Voyager’s Alien Instruction Manual
The Golden Record’s pulsar map uses this many pulsars to identify our location.
Answer: What is 14?
Clue: Give the Unicode code point for ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR VINEGAR.
Answer: What is U+1F70A?
Clue: This British architect cracked Linear B in 1952.
Answer: Who is Michael Ventris?
Clue: This real fungus-beetle species sounds suspiciously like “jelly bean.”
Answer: What is Gelae baen?
Clue: Equal to 10−28 square meters, this nuclear-physics unit sounds considerably larger than it is.
Answer: What is a barn?
Clue: A tiny sample of this radioactive isotope acts as a cosmic “manufactured on” date on the Golden Record cover.
Answer: What is uranium-238?
Clue: Give the Unicode code point for ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR RETORT.
Answer: What is U+1F76D?
Clue: From a Quechua word meaning “knot,” this Inka recording system used arrangements of knotted cords.
Answer: What is a quipu/khipu?
Clue: This real carabid beetle’s scientific name sounds like “aggravation.”
Answer: What is Agra vation?
Clue: Nuclear physicists use this wonderfully named unit for 10−8 seconds.
Answer: What is a shake?