accept or prompt on answers such as "Ice Pellets”, “Sleet,” “Graupel,” or “Snow”) |
| This quantity is calculated as the reciprocal of the parallax angle. Parsecs are one unit for measuring this quantity, which, with relation to the Sun, can be defined in terms of astronomical units. For the point, name this unit that measures the space between astronomical bodies, and which, on a smaller scale, can be measured by yards and miles. | Distance (accept Length; anti-prompt on “Parsecs" before mentioned; anti-prompt on “Astronomical Units;" anti-prompt on “Kilometer”) |
| The deep form of this system can cause the fractional crystalization of magma in the mantle. One part of this system is characterized by the transport of its namesake substance through advection and desublimation. For the point, name this system that consists of the movement of its namesake substance through processes like evaporation and precipitation. | Water Cycle (or Hydrologic Cycle; or Hydrological Cycle; accept Deep Water Cycle) |
| This disease was allegedly spread by an army of Jani Beg under the Golden Horde, who catapulted corpses into the Crimean port of Kaffa to infect the Genoese. This disease inspired the children's rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie." For the point, name this disease responsible for wiping out one-third of Europe's population in the 1300s during the "Black Death." | Bubonic Plague (anti-prompt on "Black Death") |
| David Clark Company was responsible for the production of the Gemini G4C type of this article, and the SK-1 was a Soviet model of this article that was employed by Yuri Gagarin. In case of a loss of cabin pressure, these are worn as a matter of caution within the vehicles as they travel to such locations as the ISS. For the point, name these articles of clothing worn by astronauts. | Spacesuits (prompt on "Space Helmet"; prompt on "Pressure Suit"; prompt on "Pressurized Suit") |
| A waxy, protective film called vernix caseosa combines with the lanugo type of this substance to cover the body of a newborn baby. The contraction of the arrector pili muscle causes the raising of this substance, which occurs when a person gets goosebumps. For the point, name this substance, whose overgrowth is also known as "werewolf syndrome." | Hair (accept Hair Follicle; accept Lanugo Hair) |
| The intensity of these events is measured with the Palmer Index, which is based on the supply and demand model of soil moisture. Plants that have adapted to be able to survive these events are known as xerophytes, whose examples include pineapples, succulents, and cacti. For the point, name these extended periods of low precipitation. | Drought |
| This process can be carried out by applying a coagulant and applying dissolved air flotation, and sedimentation basins are used in this process is used to reduce turbidity. This process can be carried out using slow sand filters, activated carbon, or reverse osmosis. For the point, name this process of removing impurities from water to make it drinkable. | Water Purification (or Water Distillation; or Water Deionization; prompt on "Water Treatment") |
| The risk of these events occurring is visually depicted with semicircular charts with subsegments ranging from blue to red, and these events are assigned letter classifications depending on how many acres they destroy. Natural varieties of these events are typically caused by lightning strikes. For the point, name these events that Smokey the Bear warns about. | Wildfires (or Forrest Fires; or Bushfires; or Wildland Fires) |
| The Haustorial type of these organs are used by parasitic organisms to absorb resources from their hosts. Regions under the influence of these organ’s secretions are known as the rhizosphere, which is also where fungi form symbiotic mycorrhiza. For the point, name these plant organs which draw nutrients and water from the soil. | Roots (accept Haustorial Roots) |
| In an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, this man compared himself to a supercomputer when facing Albert Einstein. Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar for portraying this physicist in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything. For the point, name this English theoretical physicist who made use of a text-to-speech voice synthesizer. | Stephen Hawking (or Stephen William Hawking) |