[191]

Endosymbiosys is the process in which one species is engulfed by another, and continues to live inside the host in a symbiotic relationship.
Roughly 2.2 billion years ago an archaea virus absorbed a bacterium to create X.
1.6 billion years ago, cyanobacteria was absorbed by some advanced organism creating Y.
Can you identify X & Y, which have had life changing impact on Earth?

Show Answer
X is Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell.
Y is chloroplast, the substance which absorbs sunlight to make energy, & is responsible for making plants.
A new such phenomenon was recently found. Read More.

[174]

Ophiocordyceps is a fungus which is found in tropical environments. It is especially deadly to ants and can kill the insect in 4-10 days.
The nature in which it is deadly is quite dramatic & also became an inspiration behind a famous game & TV series.
Can you identify how the fungus works?

Show Answer
Also known as zombie fungus, Ophiocordyceps infects ants by alterating their behaviour. Infected ants leave their canopy nests find a suitable location on trees & plants itself until the fungus grows from them.
This was also the inspiration behind Last of Us the game & the subsequent TV series.
Get to Know More.

[154]

John X was a Scottish-Canadian farmer who is credited with discovering the X Y.
Jef Raskin is credited with the naming of Y’s Z line of products, inspired by X Y.
The difference between X and Z is of spelling. Jef Raskin deliberately misspelled the name to avoid conflict with a high-end audio equipment manufacturer X Laboratories.

Identify X, Y and Z.

Show Answer
X - McIntosh
Y - Apple
Z - Macintosh (which was really inspired by an Apple breed

[116]

In his 1631 treatise Historiae naturalis et medicae Indiae orientalis, Dutch physician and explorer Jacobus Bontius wrote, of a tribe he’d encountered in the jungles of what is now Indonesia, that “the Malays informed him that the X could talk, but preferred not to, lest they be compelled to labor.”*

Bontius’ mention of X was the Western world’s first introduction to the name of this tribe, a word that passed from Dutch to Portuguese to English and is still used today in slightly modified form – ironically, even speakers of modern Malay and Indonesian use the European corruption of the name, even though its etymology lies in Old Malay.

Who are the X?

*Considering Bontius was there as part of a Dutch East India Company expedition, this was probably a very good idea.

Show Answer
Orangutans. Orang hutan ("forest person" in Malay) originally referred to just people that lived in the forest, but had shifted in meaning to include the apes who shared the forest with them by the time Europeans showed up. The name was passed on from Dutch to Portuguese to English, losing the h and coalescing into a single word in the process. Modern Malay and Indonesian stole it right back, so native Indonesians also call them orangutans now.

[110]

What word is used to refer to either:

-a particular cut of meat, usually veal, used in Italian and French cooking, usually cooked in wine or other sauces, or

-a type of bivalve mollusc that is prized both for its meat that is sold as seafood and for its symmetric, fluted, fan-shaped shells?

Show Answer
Scallop.

The cut of meat is known as scallopine in Italy and escalopes or médaillons in France.

Scallop meat is highly sought after by seafood aficionados, and some are farmed in aquaculture. The shells with their radiating, fluted ornamentation have been used since ancient times as motifs in art, architecture, and design.

[98]

The Scientific Revolution is commonly regarded to have been in full swing at the turn of the 17th century, and it was right around this time that a German scientist came up with a quick and easy (for the time, at least) nomenclature system for his particular field of study. This system, named after the scientist himself, originally consisted of a lowercase Greek or Latin letter that (loosely) pinpointed a particular attribute, coupled with a specific set of Latin words that worked to swiftly assign names to what he was working on.

The system has since been tweaked and expanded by other scientists building off of his work, but is still very much recognizable and in use today.

What is this naming system called, and what does it classify?

(Bonus: In an interesting overlap, one of the subjects of study under this classification indirectly inspired the name of a former Formula 1 team.)

Show Answer
Bayer designation, named after astronomer Johann Bayer. The initial letter represents the star's brightness, followed by the genitive Latin name of the constellation the star is in.

Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus, and its Bayer designation is therefore α-Tauri - which inspired Scuderia AlphaTauri.

[88]

One of these is not like the others — which one, and why?

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Blackbuck
Arabian Oryx – 777 Ranch
Arabian oryx
R
Sitatunga
MG 5289
Mule deer
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Goitered gazelle
Wildebeest, Black – Taxidermy Quote
Wildebeest
Show Answer
The mule deer is the odd one out -- the others are all technically antelopes. While antelopes and deer are commonly confused with one another, they're actually very distant cousins. Antelopes also grow permanent horns, while deer grow and shed a new set of antlers each year.

[11]

The world history has been divided into different eons & eras. The last three eras defined are:
era
However unofficially, there is movement to classify the current age that we’re living in, under a new name. What is it & why?

Show Answer
The Anthropocene
This is due to the great change brought about by humans. The Trinity test in July 1945 has been proposed as the start of the Anthropocene.

[10]

The following animals have been named after this celebrity.
1993 – a spider from California
2003 – an ant from South America
August 2023 – a snake from Peru
The actor called the latest naming an honour, but joked that people ought to stop naming terrifying creatures after him.
Name the actor.
#NationalWildlifeDay

Show Answer
Harrison Ford