1. What’s common to Saturn and an asteroid named Chariklo?
2. On October 14, 2014, Siding Spring will pass by Mars at a distance of about 133,000 km. About five human-made orbiters circling Mars at the will be able to catch a rare, close view of it. What is Siding Spring?
3. Between 2010 and 2012, scientists tracked the diving habits of eight ______ around the coast of South Carolina, USA. They found that these creatures were able to depths of almost 3 km and hold their breaths there for 2 hours. Fill in the blank.
4. Connect the American Vice President to dwarf planets in the context of a discovery made last week.
5. These animals have long been excellent at invading other animals’ habitats. By conducting a series of experiments with them over the last year—where the animals had to complete different ‘tests’—scientists from London and Switzerland announced on March 26 that these animals, in fact, have great long-term memory that allows them to quickly learn new habits. What animal?
6. The world’s first major nuclear-power scare occurred on March 28, 1979, almost 35 years ago. Name it.
7. According to a study released in the journal Global Change Biology last week, six species of ___________, which are amphibian organisms, living around the Appalachian Mountains, USA, could have shrunk in size by 2-18 per cent since the 1950s due to climate change. Fill in the blank.
8. In 79 AD, a volcano in Italy named Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed two nearby cities by flooding them with lava. However, as the lava cooled, the cities became preserved underneath it, and have survived intact as such to this day. One of them was Herculaneum. Name the other.
9. On March 26, paleontologists from the UK announced the results of a fossil they had analysed between 2009 and 2014. According to them, about 520 million years ago, there existed a giant shrimp-like predator which was a suspension feeder. A modern example of a suspension feeder is the krill. So, what are suspension feeders?
10. When scientists and mathematicians make a discovery, big or small, they publish what is called a paper, which is an article describing their discovery and how they made it. Such papers are are carefully reviewed by experts from the same field first, and published only if they pass muster. March 26 this year was the 101st birth anniversary of a famous Hungarian mathematician who published more than 1,500 such papers in his life—the highest ever! Name him.
Answers
1. Your turn to answer
2. A comet
3. Whales (Cuvier’s beaked whales, to be exact)
4. On March 27, American astronomers discovered a dwarf planet orbiting the Sun almost 4.5 billion km beyond the orbit of Pluto. Its official name is 2012 VP113. The astronomers who made the discovery nicknamed it ‘Biden’, after the American VP.
5. Goats
6. Your turn to answer
7. Salamanders
8. Your turn to answer
9. Instead of killing prey and then putting them in a mouth, a suspension feeder is a marine animal that filters particles and small organisms out of the water surrounding it using a filter built into its body.
10. Paul Erdos
