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?
Tag: India
[173]
PB Shelley was a British writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. However, the writer’s second wife X was also a serious writer and wrote multiple novels.
X’s most famous work is Y, a concept which emerged to her after a nightmare. The novel explores man playing God & creating life and is considered one of the earliest example of science fiction.
Id the writer X & her famous novel Y.
[172]
The Indian Government gifted a statue of Lord Shiva to be installed at a science facility. The statue is a metaphor for the cosmic dance of the God, which creates & destroys the world. The work of the scientific facility is also similar, which is trying to understand the forces behind creation of the universe.
Which science facility is the statue situated in?
[171]
William X created an all-steel vacuum flask in 1913 and started mass producing the flasks under his own surname (X). The products continued to exist over the years, but gained mainstream attention in the last 5 years.
The company hired a former Crocs executive, worked with influencers & went viral on social media multiple times.
Can you identify the company & the products that they make?
Show AnswerThe company is Stanley, makers of Stanley Cup.
The company has gone from annual sales of US$70 million in 2019 to $750 million in 2023.
Here's Forbes' take on the Rise of Stanley.
[170]
Below are five pairs of global cities. What do the sets have in common?
Madrid, Spain / Wellington, New Zealand
Buenos Aires, Argentina / Shanghai, China
Hanoi, Vietnam / La Paz, Bolivia
Johannesburg, South Africa / Honolulu, Hawaii
[169]
The following is a picture taken from a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball match on October 2, 1977. This is widely recorded as the first instance of which event?
Show AnswerThis is considered to the the first 'High Five' in recorded history. The team even established that a High Five should be given after each home run. From here the gestured became popular & entered mainstream media.
Watch an Interesting Video on the history behind the event.
[168]
The following is an image of a door frame made up of balsa wood. The design is a Rococo style characterized by the superior craftsmanship of 18th-century cabinetmaking in France.
The artifact was recently sold for $700k in an auction.
What is the claim to fame of this piece of furniture?
Show AnswerThis is the (infamous) door from the movie Titanic. The artifact has been subject to scrutiny of movie buffs, who claim that it could've saved both Jack & Rose.
Read More.
[167]
Norse myth believed that this event was caused by wolves Skoll and Hati.
The Chinese believed that this was the result of a dragon & used bang drums & shoot arrows to scare it away.
Indian mythology blamed an immortal floating head for this.
Incans thought it was due to wrath of God, and used to perform sacrifices (rarely human).
These are the belief systems behind which event?
[166]
The following is an air force badge of a particular nation which became popular in its local country & the social media.
Which country does it belong to? And why is Winnie the Pooh being punched?
[165]
On March 18, 1937, a natural gas leak caused an explosion and destroyed the London School in New London, Texas, United States. The explosions was one of the deadliest in the history of Texas, leading to 600+ deaths & injuries.
The question is, what regulation did this tragedy give rise to, which is followed till today.
Show AnswerOdourization of combustible gases, for example, natural gas, LPG, etc.
In fact, the incident was considered so big at the time, even then German Chancellor Adolf Hitler wrote a telegram giving his condolences.
Read More about the incident.
[164]
X was born in Italy in 1479 and at the age of 15 was married to a modestly successful silk & cloth merchant. Years after their marriage, her husband commissioned a portrait of her. However in the middle of the assignment, the artist found more important work, leaving the portrait unfinished for years.
The artist was finally able to complete the work many years later, but never gave it back to X’s family.
Can you identify X, the subject of this portrait?
[163]
Loss aversion theory states that people are more sensitive to losses, as compared to gains, i.e., a loss of 100 is more painful as compared to the happiness gain of 200.
While historically economics assumed everyone to be a rational decision maker, it was the integration of psychology & economics (like above) that led this famous economist to win the Nobel Prize in 2002.
Identify this person, who is also an author of a NYT bestseller book.
[162]
Anguilla is a small island in the Caribbean with a population of about 16000 residents.
The island became a beneficiary of the recent AI tech boom, adding $32m or about 10% in its annual GDP.
How did AI helping Anguilla?
[161]
X was born to Bardock & Gine and is married with two kids. He is a World Champion Martial Artist & his only known weakness is hunger.
X’s story is based on 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West & the name of the series is inspired by a Bruce Lee movie.
Identify X & the series he appears in.
[160]
The following is a still from a documentary released by BBC in 1957. This was the first time a major news publisher broke the story of trees which gave spaghetti noodles harvest in Swiss-Italian region.
Why question is, which country currently holds the highest production from these Spaghetti Trees?
[159]
This photo was taken by former National Geographic photographer Charles O’Rear, in 1996. The location was in the wine country in California, near Napa.
The photo was selected for giving the feeling of freedom, possibility, calmness, warmth, etc. It has also been considered one of the most viewed photograph in the history of humanity.
Where might you have seen this?
Show Answer
[158]
Connect the following companies to the world of sports. Also can you identify the missing company?
[157]
X is a humorous religion started in the US in 2005 to oppose the idea of creationism by a God. This was done by introducing a noodle-y deity, a holy book & lore of afterlife with beers and a hell with stale beers.
The religion tried to highlight the point that in order to disprove a religion, the onus falls upon the deniers rather than the religion itself.
Show AnswerThe religion is Pastafarianism & the deity being Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Read More about the religion.
[156]
X is a method which is used to calculate a certain property of an edible item.
This is done by taking a specific quantity of the item & diluting it with a sugar & water solution. This is done until a majority of the expert panelists are not able to taste the original flavour of the item. The number of times the item has to be diluted is the strength which is finally calculated.
Which property of edible items is this method used to calculate?
[155]
Sweden was the first to introduce this policy in July 2009.
EU implemented this policy in June 2014.
Japan implemented policy in 2016, and recently became the last economy in the world to have this.
What am I talking about?