Prelims of the SciTech Quiz (i.Quiz) at i.Fest, DA-IICT, 2020

College SciTech Quiz at i.Fest, DA-IICT, Gandhinagar || 21st November, 2020

Acknowledgements
• I would like to thank my friends Siddharth Mishra, Jayant
Verma, Snehashis Panda, and Anand Kumar Upadhyaya for
setting questions for me.
• To Rabin Jacob for helping me with a funda.
• And to my Guinea Pigs Daivat Bhatt, Shubhankar Bahl and
Major Chandrakant Nair.
• A big big thank you to the Headrush and i.Fest teams for
having me over.

Note to the Quizzer seeing this:
• The image of a camera ( ) on the bottom of a slide means an image
follows on the next slide. If it is not there, it means it is an answer slide
next.
• The font used is Candara, ‘for best experience’ download it before seeing.
• The framing of the questions in this quiz is different from how an on-
ground quiz would be, mainly due to the present scenario of quizzing, and
measures like removal of proper nouns, numerical approximations etc.
have been done to be as fair as possible. Many verbal clues were also
given.
• In the notes section of each answer is the source of the question, if you
may want to read further on it.

Rules
• 20 Questions in this Prelims totalling 24 points.
• Questions 1 to 16 are 1 markers.
• Questions 17 to 20 are 2 markers.
• 8 teams of 2 members will make it to the finals.
• Question number 11 to 16 are star-marked, and will help resolve
ties, if any. The prelims will be run twice, faster the second time.
• And most importantly, use of any electronic device during the
quiz will lead to immediate disqualification. LOL.
• Keep your answers ready on a document, so that if you cannot
submit your answers you have them ready.

• Earlier this month, the French police made 7 arrests at the
Charles de Gaulle airport selling fake items which are costing
buyers between $200 and $350.
• A black market has emerged for such items over the globe,
with similar examples in Brazil, UK and across Africa and even
in Bengaluru and Kerala.
• What fake items are these, all in the rage?

Fake COVID negative certificates

• Sera is a song by Canadian duo Midsplit & A-
SHO. The song gained popularity when it was
used during the season finale of ESL Counter
Strike Season 9 and has gained a cult following
due to the sad themes it explores.
• The song takes us through the singer
reminiscing the fun times he had with Sera and
the drug fuelled haze he finds himself in during
his quest to find Sera again.
• While it seems like a heartbreak song, some
viewers were quick to point out that Sera does
not refer to a female but something deeper
inside the singer himself.
• What does Sera refer to?

Serotonin
• Serotonin is a chemical which has a popular image as a
contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness, though its
actual biological function is more more complex and
multifaceted.

• This company started by Cyrus Poonawalla in Pune during the
second half of the 20th century and is one of the largest of its kind
by volume in the world. They have tied up with AstraZeneca and
Oxford University for the creation and distribution of a vital
solution in India and other low income countries.
• On his trip to the University, the current CEO of the company was
pictured with an individual’s statue who is treated as the father of
the field the Institute is known for.
• Who was the CEO pictured with?

Edward Jenner
Father of Immunology

• In a 2001 paper about the various issues plaguing
optoelectronic attributes of chiral C Nanorings, the writers talk
about how among all the possible nanorings synthesized, a
distinct one with chiral indices (n+3,n+1), is extremely special
and most readily observable in spectroscopic experiments.
• How is the paper appropriately titled?

One ring to rule them all

• Working as a Pizza boy, Richard was frustrated at the number
of times he was held at gunpoint by robbers, so he decided to
use an item by DuPont to fabricate for himself a protection.
• He named it Second Chance. What had he ended up creating?

Bulletproof Vests

• Son of a business family based in Philadelphia, his parents reluctantly
financed a trip to the hills of India, thinking it to be a phase in his life.
It was anything but.
• He started working for the people with a common disease of the
time, which his parents were fearful he might contract. He started
wearing local attire and spoke in the local language to gain their trust
and comfort, and even participated in India’s freedom struggle.
• In the 1910s, he imported a new cultivar from Louisiana, which he
thought would be perfectly suited to the terrain and climate of this
state.
• What is he responsible for, which helped alter the economy of the
region?

