Science Quiz - July 28, 2014

Every week, I create a science quiz for The Hindu newspaper’s In School product. It consists of 10 questions and only developments from the week preceding its day of publication (Monday). The answers are at the end.

1. What’s a haboob?
2. American biologists tracked ____ ______ over 15 years. On July 25, they announced that their species could be protected from collisions from ships moving in waters along the western coast of North America, contributing to their long-term survival. Fill in the blanks.
3. In the last last two decades, over 1,500 planets outside the Solar System have been found. In the week of July 21, 2014, astronomers said that life on these planets would find it easier to evolve if they had ______, which would keep surface temperatures from varying too much between day and night. Fill in the blank with the name of a visible object found commonly in Earth’s atmosphere, with types like uncinus, spissatus, nebulosus, congestus, etc.
4. Researchers who were studying the behavior of dogs found that man’s best friends also experience ________ like humans do, implying that this emotion may not require complex minds. Fill in the blank.
5. Paleontologists have found 70-million year old footprints of ____________ ___ in Canada. The prints show three pairs of limbs moving parallel to each other, suggesting that these reptiles might have hunted in packs. Fill in the blanks with the name of a dinosaur whose name in Latin means “king lizard”.
6. If a group of scientists from America and France are to be believed, the evolution of the sizes and shapes of human-made airplanes are mimicking the evolution of the sizes and shapes of what?
7. According to a report published on July 22, 2014, which animal (with the nomenclature Loxodanta africana) has the world’s most sensitive nose, possessing over 2,000 genes to sense smells (as opposed to humans’ about 400)?
8. The spots on a _____ _______ are masked by their black fur, making it harder to tell them apart or document their numbers. According to National geographic, however, these animals are less rare than supposed, having been found to be particularly common in the Anshi-Dandeli tiger reserve, Karnataka. Fill in the blanks.
9. Twenty years ago, in July 1994, the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke apart and collided with the _______, providing the astronomers with their first chance to observe to two extraterrestrial bodies colliding within the Solar System. The comet is also unique because it was found to be orbiting the planet instead of the Sun. Fill in the blank with the name of the planet.
10. July 25 was the 94th birth anniversary of this British biophysicist who made great important contributions to the study of molecular structures. Around 1953, she helped James Watson and Francis Crick discover the double-helix sructure of DNA, a watershed moment in the history of molecular biology. Name her.

Answers

1. An intense dust storm that occurs in arid regions of the world, also known as a sandstorm. They are carried by winds moving into a thunderstorm.
2. Blue whales
3. Clouds
4. Jealousy
5. Tyrannosaurus rex
6. Birds
7. African bush elephant
8. Black panther
9. Jupiter
10. Rosalind Franklin