The Impossible Quiz - 25 Multiple Choice Questions

What is the name of the strait that separates the islands of New Guinea and New Britain?

• Torres Strait
• Dampier Strait
• Vitiaz Strait
• Bering Strait

What is the unofficial capital city of the tiny island nation of Nauru?

• Yaren
• Nauru City
• Aiwo
• Anibare

Which river flows through the city of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia?

• Amur River
• Selenge River
• Tuul River
• Orkhon River

What is the name of the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago?

• Ellesmere Island
• Devon Island
• Victoria Island
• Baffin Island

Which region of South America is known as "land of many waters"?

• Amazon Basin
• The Guianas
• Patagonia
• Gran Chaco

What is the term for the phenomenon where particles can pass through barriers even if they don't have enough energy to classically overcome them?

• Quantum entanglement
• Quantum tunneling
• Quantum superposition
• Quantum decoherence

According to the holographic principle, our perception of a three-dimensional universe might be:

• An illusion created by our brains
• A result of quantum entanglement
• A projection from a two-dimensional boundary
• A consequence of dark matter

Which effect describes how gravitational mass causes a delay in the time it takes for light or other signals to pass near a massive object?

• Shapiro delay
• Gravitational redshift
• Gravitational lensing
• Frame-dragging

What is the term for the phenomenon where a single gene influences multiple phenotypic traits?

• Epistasis
• Pleiotropy
• Polygeny
• Codominance

What is the term for the phenomenon where hot water freezes faster than cold water under certain conditions?

• Leidenfrost effect
• Doppler effect
• Coriolis effect
• Mpemba effect

Which element is essential for the function of vitamin B12 in the human body?

• Iron
• Cobalt
• Zinc
• Manganese

What is the term for the movement of molecules from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration?

• Osmosis
• Diffusion
• Active transport
• Passive transport

Which type of fungus is known for its ability to turn ants into "zombies" by controlling their behavior?

• Armillaria mellea
• Amanita muscaria
• Aspergillus flavus
• Ophiocordyceps unilateralis

Which of the following is NOT a mode of genetic exchange within a bacterial population?

• Conjugation
• Transduction
• Transformation
• Translation

What is the term for the ability of some organisms to survive without water for extended periods?

• Anhydrobiosis
• Cryobiosis
• Chemobiosis
• Hydrobiosis

In 532 AD, what was the name of the riots in Constantinople that nearly destroyed the city due to a chariot racing dispute?

• The Byzantine Riots
• The Constantinople Uprising
• The Chariot Wars
• The Nika Riots

In 897, which pope was put on trial after his death in a bizarre event known as the "Cadaver Synod"?

• Pope Stephen VI
• Pope Formosus
• Pope Gregory VII
• Pope Urban II

The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494, divided the newly discovered lands between which two countries?

• Spain and Portugal
• France and Spain
• England and France
• Portugal and Italy

What was the name of the operation during World War II where a dead body was dressed as a Royal Marine officer and dropped off the coast of Spain to deceive the Germans?

• Operation Barbarossa
• Operation Overlord
• Operation Market Garden
• Operation Mincemeat

Who was the first Secretary-General of the United Nations?

• Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden)
• Trygve Lie (Norway)
• U Thant (Myanmar/Burma)
• Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Peru)

What was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens?

• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Ernest Hemingway
• Mark Twain
• Edgar Allan Poe

Who designed the famous Fallingwater house, built partially over a waterfall in Pennsylvania?

• Le Corbusier
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Mies van der Rohe
• Walter Gropius

What was the original title of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein when it was first published in 1818?

• The Modern Prometheus
• A Tale of Creation
• Victor's Folly
• The Monster Within

Who was the artist behind the famous sculpture The Burghers of Calais, depicting a scene from the Hundred Years' War?

• Camille Claudel
• Henry Moore
• Auguste Rodin
• Constantin Brancusi

In James Joyce's Ulysses, what is the name of the fictional newspaper for which Leopold Bloom works as an advertising canvasser?

• The Dublin Chronicle
• The Irish Times
• The Freeman's Journal
• The Freeman's Journal and National Press