Pop Culture Crabs
What animated character from SpongeBob SquarePants runs a fast-food restaurant called the Krusty Krab?
Mr. Krabs
In 2023, scientists found that microplastics are present in unexpected locations around the world. Which remote mountain range was recently discovered to have microplastic pollution?
The Himalayas
Which sense is strongest in cats, allowing them to hunt effectively at night?
Their sense of hearing. Cats can hear frequencies up to 64 kHz, far beyond human capability.
What is the powerhouse of the cell, responsible for producing energy in the form of ATP?
The mitochondria
Curtains Critic Hi
Christina Curtis
In the animated film "The Little Mermaid", what is the name of the crab who serves as King Triton's advisor?
Sebastian
In 2023, scientists released the first map of which animal's genome, a project that took over 20 years to complete?
The honeybee
What’s the record for the oldest living cat?
A cat named Creme Puff lived to be 38 years old.
What are the repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes called, and what enzyme is responsible for maintaining their length?
Telomeres, maintained by the enzyme telomerase.
[Surprise rule: 0 points if Santy answered lol]
Inky Lad Deals
Kyle Daniels
In the Disney film "Moana", what is the name of the giant coconut crab who sings the song "Shiny"?
Tamatoa
What type of celestial event, visible from Easter Island, was recently captured in stunning images?
A "ring of fire" solar eclipse
What type of unique cat is native to central Massachussets?
Cat Zhang
What molecular "motor" protein moves along microtubules to transport organelles within the cell, and in which direction does it typically move?
Kinesin, which typically moves toward the positive end of the microtubule.
Toxic Nods
Scott Dixon
In Pokémon, what is the name of the crab-like Pokémon that evolves into Kingler?
Krabby
Who won the 2024 Nobel prize for chemistry? And for what work? (Name one of three)
David Baker: computational protein design.
Demis Hassabis and John Jumper: developing AlphaFold2, which predicts protein structures
What is a group of cats called?
A clowder
In apoptosis, which family of proteases is activated to carry out the cleavage of cellular proteins, leading to cell death?
Caspases
Myth Moldes
Melody Smith
In the movie "Finding Nemo", what is the name of the crab who appears in the dentist's fish tank?
Jacques
What NASA mission will explore one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, and is scheduled for launch in October 2024?
The Europa Clipper mission
What cat was born on November 11th?
Cat Colon.
Bonus points if you said that on any given year she may ask you to post about it in the groupme because she's slightly sad nobody had already.
Which cell signaling pathway is activated by binding of growth factors to receptor tyrosine kinases, leading to a cascade involving the proteins Ras, Raf, and MEK?
The MAPK/ERK pathway.
Rink Nearing
Erinn Rankin