Enthiran Dr P Kumarasamy Memorial Open Science Quiz

MAINS

Dr. P. Kumarasamy

TOTAL ROUNDS – 76 QUESTIONS IN EACH ROUND

1,3,5 AND 7 – BOUNCE AND POUNCE2 – WRITTEN ROUND4 – CONNECT ROUND6 – BUZZER ROUND

7 QUESTIONS FOR AUDIENCE

AUDIENCE QUESTION 1

The Kerala state tourism department of the previous government sanctioned a proposal to appoint a world renowned sports celebrity as

the Ayurveda brand ambassador of God’s Own Country Kerala.

Identify the personality.

STEFFI GRAF

ROUND 1 DISCOVERY Pounce and bounce +10 / -5

1. There was a tradition, established as part of a programme set up in 1957 by Sandoz (Novartis) for its employees on business trips and holidays to take plastic bags with them to collect soil samples from the places where they travel, for discovering new drugs from fungal metabolites. The drug was initially isolated from the fungus Tolypocladium inflatum found in a soil sample in 1969 from Norway. It is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. Since Norway in 1969 had an open access regime there is no benefit sharing for the source country (Norway), from Novartis' present sales of that drug.

Identify the drug that revolutionized modern medicine in its own way.

NORWAY

TO

1. Ciclosporin (cyclosporine), is an immunosuppressant drug widely used in

organ transplantation to prevent rejection.

2.In 1993, UK Science Minister William Waldegrave observed that British taxpayers were paying a lot of money for something very few of them understood. So he announced that, the scientist who gives the best lay explanation of X would be awarded a bottle of champagne. Professor David J miller (Bottom right) of University College London earned Waldegrave’s bottle of champagne by giving the below analogy to explain X.

“A well-known scientist walks into the room and causes a bit of a stir - attracting admirers with each step and interacting strongly with them - signing autographs and stopping to chat. As she becomes surrounded by admiring fans, she finds it harder to move across the room. If a less popular scientist enters the room, only a small crowd gathers, with no-one clamouring for attention. He finds it easier to move across the room”.

Identify X

2. HIGGS BOSON/FIELD

3. CONNECT.

It’s me

Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto Craig Steven Wright

4. The name of this dog breed has an association with something that happened between 1831 to 1836 which made a very significant contribution to the

world of science. Identify the association.

Charles Darwin’s voyage on board HMS Beagle

5. A mixture of acetylene and oxygen is ignited in the lower chamber of the machine. As the resulting blast passes through the neck and into the cone, it develops into a shock wave. These devices frequently engender conflict between farmers and neighbours when used, because they are

very loud and repeatedly fired every 1 to 10 seconds. In the French wine-growing regions church-bells were traditionally rung which was later replaced by firing of these devices. Identify the purpose of this

device.

HAIL CANONS – PSEUDOSCIENTIFIC DEVICES THAT CALIM TO PREVENT HAIL

STONES

6. Manuel del Río discovered X in 1801 . He sent samples of ore & a letter describing his methods to the Institute de France in Paris, for confirmation. But his letter was lost in a shipwreck & the Institute only received his samples, which contained a brief note

in which he had named it erythronium. He withdrew his claim when he received a letter from Paris claiming it is just impure chromium.

X was rediscovered by Sefstrôm, in 1830 while analyzing samples of iron from a mine in Sweden. He chose a name beginning with a particular alphabet, which had not been

assigned to any element yet. Because of the many beautiful coloured chemical compounds it produced he named it after the Nordic goddess of beauty.

In 1831, the geologist G. William suggested that X should be renamed "rionium" after Río, but this was not accepted.

ID X which is primarily used in high speed steel alloy tools.

VANADIUM

AUDIENCE QUESTION 2

47-year-old Muduga tribal Mari started off as a 15-year-old daily

wage worker with the Forest Department. In 2012 he was

presented with a conservation award instituted in memory of

former Chief Conservator of Forests N. Madhavan Pillai. In

2014, he became a permanent employee after passing a Public

Service Commission (PSC) examination with first

rank. Which unique ecosystem (place/forest) in Kerala, he has

helped conserve?

SILENT VALLEY

ROUND 2 P K

WRITTEN ROUND – 6 QUESTIONS+ 5 / No negatives

1.The X effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet. It is an example of psychological reactance, wherein once people are aware something is being kept from them, their motivation to access the information is increased. It is named after American entertainer X, whose 2003 attempt to suppress photographs of her residence in Malibu, California, inadvertently drew further public attention to it.She is among a small group of entertainers who have been honoured with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. She is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.Identify X who is a popular American singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker.

