As I've done other times, I'm reposting our weekly quiz -- some funny and scary stories during the last week. Enjoy!
The Pre-Apocalypse News & Info Quiz (PANIQuiz), for the week ending Aug 8, 2010
Brought to you by Michael and Jim, the ApocaDocs: http://www.apocadocs.com
This Week's PANIQuestions (Answers below):
1. What threatens to block the Three Gorges dam in China?
a. Asian carp
b. Protesters
c. Dog carcasses
d. Trash
e. Giant jellyfish
2. What might be wrong with the largest amphibian monitoring program in the US?
a. It is run by frogophobes.
b. It only works on land.
c. It is overestimating frog populations.
d. It is underestimating frog populations.
e. It has been hacked by toads.
3. What surprised scientists hoping that an ice-free arctic might absorb CO2?
a. Any of these answers could be true
b. The CO2 absorption would be limited and short-lived.
c. The CO2 absorption would be far exceeded by formerly-frozen
methane release from melting clathrates.
d. The CO2 absorption was a hope that is now a "dead end."
e. The CO2 absorption will rapidly acidify the Arctic Ocean,
affecting phytoplankton
4. What are on the rise and running wild in Germany?
a. Lederhosen.
b. Radioactive wild boar.
c. GMOs.
d. Teenage worries about the future.
e. Salmon.
5. Which is worst of all for long distances: planes, trains, or automobiles?
a. Trains, if they derail.
b. Planes, if running on biodiesel.
c. Automobiles, if drive times are 6 times longer than air time.
d. Planes, over the long run.
e. Automobiles, if non-solar.
6. What was discovered about GM canola, in North Dakota?
a. Modified plants have established populations in the wild.
b. It's growing fast and singing "feed me RoundUp"
c. Canola field crop circles are now the DNA double-helix.
d. It can now fix nitrogen.
e. It tastes like chicken.
7. What percent of "climate skeptics" would "believe climate change is real" if this happened?
a. 2% if there were only 20 polar bears in the wild
b. 3% if Nebraska became a dust bowl
c. 15% if kids should no longer go out and play
d. 15%, for an ice-free Arctic
e. All of these answers are true
8. What "intriguing" discovery, regarding GM canola, was made by ecologists traveling North Dakota?
a. Canola synesthesia: flowers photosynthesizing, and leaves carrying
pollen.
b. Canola beetles "laughing," taking the long view.
c. Canola "presidential heads" being grown from canola blossoms, to
compete with South Dakota.
d. Some canola plants flourished in asphalt.
e. "Stacked traits" -- multiple-pesticide resistance, something
biotech had not been able to achieve.
Answers:
_________________________________
- What threatens to block the Three Gorges dam in China?
Correct Answer: (d): Trash
See "Floating debris threatens to block Three Gorges dam" (Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
- What might be wrong with the largest amphibian monitoring program in the US?
Correct Answer: (c): It is overestimating frog populations.
See "'Ribbit Radio' shows frog populations likely overestimated" (NC
State University, via EurekAlert)
http://www.eurekalert.org/...
- What surprised scientists hoping that an ice-free arctic might absorb CO2?
Correct Answer: (a): Any of these answers could be true
See "Ice-free ocean may not absorb CO2" (University of Georgia, via
EurekAlert)
http://www.eurekalert.org/...
- What are on the rise and running wild in Germany?
Correct Answer: (b): Radioactive wild boar.
See "Radioactive Boar on the Rise in Germany" (Spiegel Online)
http://www.spiegel.de/...
- Which is worst of all for long distances: planes, trains, or automobiles?
Correct Answer: (c): Automobiles, if drive times are 6 times longer than air time.
See "Specific Climate Impact of Passenger and Freight Transport"
(Environmental Science & Technology)
http://pubs.acs.org/...
- What was discovered about GM canola, in North Dakota?
Correct Answer: (a): Modified plants have established populations in the wild.
See "Scientists find the first evidence of genetically modified
plants in the wild" (Ecological Society of America)
http://www.eurekalert.org/...
- What percent of "climate skeptics" would "believe climate change is real" if this happened?
Correct Answer: (e): All or these answers are true
See "Desertification of Nebraska Not Enough to Convince Climate
Change Deniers, Says Poll" (Fast Company)
http://www.fastcompany.com/...
- What "intriguing" discovery, regarding GM canola, was made by ecologists traveling North Dakota?
Correct Answer: (e): "Stacked traits" -- multiple-pesticide resistance, something biotech had not been able to achieve.
See "Genetically Modified Crop on the Loose and Evolving in U.S.
Midwest" (Scientific American)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/...
_________________________________
For this week's news on Climate Chaos, Resource Depletion, Infectious Disease, Species Collapse, Biology Breach, and Recovery (with punchlines and mal mots), visit http://apocadocs.com
New Free Book, "Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies" http://apocadocs.com/...