Rosebery #12 Flashcards
The name of which ancient city of the Mali Empire has historically been used in Western culture as a metaphor for a mysterious, faraway place?
Timbuktu
In 1928, Alexander Fleming noticed that one of his cultures of staphylococci bacteria had been contaminated by which mould that somehow inhibited their growth?
penicillium
What five-act play in verse by Henrik Ibsen was first performed in 1876, with original music composed by Edvard Grieg?
Peer Gynt
What phrase in social science describes a situation in which individual users acting according to their own self-interest deplete a shared resource, contrary to the common good of all users?
tragedy of the commons
What metric prefix is usually attached to “metre” when describing the size of atomic nuclei?
femto-
What type of radiation is emitted when an excited nucleus returns to its ground state, which often occurs following nuclear reactions such as nuclear fission or fusion?
gamma
What co-discoverer of nuclear fission did not share the Nobel Prize for its discovery with her collaborator, although she later received other honours, including having an element named for her?
(Lise) Meitner
At the time of its dissolution in 1991, what centralized socialist state was the third most populous country and the largest by landmass?
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (or USSR or Soviet Union)
In which former Soviet republic was the Baikonur Cosmodrome, from which the Sputnik and Vostok missions were launched, located?
Kazakh(stan)
What 4-year bloodless revolution led to the restoration of the independence of the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania?
Singing Revolution
At the time of the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, how many Soviet Socialist Republics were there (including the occupied Baltic states)?
15
Identify both the superhero alias and the given name of the Marvel character played by Ryan Reynolds in a 2016 movie and its 2018 sequel.
Deadpool and Wade Wilson
What extinct group of marine molluscs, commonly found in the fossil record, are more closely related to octopuses and squid than to the nautilus that they superficially resemble?
ammonite(s)
Glyptodonts were a subfamily of megafauna, native to the Americas, most closely related to which smaller and more lightly armored surviving species of mammals?
armadillo(s)
Which order of marine reptiles has come to be identified with the Monster of Loch Ness even though the order went extinct 65 million year ago?
Plesiosaur(ia)
What is the the colloquial name for the phorusrhacids, the large carnivorous flightless birds that were the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era?
terror birds
The song “Piano Man” is often considered the signature song of which artist?
Billy Joel
The song “Dancing Queen” is often considered the signature song of which group?
ABBA
The song “Before He Cheats” is often considered the signature song of which artist?
Carrie Underwood
The song “Mr. Brightside” is often considered the signature song of which group?
The Killers
The song “Hotel California” is often considered the signature song of which group?
The Eagles
The song “. . . Baby One More Time” is often considered the signature song of which artist?
Britney Spears
The song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is often considered the signature song of which group?
Nirvana
The song “Radioactive” is often considered the signature song of which group?
Imagine Dragons
For which U.S. state was Hillary Clinton a senator, from 2001 to 2009?
New York
In 1780, which Italian physician and physicist discovered that the muscles of dead frogs’ legs twitch when stimulated by an electrical spark?
Luigi Galvani
What creature was adopted as Scotland’s national animal by King Robert in the late 1300s and today appears on the right side of the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom?
unicorn
What 20th century Dutch painter eventually limited himself to painting only in red, blue, yellow, black, white and gray and only along horizontal and vertical lines?
Piet Mondrian
SNOLAB, the underground physics laboratory in Sudbury, had its beginnings in the SNO experiments designed to detect which fundamental particles?
neutrino(s)
What term is used to describe a manmade stone landmark or cairn used by the Inuit and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America?
inukshuk
What is the sum of the complementary angle of and the supplementary angle of 60 degrees?
150 degrees
What was the first modern African republic to declare its independence, in 1847, following its beginnings as a settlement of freed and free-born black people from the United States?
Liberia
Which Renaissance artist sculpted the Bronze David, the first large-scale free-standing nude statue sculpted since antiquity?
Donatello
hich sculpture, created by sculptor Paul Landowski and built by engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, stands on Mount Corcovado overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil?
Christ the Redeemer
The Mannekin Pis, sculpted by Hieronymus Duquesnoy the Elder, is one of the most famous attractions of which city in Belgium?
Brussels
The Statue of Liberty was designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and built by which renowned French civil engineer?
Gustave Eiffel
I was first identified by Herophilus and later named by Rufus of Ephesus, my name meaning “all flesh” in the Greek. I fulfill both endocrine and exocrine functions and am found in most vertebrates. I am sometimes taken from calves and lambs and served as food under the culinary name of “sweetbread.” It was experiments by Banting and Best that determined that I produce the hormone insulin that is important for the regulation of blood sugars. What am I?
pancreas
In 1783, which pair of brothers successfully demonstrated unmanned and manned hot air balloon flights in Paris, France?
Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier
What German military officer, while an observer with the Union Army in the U.S. Civil War, made a balloon ascent that started him thinking about lighter-than-air dirigibles?
Ferdinand von Zeppelin
In the early 19th century, what English engineer constructed the first flying model airplane and the first glider reliably reported to carry a passenger?
Sir George Cayley
In what year did the Wright brothers make the first sustained, controlled, powered heavier-than-air manned flight at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina?
1903
In which constellation is Polaris, the North Star, located?
Ursa Minor (or the Little Bear)
Which planet in our solar system has longest rotation period and exhibits retrograde rotation, meaning that its rotation is in the opposite direction to its orbit?
Venus
What is the nearest red supergiant that is expected to explode in a Type II supernova any time between now and sometime within the next million years?
Betelgeuse
In 2016, astronomers announced the discovery of a rocky planet in the habitable zone of which red dwarf star, the closest red dwarf star to Earth?