2. X money has been proposed as an alternative to Quantitative Easing when the economy enters recession. Economists have used the term ‘X money' to refer to two very different policies. The first set of policies emphasizes the 'permanent' monetization of budget deficits & the other involves the central bank making direct transfers to private sector without direct involvement of fiscal authorities.Economist Milton Friedman is the one who coined the term ‘X Money' .But the term gained popularity after Ben Bernanke, then US Federal Reserve governor made a passing reference to it in 2002. After this media started calling him X Ben.Recently RBI governor Raghuram Rajan questioned the concept of X money

What is X

3. In 2011, nature photographer David Slater, from united kingdom, travelled to Indonesia to take photographs of some animals. He licensed some images to the Caters News Agency, under the presumption that he held copyright to the photo.His copyright claim was questioned by the blog Techdirt which posted the photos. The photos were also uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons. He requested that the Wikimedia Foundation, either pay for the photos or remove them, claiming that he owned copyright on them. His claim was rejected by Wiki. The case went to court & Us supreme court judge in 2016 ruled that nobody holds the copyright for the images.

What is the popular name used to refer to the photos in dispute?

4. Even though wildlife author and entertainer Paul Rosolie stated that the documentary programme which was aired on Discovery Channel on December 7, 2014 was intended to draw attention to wildlife conservation and the destruction of the Amazon, the programme was condemned prior to its premiere by critics and the animal rights group PETA as an inhumane publicity stunt oriented towards shock value, resulting in calls for Discovery Channel to cancel the programme.

But the programme was aired which turned out to be an anti-climax of disappointing outcome that did not meet promoted expectations.

Identify the central content of the programme.

5. The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. It was rated 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale. There have been several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, more than thirty of which had a Richter magnitude

greater than 3.5. The earthquake was felt throughout central Italy; 308 people are known to have died, making this the deadliest earthquake to

hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. Identify the controversial outcome of this earthquake.

6. X lighting is so named because the X , the painter often used this pattern of light in his paintings. This type of lighting is identified by the triangle of light on the cheek. One side of the face is lit well from the main light source while the other side of the face uses the interaction of shadows and light, also known as chiaroscuro, to create this geometric form(triangle or diamond shape of light underneath the eye) on the face. Identify this lighting technique (X) that is used in studio portrait photography.

EXCHANGE YOUR SHEETS

1.The X effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet. It is an example of psychological reactance, wherein once people are aware something is being kept from them, their motivation to access the information is increased. It is named after American entertainer X, whose 2003 attempt to suppress photographs of her residence in Malibu, California, inadvertently drew further public attention to it.She is among a small group of entertainers who have been honoured with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. She is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.Identify X who is a popular American singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker.

BARBRA STREISAND

2. X money has been proposed as an alternative to Quantitative Easing when the economy enters recession. Economists have used the term ‘X money' to refer to two very different policies. The first set of policies emphasizes the 'permanent' monetization of budget deficits & the other involves the central bank making direct transfers to private sector without direct involvement of fiscal authorities.Economist Milton Friedman is the one who coined the term ‘X Money' .But the term gained popularity after Ben Bernanke, then Federal Reserve governor made a passing reference to it in 2002 . After this media started calling him X Ben.Recently RBI governor Raghuram Rajan questioned the concept of X money

What is X

HELICOPTER MONEY/BEN

3. In 2011, nature photographer David Slater, from united kingdom, travelled to Indonesia to take photographs of some animals. He licensed some images to the Caters News Agency, under the presumption that he held copyright to the photo.His copyright claim was questioned by the blog Techdirt which posted the photos. Afterwards, Caters News Agency issued a request for the photo to be removed, citing a lack of permission. The photographs were also uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons. He requested that the Wikimedia Foundation, either pay for the photographs or remove them, claiming that he owned copyright on them. His claim was rejected by Wiki. The case went to court & Us supreme court judge in 2016 ruled that nobody holds the copyright for the images.

What is the popular name used to refer to the photos in dispute?

MONKEY SELFIE

4. Even though wildlife author and entertainer Paul Rosolie stated that the documentary programme which was aired on Discovery Channel on December 7, 2014 was intended to draw attention to wildlife conservation and the destruction of the Amazon, the programme was condemned prior to its premiere by critics and the animal rights group PETA as an inhumane publicity stunt oriented towards shock value, resulting in calls for Discovery Channel to cancel the programme.

