The 20 quiz questions
Question 1 : Honey never expires.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Thanks to its low water content and acidic pH, honey can be preserved for millennia.
Question 2 : Vikings wore horned helmets in battle.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! No archaeological evidence confirms this image. Horned helmets are a 19th-century romantic invention. Real Viking helmets were simple and rounded.
Question 3 : A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Venus rotates on its axis in 243 Earth days but orbits the Sun in 225 days.
Question 4 : Cleopatra lived closer in time to the first iPhone than to the construction of the Giza pyramids.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! The pyramids were built around 2500 BC. Cleopatra lived from 69 to 30 BC, about 2450 years after the pyramids. The iPhone came out in 2007, about 2060 years after Cleopatra.
Question 5 : An octopus has three hearts.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Two branchial hearts for the gills, one systemic heart for the body.
Question 6 : Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! "The Red Vineyard" sold for 400 francs in 1890, a few months before his death.
Question 7 : Japan has more vending machines per capita than any other country.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! About 1 vending machine per 23 people, selling everything: drinks, meals, umbrellas...
Question 8 : Penguins have knees.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Their knees are hidden under their plumage, close to the body.
Question 9 : Marie-Antoinette actually said "Let them eat cake".
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! This phrase was falsely attributed to her. It appears in Rousseau's "Confessions", written when Marie-Antoinette was only 9 years old.
Question 10 : The "Wilhelm Scream" sound effect has been used in more than 400 films.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! This iconic scream appears in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, and hundreds of others.
Question 11 : Bats are blind.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! All bats can see, some even very well. Echolocation is a complement.
Question 12 : There are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! ~3 trillion trees vs ~100-400 billion stars in our galaxy.
Question 13 : Bananas are berries, but strawberries are not.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Botanically, bananas are berries. Strawberries are "false fruits" (fleshy receptacles).
Question 14 : Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Teaching at Oxford began as early as 1096. The Aztec Empire wasn't founded until 1428, more than 300 years later.
Question 15 : Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! The Empire State Building is struck about 25 times a year!
Question 16 : The Eiffel Tower can grow 15 cm taller in summer.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! The thermal expansion of steel causes its height to vary with temperature.
Question 17 : Goldfish have a 3-second memory.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! Goldfish have a memory of several months and can learn tricks.
Question 18 : Napoleon Bonaparte was short compared to the average height of his era.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! Napoleon was about 1.69 m (5'7"), which was average for French men of his time. The legend of his short stature comes from confusion between French and English inches.
Question 19 : Humans only use 10% of their brain.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! We use our entire brain, just not all areas simultaneously.
Question 20 : The Great Wall of China is visible from space with the naked eye.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! This is a myth. The wall is too narrow (6m) to be seen from Earth's orbit without optical aid.
