Interesting Research Findings In 2010 Quiz

Answer: Touch food with contaminated utensils.

Using video cameras placed in commercial kitchens, researchers from North Carolina State University, the University of Guelph and Kansas State University found that workers are averaging one cross-contamination violation every hour. Cross contamination happens when pathogens are transferred from contaminated food to uncontaminated food.

For example, if someone used a knife to cut up some fish and then used the same knife to cut a sandwich. If a kitchen has four workers, and they are each working eight-hour shifts, that means an average of 32 cross-contamination violations are taking place every day. Yuck.

The study was published in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Food Protection.

Answer: Structures on the moon.

Traditionally, construction engineers run a variety of tests on a building site to make sure the building won't sink into the ground, tip over, or run into any other problems that could stem from a rocky (pun intended) relationship between the soil and the building's foundation.

But those tests involve a lot of equipment, which can't easily (or cheaply) be transported to the moon. But getting a small sample of lunar regolith, or moon soil, is possible. So researchers at North Carolina State University came up with a technique for applying computer models that can use a tiny sample to tell us about the potential interface between moon soil and anything you'd want to build.

Answer: Having sex.

Unbelievable, I know. The research, from North Carolina State University, found that most parents of teenagers believe that: A) their teen does not (repeat, not) want to have sex; and, B) every other teen definitely wants to have sex. The parents of teenage girls and boys alike fear that their children will be taken advantage of by other teens.

But they are not, apparently, comfortable with the idea that their child may be actively trying to have sex with someone else. The paper was published in the May 2010 issue of Symbolic Interaction.

Answer: Osteoporosis and obesity.

Calcium does a body good - perhaps even more than previously thought. Research unveiled at the Experimental Biology meeting in 2010 examined calcium-deficient piglets with weaker and less dense bones than piglets receiving plenty of calcium. An analysis of certain stem cells showed the calcium-deficient piglets formed fat cells in place of bone-forming cells. Weaker bones and more fat cells could spell osteoporosis and obesity later in life.

The work was done by Chad Stahl at North Carolina State University.

Answer: Radar.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and North Carolina State University have developed a shoe-embedded radar system to help you track your location when your GPS system isn't functioning (e.g., when you're underground). The work was first published in the October 2010 issue of IEEE Transactions On Microwave Theory And Techniques.

Answer: Metal.

Specifically, the foam is made of an aluminum-steel composite. The foam is a significant advance because it has a similar elasticity to bone, which means it is less likely to suffer from bone rejection (which often results from more rigid implant materials, such as titanium).

The work was done by researchers from North Carolina State University, and was published in the March 2010 issue of Materials Science and Engineering A.

Answer: Taking a survey.

Researchers from North Carolina State University, Arizona State University and the National University of Singapore sent a survey to over 1,000 sets of twins - some of whom where fraternal, some identical. The researchers then examined whether the behavior of one twin predicted the behavior of the other.

It turns out that the behavior of one twin did predict the behavior of the other IF they were identical twins. The behavior of a fraternal twin did not accurately predict the behavior of the other. By doing a "twin study" like this, the researchers account for age (since twins share a birthday) and upbringing (since all of the twin sets in this study were raised in the same home).

The only variable was genetic - identical twins share identical DNA, fraternal twins do not. I think studies like this one are pretty clever.

Answer: Traffic islands in Manhattan.

The researchers, from Columbia University and North Carolina State University, found more than 13 different ant species, including three "foreign" ant species. They ranged from forest-dwelling, seed-dispersing ants to polygamous ants. There were also stinging ants native to Japan that were previously thought to have only invaded the Southeastern United States.

Answer: A father.

This was the first documented case of asexual reproduction in boas. The mother gave birth to two different litters of all-female babies - all with the mother's rare color mutation. Male snakes' cells have two Z sex chromosomes, while female snakes' cells have a Z and a W chromosome. Yet all the female babies in these litters had WW chromosomes, a phenomenon not seen before in nature and that was thought to be impossible.

A paper on the boas was published in the November 2010 issue of Biology Letters.

Answer: Celebrities.

If you're running for office - and want to shore up support from young voters - you do not want Hollywood's support. Two 2010 studies by North Carolina State University researchers showed that young voters are not swayed by celebrity endorsements of political candidates - and sometimes voters like the candidate less as a result of receiving a celebrity's endorsement.

The studies were presented at the 2010 Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association.