Also a Greek Letter
What is the term for the "top dog" in a pack of canines?
Answer: Alpha
Dogs, of course, descend from wolves, who live in family groups where the “alphas” are generally the parents.
Who was the first person to fly solo across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans?
Answer: Amelia Earheart
She and her airplane disappeared while flying across the Pacific Ocean in her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. She was never found and was legally declared dead two years after her disappearance.
What is the three-word name for the U.S. president's air plane?
Answer: Air Force One
The VC-25, or modified 747, can be refueled in the air and has electromagnetic pulse protection, missile defense systems, encrypted communications, and an operating room.
Who played Rocky Balboa in the Rocky movie franchise?
Answer: Sylvester Stallone
Stallone is said to be surprised the Rocky series has lasted as long as it has. It now comprises the original six Rocky films as well as the Creed movies, where Rocky’s legacy lives on.
Traditional Italian cooks boil their pasta to this state, meaning “to the tooth.”
Answer: al dente
Pasta boiled until soft and mushy is easier to digest, but al dente pasta has a lower glycemic index and retains more nutrients.
Which U.S. airline shares its name with a Greek letter of the alphabet?
Answer: Delta
When the airline was established, it was a crop-dusting company. In 1928, it was bought and rebranded Delta Air Service, a commercial air carrier serving the Mississippi Delta region. Today, it’s a major international airline with its own oil refinery to produce jet fuel.
Who is the founder of the American Red Cross?
Answer: Clara Barton
During the Civil War, Barton was a nurse and an educator. In 1881, she founded the American Red Cross. Barton and Susan B. Anthony were contemporaries and friends.
Answer: The Tower of London
In addition to guard details and 100 closed-circuit cameras, the jewels are kept in a bomb-proof glass case.
Which actor plays the Scarecrow in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz?
Answer: Ray Bolger
Several of the actors play two roles in the film—characters in Kansas as well as in Oz. Bolger plays Hunk in Kansas
What is the term for a passageway that is not a named street, but often accommodates foot and sometimes vehicle traffic?
Answer: Alley
It permits access to the back of buildings and can keep the street clear of delivery vehicles.
Which Greek letter of the alphabet is used to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter?
Answer: Pi
It is an irrational number with digits that go on forever, but written out to the fifth decimal it is 3.14159. Pi is also the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.
Which Polish-born French scientist discovered polonium and radium?
Answer: Marie Curie
She won two Nobel Prizes: one solo award in chemistry and one in physics with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel.
What is the name for the heavily guarded zone between North and South Korea?
Answer: The DMZ (demilitarized zone)
It runs along the 38th parallel and is guarded by troops from both sides as well as American troops. Visitors are allowed to place their feet on both sides of the heavily guarded zone.
Answer: Christopher Plummer
In his 2008 memoir, Plummer jokingly claims to have been raised by an Airedale terrier and recalls no interaction with his parents during his early years.
He is one of the stars of the TV series M*A*S*H (hint: name contains "Al")
Answer: Alan Alda
He plays “Hawkeye” Pierce. The show had the most-viewed series finale of all time.
What Greek letter shares its name with the final round of testing before releasing a product to the public (and also a "blocker" pharmaceutical)?
Answer: Beta
A beta blocker lowers blood pressure by reducing the heart rate.
Which Golden Age Austrian-American actress starred with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, and played a crucial role in World War II due to her technological expertise?
Answer: Hedy Lamarr
During World War II, she and George Antheil received a patent for a secret communications system that allowed messages to change radio frequencies so the enemy could not capture and decode them.
Which military base in southern Nevada is rumored to house the remains of alien beings?
Answer: Area 51
Its official name is the Nevada Test and Training Range at Groom Lake, and it is where the U-2 spy plane was produced and tested.
Who plays Don Lockwood and sings the title song Singin' in the Rain?
Answer: Gene Kelly
Kelly was known to be a perfectionist and to yell at his costars during filming. Debbie Reynolds was found crying under a piano once due to the mistreatment.
What is the literary term for a fable or parable?
Answer: Allegory
This method of portraying a deeper, complex meaning beyond the surface of the story dates to biblical times. A more recent example of an allegory is J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series, which portrays good versus evil.
Which Greek letter is used to describe rays that have the smallest wavelengths and the most energy on the electromagnetic spectrum?
Answer: Gamma
Neutron stars, pulsars, and supernova explosions can produce gamma rays.
Who was the first female prime minister of India?
Answer: Indira Gandhi
She served from 1966 to 1970 and then again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984.
Which place houses 12 centuries of documents, and its 53 miles of shelves contain 35,000 volumes? (It includes the letter that Mary, Queen of Scots, sent to Pope Sixtus V, begging him to spare her life.)
Answer: The Vatican Archives
The fascinating collection houses thousands of years of history, including documentation on Martin Luther’s excommunication.
Which actor plays Professor Henry Higgins in the 1964 film My Fair Lady?
Answer: Rex Harrison
After losing most of the sight in his left eye from a bout with measles, Harrison’s mother took him to the theater to cheer him up. That is when he became determined to become an actor
This is one of the main active compounds in garlic and is believed to have medicinal value, including lowering a person's cholesterol and blood pressure.
Answer: Allicin
Studies show that allicin has antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cancer-fighting properties.