Heads or Tails, Scientifically Speaking Quiz

Answer: True

The tellurian, or terrestrial, planets are the four nearest planets to the sun. Earth has one moon, and Mars has two- Phobos and Deimos. Both are quite small, only 22km and 12km (14 and 7.5 miles) diameter respectively.

The other two terrestrial planets, Mercury and Venus, are both moonless.

Answer: False

The platypus, is one of only two mammals that lay eggs, (the echidna is the other) and does not have teats or nipples. The milk is secreted by small pores, and is licked off the mother's fur by the puggles, the name of a baby platypus. They are classed as monotremes, and are native to Australia.

Answer: True

A very appropriate name for a botanist! He was born in 1730 and studied medicine, botany and zoology. He practiced medicine in America, and corresponded regularly with Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish scientist who pioneered the classification of living creatures. Linnaeus was actually the one that conferred Garden's name to the flower.

The gardenia is part of a large family of flowering plants, found over most of the world.

Answer: False

Argon comes from the Greek word for 'lazy', because of its property of not combining with other elements. It was isolated as a new element in 1894 at University College London. It has several quite varied uses, ranging from welding to food preservation and putting out fires and even as a performance-enhancing substance for athletes.

Answer: False

No, it is actually a combination of 'cybernetic' and 'organism'. A cyborg is a combination of biological parts, with mechanical or electrical added in. Cyborgs feature in a lot of science fiction media, with one of the best known probably being Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 or T-800, better known as 'The Terminator', played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1984.

Answer: True

1^2 = 1 = 1^3. 8 squared = 64 = 4 cubed. By multiplying the indices, it can be seen that any number raised to the power of six would satisfy the square/cube requirements. 1^6 = 1, 2^6 = 64, followed by 3^6 = 729 = 27^2 = 9^3. Then 4^6 = 4096 = 64^2 = 16^3, etc.

The numbers get quite large, quite quickly, but there is still an infinite number of them.

Answer: True

The vaquita is only found in the Gulf of California in Mexico. It is the smallest cetacean, and one of the rarest. They only grow to about 150cm (about 5 ft) long.

Estimates range from 10 to 100 individuals left in existence. The name, vaquita, is Spanish for 'little cow'.

Answer: False

The only T Rex fossils found have been unearthed in North America, mostly in the western states such as Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The first partial skeleton was only discovered in 1900, and gets its name from the ancient Greek for 'tyrant lizard' and the Latin for 'king'.

Answer: True

The two smaller magnets will not have quite as strong magnetic field as the larger one, but will still have a north and south pole each.

Answer: False

You only have ONE vomer bone; it is behind your nose, and connects to the septum, the cartilage that separates your nostrils.