Summer School continues and this week we head into the lab. Genetics, hierarchies, and fluids, oh my! This is our second Summer School episode and we’ve left Mathematics behind and now we’re onto Biology Trivia.
From Botany to Mammology, we’re digging into all sorts of life. Goggles on, class is about to begin.
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Episode Introduction
Welcome back, class! Time to hit the lab.
Hi, I’m your host, Brian Rollins and this is the Dorky Geeky Nerdy Trivia podcast. This is our second Summer School episode where we focus on more academic topics. Last week, we covered Mathematics. This week, we’re going to hit Biology. It’s a wide-ranging topic, so expect a wide range of questions.
As always, we’ll have three rounds of ten questions each. I’ll read the question, you’ll have a short timer and then I’ll give you the answer. If you’re looking for scoring rules and score sheets, head over to dorkygeekynerdy.com/rules. While you’re there check out our Books of the Week and drop us a note to say hi.
OK, class. Put the frog back in its tank, it’s time to start.
The Dorky Round
The process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy is called what?
Photosynthesis
The first mammal cloned was what type of animal?
Dolly was a domestic sheep. She was cloned in 1996
Humans have how many chromosomes?
46 (or 23 pairs)
What chemical gives leaves their green color?
chlorophyll
What is the term for the creation of light by living organisms?
Bioluminescence.
Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for what disease in 1955?
Polio.
Frogs and Salamanders belong to what group, whose name means “both kinds of life?”
Amphibians
Canis lupus familiaris is more commonly known as what?
Man’s best friend, the dog.
Paleontology is the study of what?
It’s the study of fossils
Sharks and rays have skeletons made of what material?
Cartilage
The Geeky Round
Louis Pasteur created the first two vaccines for what two diseases?
Rabies and Anthrax. He’s also responsible for the process named after him, Pasteurization.
How many ranks are there in the hierarchy of biological classification?
Eight (Domain, Kingdom, Phyllum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species)
DNA is short for what?
Deoxyribonucleic acid
What is the most common element in the human body?
Oxygen makes up almost 63% of our bodies
People with Sickle Cell Anemia are more likely to be resistant to what disease?
The mutation that causes Sickle Cell also makes that person immune to Malaria.
Water bears are an informal name for what creatures?
Tardigrades. They’re eight legged water dwelling micro animals.
In 2019, horseshoe crabs were added to what class alongside mites and ticks?
Arachnids
Forest, Tundra, Grassland, and Desert are all types of what?
Biomes.
Whales, dolphins, and porpoises belong to what group?
Cetaceans
What disease was certified as eradicated in December 1979?
Thanks to widespread adoption of the vaccine, Small Pox no longer exists in the wild.
The Book of the Week
Bio break. This week’s book of the week is The Tangled Tree by David Quammen
In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field—the study of life’s diversity and relatedness at the molecular level—is horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. It turns out that HGT has been widespread and important. For instance, we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection—a type of HGT.
Now, in The Tangled Tree, Quammen explains how molecular studies of evolution have brought startling recognitions about the tangled tree of life—including where we humans fit upon it. Thanks to new technologies such as CRISPR, we now have the ability to alter even our genetic composition—through sideways insertions, as nature has long been doing. The Tangled Tree is a brilliant guide to our transformed understanding of evolution, of life’s history, and of our own human nature.
The Nerdy Round
Organisms that live in physically or geochemically dangerous places (like a geyser or hot spring) are called what?
Extremophiles.
The study of fungi is called what?
Mycology
What are the three Domains?
Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya
What type of cell does not have a true nucleus?
Prokaryotic. As opposed to a Eukaryotic cell that does have a true nucleus.
When the bird named Martha died on September 1, 1914, what species became extinct?
The Passenger Pigeon
By mass, what is the largest living organism on the planet?
Aspen tree colonies are one large organism. The single largest is located in Fishlake National Forest in Utah
What is the name of the biochemical cycle by which aerobic organisms convert food into energy?
The citric acid cycle or the Krebs cycle
Animals from the Formicidae family are more commonly known as what?
That would be bane of your picnic, Ants.
Ichthyology is the study of what?
Fish
Cytology, Phenology, and Phytosociology are all branches of what science?
Botany or the study of plants.
Episode Conclusion
And that’s the bell, class. I hope you enjoyed our second Summer School episode. Wednesday will be our usual fare, but next Saturday we’ll feature our third Summer School episode. Speaking of which, here’s your clue:
Yeah, it’s time to give the theater geeks something to sink their teeth into.
I’m your host, Brian Rollins. You can hit me up at my website thevoicesinmyhead.com. You can find more episodes of this show at dorkygeekynerdy.com. Class dismissed and thanks for listening.
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Credits
Hosted & Written by Brian Rollins
Music by Kevin MacLeod
Copyright 2019-2025 by Brian Rollins
This podcast is copyright 2025 Brian Rollins. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to redistribute but not to be altered or used for AI training.
