Geography
There are two islands in the Bering Strait only about 4 km apart. Why can their calendars be almost a full day different?
The International Date Line runs between them.
What color is a polar bear's skin underneath its fur
Black (the fur is actually transparent/hollow, not white)
Why do airplane windows have a tiny hole in them?
To balance air pressure between the window layers.
Which fruit was originally known as the Chinese gooseberry?
Kiwi
Why do mirrors appear to reverse left and right but not up and down?
They actually reverse front and back, not left and right.
Which country's territory is split into more than 20 separate pieces inside another country?
Belgium, inside the Netherlands.
Which bird has an eyeball that is actually larger than its entire brain?
The ostrich
Why are shopping cart wheels designed to swivel?
To make carts easier to turn and manoeuvre.
What popular chocolate spread was developed during a cocoa shortage after World War II?
Nutella
Two fathers and two sons go fishing. They catch three fish, and each gets one. How is that possible?
There are only three people: a grandfather, father and son.
Ships travelling from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Panama Canal actually travel in which general direction?
Southeast
What is the collective noun for a group of badgers?
A cete
Why do jeans have those tiny metal studs at the corners of their pockets?
To stop the fabric from tearing.
What food was so valuable to the ancient Maya and Aztecs that it was used as money?
Cacao beans
A lily pad doubles in size every day. It covers an entire lake on day 48. On what day was the lake half-covered?
Day 47.
Which tiny European country has two heads of state: the French president and a Spanish bishop?
Andorra
What tiny sea creature can create flashes of light when its super-fast strike makes bubbles collapse?
Mantis shrimp
Why do some glass bottles have a raised or indented ring around their base?
To strengthen the base and help the bottle withstand pressure and impacts
Before tomato ketchup became popular, what was the original main ingredient in early ketchup?
Fermented fish sauce
A snail climbs a 10-metre wall. Each day it climbs 3 metres, but every night it slips back 2 metres. How many days to reach the top?
8 days
Which country stretches across all four hemispheres: north, south, east and west?
Kiribati
What animal has rectangular pupils that help it see almost all the way around itself?
Goat
Why is there a tiny pocket inside the front pocket of jeans?
It was originally designed to hold a pocket watch.
What popular dessert was accidentally invented when a chef forgot to add baking powder to a chocolate cake?
Brownies (one popular origin story, though their exact invention is disputed).
A price increases by 20%, then decreases by 20%. What is the overall percentage change?
4% decrease.