Apples in Himachal Pradesh

• In 2014, Wiltgen and his research colleagues used GM mice to
test a theory which says that specific brain neurons can be
turned off with the use of light.
• Since these mice were genetically modified, the scientists were
able to locate the exact cells for their purpose, and aimed the
light to those specific cells, without any disruption to the rest
of the hippocampus or the cerebral cortex, all done with the
use of optic cables.
• This was compared to what from popular culture seen first in
1997. What?

The MIB Neuralyzer

• While many studies suggest the athletes’ performance also getting
affected, there is also the increased risk of injuries during this
recurring development.
• In sports participation, they took a test group of children between
the ages of 6-12, whose risk of an ACL injury is 2-3% per year. But for
this specific group these injuries have a rate of 4 to 8 times more,
leading many to propose a hormonal effect.
• These hormonal fluctuations have been postulated to cause a laxity
in the ligaments and an increased elasticity in joints, which elevates
the risk of ACL injuries, and a greater tendency to rupture.
• What is all this research focused on?

Menstruating Women

• Similar to almost any other consumer goods in the United
States, the production of these items were also ceased in the
spring of 1942, and the plants which created these were
converted for the war effort during WWII.
• But in late 1944, they became one of the earliest consumer
items to recommence manufacture for civilian use, as workers
started to be late or a complete failure to show up at work at
all, hindering all war work.
• What ubiquitous products are these?

Alarm Clocks

• One of Dieter Rams earliest designs for Braun in collaboration with
Hans Gugelot was this Radio-Phonograph, which with its simple
look redefined the landscape of the household audio devices, with
the controls being on top of the device, under a transparent top.
• The simplicity and compactness was responsible for Braun’s
fortunes in the post war consumer electronics world.
• Exhibited at the MoMA, and the Centre George Pompidou, Paris as
a milestone of design, it had a nickname due to its resemblance to
a prop from children’s literature, also seen on the big screen in the
1930s.
• What is it called?

Snow White’s Coffin

Starred Marked Questions begin

• Game Fuel is a set of Mountain Dew sodas that is specifically
targeted at gamers and eSports athletes. Said to be made ‘by the
gamers, for the gamers’, Mountain Dew is said to have
incorporated multiple features in the can to make it desirable for
gamers.
• Two special packaging related features are the use of a
resealable lid so that it can be enjoyed over the course of time
without losing its fizz and the second is a common issue for
gamers which would only be intensified when the can is chilled.
• What was the second feature/what were they trying to prevent?

The can is covered with no-slip material,
making it easier for gamers to pick it up

• A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that
completely encompasses a star and captures a large
percentage of its power output.
• Scientist Robert used this concept to come up with an idea in
his anthology, to use the entire energy output of a star to
drive computer systems, with Dyson spheres nested inside one
another, and the whole structure the size of a Solar System.
• What was the inspiration for the name for this arrangement?

Matroyskha Dolls (called Matrioshka brain)

• Spotted Harlequin Phalaenopsis is a variety of orchid, which
are easy to cultivate, and requires windowsill light and
consistent moisture.
• In the 7th season of a TV dram back in the news, the lead
character’s girlfriend, a gardener, gives the lead character this
plant as a gift, which had a symbolic meaning connected to
him.
• Which TV show?
• How is this symbolic?

Dexter
Looks like a blood spatter

• While some suggest it being present since the 1400s, citing
examples such as this 1459 painting as an example, the
present design avatar came up in the 1790s.
• A Reverend in the British Isles made use of a steel tool used
for removing wadding and unspent charges from musket
muzzles. The unique shape of this tool led many around the
time to try and come up with the same solution, but what
set apart the clergyman’s design was a disk affixed, between
the worm and the shank, which is now known as the
eponymous ‘button’.
• What household item?

