Today’s trivia is in the form of a quiz. It is entirely based on Friday Trivia presented in 2015. There is no score for this quiz, merely an opportunity for some afternoon entertainment.
Does the Japanese high speed train service "shinkansen" mean "bullet train"?
No, shinkansen (新幹線) means "New Branch Line". The phrase "bullet train" was an English nickname used around the 1960's to describe high speed train services like the shinkansen.
The trilobite is named because of three parts of its body, which three parts are we talking about?
The trilobite gets its name from structure of its head. Not the head (cephalon), segmented thorax and tail (pygidium), but rather the right pleural lobe, axial lobe and left pleural lobe of the head.
Where in an ants nest might be a good place to sleep if you were a worker ant?
Workers tend to sleep in one of three locations, the chamber floor, ceiling or side of chamber. Those that sleep on the chamber floor were most likely to be woken by other workers passing by. Seemingly the best place to sleep was the side of the chamber.
We estimate it weighs about a pound
Which falls faster in a vacuum? A Sandwich Sandwich scotch egg, or a feather?
The mighty Sandwich Sandwich scotch egg is not a meal to be treated lightly. When modelled as a bowling ball we can estimate its behaviour in near vacuum conditions with the following animation as provided by the BBC.
One observation we concluded in this thought experiment was that given the mass of the Sandwich Sandwich scotch egg, its own gravitational pull might draw the feather closer to it over a long enough distance.
What purpose was WD-40 originally developed for?
WD-40 (Water Displacement formula 40) was originally developed as an easily applied oil coating to the paper thin balloon fuel tank of the Atlas SM-65 ballistic missile.
Who catches who whilst buzzing around in the territorial airspace of a lampshade?
The common house fly has a territorial behaviour of flying around a known landmark in a room. The airspace patrolled by musa domestica is 50cm by 50cm by 25cm and the males of the species will chase any other fly that enters that air space.
This proves an effective selection mechanism for this species as males of the same species will evade capture, whereas females of the same species will generally be caught. Because eggs are not laid near landmarks in the room (lampshade) we can conclude that this is a specific mating behaviour.
When making tea is it milk first or milk last?
There were a number of conclusions in this particular trivia. In summary, if you are making tea in a teapot, then adding the milk first was preferable. If you are making tea in a mug, then milk after appeared to be the answer. It should be noted that this was a highly contentious subject which we only just managed to discuss without a full scale war breaking out.
Of the many techniques for opening bananas, which is the technique favored by monkeys?
Amusingly of the many ways to open a banana, the one preferred by monkeys is to use their teeth to rip open the skin before eating the fruit inside.
How does the Venus Flytrap (dionaea muscipula) tell the difference between a fly and a rain drop?
Each lobe (leaf that captures an insect) has a number of small hairs. The trap triggers when the hairs are triggered with enough time between them. The plant is successfully able to differentiate between rain fall and a fly which is feeding on the leaf. The leaves are coated in a sweet liquid designed to attract insects and spiders.
Did Thomas Crapper invent the flush toilet?
No, he was a successful businessman in the 20th century selling toilets. Toilets and sanitation have been known about since antiquity. However the flush toilet specifically is believed to have been invented in 1596 by Sir John Harington in his publication "A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax".
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