1. The Mars Orbiter Mission launched by ISRO on September 24th, 2013 was one of India's greatest scientific achievements despite its relatively low cost of 450 Crore Rs. 2. There are two hypotheses for the origin of the disease popularly known as the gift of the Americas to Europe: that it was carried by Christopher Columbus' crew in the early 1490s or that it previously existed in Europe but went unrecognized. 3. The document discusses how gamma radiation can break DNA's double helix structure and how the body repairs breaks, but many breaks could result in new genetic instructions through faulty reassembly, potentially activating epigenetic switches meant for light with anger

1. CATALYST
Science Quiz
Prelims + Answers

2. The low cost (450 Crore Rs) Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) launched by ISRO is
one of Indian Science’s greatest Achievement.
On which day of the week was the mission launched?
1

4. Although popularly known as the gift of the Americas to Europe,
There are two hypotheses to the origin of this disease. Columbian
and Pre-columbian - One proposes that X was carried to Europe
from the Americas by the crew of Christopher Columbus in the
early 1490s, while the other proposes that X previously existed in
Europe but went unrecognized. What disease?
2

6. First, when gamma radiation hits DNA, it breaks the molecule's double-stranded,
ladder-like helix, a process known as chromothripsis. Your body can repair a few
breaks without significant loss of function.
If many breaks occur – say, if you were caught in a giant gamma explosion – the
repairs can become sloppy, and new instructions can be keyed into the genetic
code. Alvarado suggests that it's possible that when X's DNA reassembled after the
initial blast, it now included a handful of epigenetic switches. Instead of the
switches being activated by light, however, the hormones produced when X is
angry might flip the genetic switches to reconfigure his DNA to transform.
Simple. Who’s X or funda.
3

8. • Neil deGrasseTyson claims that he
has been falsely described as the killer
of ______.
• He goes on to say that the actual
killer of ______ is Mike Brown, author
of this book
4

10. During the early 2000s, Indian scientists from the Centre for Cellular and
Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, proposed a plan to clone these
animals obtained from Iran. India requested Iran to translocate one live
pair to India. If not possible, Indian scientists requested Iran to allow them
collect some live cells of this animal in Iran itself, which can then be made
into living cell lines. What animal are we talking about?
Hint: Which animal is extinct in India but still found in Iran?
*5

11. Cheetah

12. • Back in around the late 1930s the dewan of the tiny princely state of Travancore
Sir C P Ramaswamy Aiyar was instrumental in setting up the Travancore
University in Trivandrum. (Now University of Kerala)
• Aiyar tried to bring X to head the university offering a monthly offering a salary
of Rs 6000 per month. This was a huge figure considering the Diwan himself
drew a salary of Rs 4500. Though, citing 'his own reasons' X turned down the
offer.
• After X, CP tried to rope in a scientists like C V Raman, philosopher and former
President Dr S Radhakrishnan and Dr Meghanatha Saha as pro-Vice Chancellors
of the university, but those attempts also failed.
• ID X
6

14. 7
• The exact meaning of the "p" in ______ is disputed, but according to
the Carlsberg Foundation, the p stands for power. It has also been
suggested that the "p" stands for the German Potenz (meaning
"power"), others refer to French puissance (also meaning "power”)
Another suggestion is that the "p" stands for the Latin terms pondus
hydrogenii or potentia hydrogenii. It is also suggested that the initial
founder, used the letters "p" and "q" (commonly paired letters in
mathematics) simply to label the test solution (p) and the reference
solution (q).

16. Identify this ‘liquid’
which seems to go about
against gravity
8

18. • Identify the Author
9

19. A O Hume

20. • The Osmania University in Hyderabad has a
Department of Parasitology. Whom is this
Institute of Parasitology named after?
*10

21. Sir Ronald Ross

22. Supposedly, the origin of what term?
• Three ______ for Muster Mark!
Sure he has not got much of a bark
And sure any he has it's all beside the mark.
— James Joyce, Finnegans Wake
(The blank is the answer)
11

23. Quark

24. • The Department of Pediatrics, AIIMS has played a
significant role in the development of Rotavac – A low cost
vaccine against Rotavirus.
• What does the Rotavirus cause? A leading cause of
childhood mortality in countries like India
12

25. Diarrhea

26. • Law I
Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of
its situation.
• Law II
Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matter
intervenes suddenly.
• Law III
Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation
conforming to its perimeter.
• Law IV
The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or
equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral
down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken.
• Law V
Everything falls faster than an anvil.
• Law VI
For every vengeance there is an equal and opposite revengeance.
13Incomplete list of
what?

27. • Cartoon
laws of
physics

28. 14
The glossy blue fruit of Pollia
condensata is one the most
intense color by any biological
material. But the color is not
derived from any pigments. (Like
chlorophyll, a pigment gives
green).
How then does Pollia condensata
get its brilliant color?

29. Structural color, Bragg’s Scattering, Scattering,
Constructive interference

30. The following are famous quotes of
X about Y. Id X and Y.
• "If he had a needle to find in a haystack he would not stop to reason where it was
most likely to be, but would proceed at once, with the feverish diligence of a bee,
to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... I was
almost a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation
would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.” —New York Times, October
19, 1931 (the day after Y died)
• "had no hobby, cared for no amusement of any kind and lived in utter disregard
of the most elementary rules of hygiene."
• “When you become a full-fledged American, you will appreciate an American
joke.” (Y to X)
• X vs Y is the most celebrated rivalry in science. Part points!
*15

32. 17

34. 16
Here is the grave of
Werener
Heisenberg. There’s
no fancy epitaph.
But there is an
urban myth that
something is
written on his
epitaph. What?

35. He lies somewhere here

36. X was an administrator of the Ferme Générale and a powerful member of a
number of other aristocratic councils. All of these political and economic activities
enabled him to fund his scientific research. At the height of the French
Revolution, he was accused by Jean-Paul Marat of selling adulterated tobacco and
of other crimes, and was eventually guillotined a year after Marat's death.
Benjamin Franklin was familiar with X, as they were both members of the
"Benjamin Franklin inquiries" into Mesmer and animal magnetism. Who is X? The
simplest one.
18

37. Lavoisier

38. 19

40. *20

41. Leeuwenhoek’s
microscope