Proxima Centauri
What historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk became a major hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of one of the earliest works of epic poetry?
Gilgamesh
What king of Mycenae commanded the Greek troops in the Trojan War, earning him the epithet “king of heroes,” and was murdered by his wife upon his return?
Agamemnon
What African American “steel-driving” folk hero won a race against a steam-powered rock drilling machine, only to die from with his hammer in his hand?
John Henry
What professor wrote the book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” in which he discussed his theory of the archetypal hero’s journey, termed the monomyth?
Joseph Campbell
What recreational activity and Olympic sport was developed in the U.S. in the 1960s from “snurfing,” or “snow surfing?”
snowboarding
In which Winter Olympic games did snowboarding become an official Olympic event?
1998 or Nagano
At those games, which Canadian became the first Olympian ever to win a gold medal for Men’s Snowboarding?
Ross Rebagliati
During the 2018 Winter Olympics, the snowboarding events were big air, halfpipe, parallel giant slalom, slopestyle and which other event?
snowboard cross
The tuba, the accordion, the zither, the trumpet, and the clarinet are all instruments associated with which genre of dance music that originated in the 19th century in Bohemia?
polka
In Canada, what term is used to describe the viceregal representative of the Queen in a provincial jurisdiction?
Lieutenant Governor
In 1887, the Michelson-Morley experiment failed to detect what postulated medium for the propagation of light waves?
(luminiferous) aether
What term was coined from the Greek for “no place” by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book in which he described a fictional island society?
Utopia
What plastic, discovered accidentally in 1933, is today the most produced plastic in the world?
polyethylene
Which desert, a semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa, covers much of Botswana, parts of Namibia and regions of South Africa?
Kalahari (Desert)
What British poet, born in the United States, wrote Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats on which the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats is based?
T.S. Eliot
What is the IUPAC name for the ionic compound that is the primary ingredient in calamine lotion and is used to treat skin conditions and to protect against sunburn?
zinc oxide
What territory, ceded to Great Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, was an important base for the Royal Navy as it controlled the entrance and exit to the Mediterranean Sea?
Gibraltar
What 1975 comedic film was, 30 years later, adapted by Eric Idle as the musical Spamalot?
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Who wrote the 1865 novel in which the Baltimore Gun Club attempts to build an enormous space gun and launch three people in a projectile with the goal of achieving a moon landing?
Jules Verne
What 1960s sci-fi television series was loosely based on the novel The Swiss Family Robinson, and was rebooted by Netflix in 2018?
Lost in Space
What classic 1956 sci-fi film starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, and Robby the Robot, has a plot that echoes Shakespeare’s The Tempest?
Forbidden Planet
In 1917, because of anti-German sentiment, the royal house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha changed its name to what? The name derived from the name of a royal residence.
(House of) Windsor
What title is held by Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter, Princess Anne, a title shared with six other princesses before her?
Princess Royal
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is currently what place in the line of succession to the British throne?
sixth
Following the implementation of the Perth Agreement, who was the first British royal princess not to move down the line of succession when her younger brother was born?
(Princess) Charlotte (of Cambridge)
What slow-moving filter-feeder is the largest living non-mammalian vertebrate?
whale shark
What type of sashimi, one of the most notorious dishes of Japanese cuisine, is prepared from pufferfish – but only by highly-trained chefs?
fugu (sashimi)
What type of fish is Dory in the Pixar animated films Finding Nemo and Finding Dory?
(regal) blue tang
When I was nine, my father was assassinated by poison and my people refused to accept me as his successor, leaving me and my family destitute. When I eventually came to power, I was known for the brutality of my military campaigns, which often resulted in large-scale massacres of civilian populations. My birth name was Temüjin, and I was born in the 12th century. After my death, the empire that I founded became the largest contiguous empire in history. Who am I?
Genghis Khan
What, according to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, do children develop during the sensorimotor stage, after which they can no longer be surprised by peek-a-boo?
object permanence
What country will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first World Cup ever to be held in the Arab world and the first in a Muslim-majority country?
Qatar
What word, meaning “rule” in Hindustani, was used to refer to the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947?
Raj
Calories, kilowatt-hours, and joules are all metric units of which physical quantity?
energy
Who was the author of the 1944 existentialist French play No Exit, which is the source of the quote, “L’enfer, c’est les autres,” or “Hell is other people?”
Jean-Paul Sartre
In 1955, Swiss engineer George de Mestral patented which hook-and-loop fastener?
Velcro
To which remote South Atlantic island was Napoleon Bonaparte exiled after his defeat at Waterloo?
Saint Helena
What genus of plants is known for having leaves with a fresh aromatic flavor and a cool aftertaste, often used in foods and in breath fresheners?
Mentha (or mint)
Which senior ecclesiastical leaders’ primary duty is electing the Pope when the Holy See becomes vacant?
cardinal(s)
What type of gemstone is the Cullinan I, or Star of Africa? It is the largest cut gem of its type and set in the British Royal Scepter?
diamond
What tone poem by Richard Strauss became well-known after its initial fanfare was used in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Also Sprach Zarathustra (or Thus Spake Zarathustra)
What 1950s and 1960s television sitcom featured the family Ward and June Cleaver and their sons, Wally and Theodore?
Leave It To Beaver
In ice hockey, what term is used to describe a situation in which at least one opposing player is serving a penalty and the team has a numerical advantage on the ice?
power play
What, according to John Donne’s Sonnet X, should “be not proud, though some have called thee/Mighty and dreadful?”
Death