Corkscrew

• To combat the infamously crowded streets of the Brazilian
megalopolis, a couple of friends decided to take inspiration from
a childhood favourite to come up with a solution to the traffic.
• In an apparatus that consists of a household object attached to a
motorized wheel, the duo have been pictured zipping on these
contraptions that can reach speeds of over 60kmph.
• Planning to sell them for around $750 each, the duo hope to not
only solve traffic woes but help recreate an activity that has
seemed out of imagination for most.
• What were they inspired by?

Broomsticks from Harry Potter

• The first of its kind, it was established in the early 1890s in an East
Indian city. An antique, it was designed in a way to make sure
users would have an uninterrupted view as they used it.
• This item of interest has only undergone two renovations over its
120 years of existence, both of them keeping the original
aesthetic intact.
• The introduction of this item in a building that was built in the
early half of the 1800s decade was only fitting, with the opulence
of the building and legacy carrying on till this day as an residence
of much political privilege.
• What item? Where would you find it?

First elevator in India
Raj Bhawan, Kolkata

Starred Marked Questions end

Start of 2 pointers

• This condition has shown a high heritability (>80%), and is one which cannot
be treated, but managed. There is a strong male predominance, and there
is no discernable brain injury or lesion, dismissing popular beliefs.
• A breakthrough study in brain imaging studies came in 2002, when
connectivity deficits were identified. Specifically the left SLF, a data
highway is thinner in people with this condition, putting forward the idea
that the condition is a result of abnormal auditory-motor-integration.
• Many famous people have had this condition, with a famous Greek orator
treating it with pebbles. Another in news individual growing up in the late
1940s/early 50s, was given a nickname “Bye-Bye” due to the condition, and
used Emerson and Yeats to get out of it.
• What condition? (1) Who is being talked about? (1)

Stuttering
Joe Biden

• It had a fearsome reputation as a dogfighter when it was
introduced, but as enemy technology caught up and its own
ingrained design weaknesses, like the absence of a hydraulic
ailerons or rudder, which made it unmaneuverable at higher
speeds, which caused it to eventually fail and be forgotten.
• What, that despite its name (which will remind you of whole
numbers) had a kill ratio of 12 to 1 in early years? (1)
• What was it eventually used for once it was no longer
suited to dogfighting? (1)

Mitsubishi Zero
Kamikaze Attacks

• In the older times when Italian men bought suits, they would
purchase two jackets. Only one of these was for wearing as you
went around town and roamed about.
• For what purpose were the other jackets used, which may not
work with the new normal? (1)
• The practice persists, but the term for the other jacket isn’t as
widely spread today. It took a name from the animal world,
because it felt that you are silently perched in the corner, and
watching behind your back. The other meaning of the word in
Italian means something which can deceive and attract too.
• What name did they get? (1)

Hanging over the back
of your chair at work,
so that it looked as
though you were in the
office
Owl Jackets

• Patented by a New Jersey businessman Richard in the early
1930s, who had experimented with a ramp based system in these
establishments to have designated spaces as per size.
• It was only after a 1940s introduction by the Radio Corporation
of America (RCA) which improved the experience by eliminating
the neighbourhood-sound problem, that their popularity really
surged. With increased income post-war, their number in USA
grew from 150+ in 1947 to 4000+ by 1958.
• What establishments, seeing growing investment interest? (1)
What 1940s invention said to have boosted their popularity? (1)

Drive-In Theatres
In-Car Speakers

List of answers
1. Fake COVID negative
certificates
2. Serotonin
3. Edward Jenner
4. One ring to rule them
all
5. Bulletproof Vests
6. Apples in Himachal
Pradesh
7. MIB Neuralyzer
8. Menstruating Women
9. Alarm Clocks
10. Snow White’s Coffin
11*. No-slip material,
easier to pick it up
12*. Matroyskha Dolls
13*. Dexter and Looks
like a blood spatter
14*. Corkscrew
15*. Broomsticks from
HP
16*. First elevator in India
Raj Bhawan, Kolkata
17. Stuttering and Joe
Biden
18. Mitsubishi Zero
Kamikaze Attacks
19. Back of Chair to look
like at work and Owl
Jackets
20. Drive-In Theatres
In-Car Speakers

Prelims of the SciTech Quiz (i.Quiz) at i.Fest, DA-IICT, 2020

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