But the programme was aired which turned out to be an anti-climax of disappointing outcome that did not meet promoted expectations.

Identify the central content of the programme.

Showing Rosolie being "eaten" by an ANACONDA, protected by a suit

designed specifically for this purposeW...T...#*$*?

5. The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. It was rated 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale. There have been several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, more than thirty of which had a Richter magnitude

greater than 3.5. The earthquake was felt throughout central Italy; 308 people are known to have died, making this the deadliest earthquake to

hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. Identify the controversial outcome of this earthquake.

Six scientists and one ex-government official were convicted of multiple

manslaughter and were each sentenced to six years' imprisonment

*On 10 November 2014, the scientists convicted of manslaughter for failing to predict the deadly earthquake have had the verdict overturned and people expressing shock against the verdict

6. X lighting is so named because the X , the painter often used this pattern of light in his paintings. This type of lighting is identified by the triangle of light on the cheek. One side of the face is lit well from the main light source while the other side of the face uses the interaction of shadows and light, also known as chiaroscuro, to create this geometric form(triangle or diamond shape of light underneath the eye) on the face. Identify this lighting technique (X) that is used in studio portrait photography.

REMBRANDT LIGHTING

AUDIENCE QUESTION 3

Baby Manoj, a doctor from Kozhikode, has invented X that earned him the Best Invention of the Year Award for 2011 from the National Research Development Corporation of the Union Ministry of Science

and Technology. Identify his invention (X)

CLUE

The Peanut Safe syringe - Neither the syringe nor the needle can be reused, and hence there is no danger of rag-pickers collecting

it and sending it for repacking to be channelled back to the market

ROUND 3 FAST & FURIOUS

BOUNCE AND POUNCE+10 / - 5

1. Apart from the similarity of making world-famous automobiles, both these companies have another similarity when it comes to the ‘meaning 'of the respective company

names (Toyota and Honda). Identify the similarity.

Toyota means “bountiful rice field” and Honda means “main rice field”

2. The 2016 Ad. For Jaguar SUV - F-PACE starts with actor Luke Alan Gale driving the F-Pace, heading to meet his evil boss in a modernist “lair”.

Mr . X played the role of a villain in this AD. This is what he said about his role. "You all know me as X . But there is another side to me that you may not

know: X the actor. I have always wanted to be in a movie playing the part of a typical British villain. I believe my looks perfectly suit a bond villain. And now,

thanks to Jaguar my wish has come true.”

Identify X who plays the evil boss.

ANSWER

STEPHEN HAWKINGHowever difficult life may seem there is always something you can do and succeed at

3.Arvind Thiruvengadam, a 32-year-old research engineer graduated from the University of Madras in 2004, before moving to West Virginia University for his MS and PhD. He joined the team which consisted of two university professors, Gregory Thompson and Dan Carder as well another student Marc Besch. Going on long drives in cars was always something Arvind Thiruvengadam had loved. And, it was also a part of his work. But he didn’t know that his penchant for long drives was going to be instrumental in helping him unravel something significant that shook the automotive world.

What did he discover recently along with his colleague and professors?

Arvind Thiruvengadam Marc Besch

DIESEL GATE – VOLKSWAGEN – using ‘Cheat-software’ to lie on diesel engine

emissions

4. An Old story - A high-ranking technician named vesely from a foreign country had a bet with Indian technician BS Shinde over the top speed of the bike. Vesely was certain that the bike would struggle to breach 90kph claiming that he knew the motorcycle inside out. Shinde didn’t quite agree. He told his blond friend that he, too, had been around and among these bikes since he was a teenager, and that he had ridden it at around 120 km/hr a few times. Vesely challenged if shinde could do 120 on the bike, he would give him a bottle of scotch. Shinde rode like a mad man in Mysore on that day and earned his bottle.

Name this iconic bike that is named after a city in Iran because the founders of the company trace their ancestry to that place.

BS Shinde

5. The Audi TT is a small two-door sports car marketed since 1998 across the world. The Audi TT takes its name from the successful motor

racing tradition in the British Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) race. Recently Mr Rikhab Chand Jain founder of a Indian company filed a case

against Audi from using the suffix TT for the above said model. What does Rikhab Chand’s company manufacture?

INNER WEAR

6.The dancer who starts the dance featuring in the break-dance tutorial video shot in the 80’s is an American actor, producer, director, and

screenwriter who plays the iconic role in the film series that put him on Hollywood's A-list, and won him the 2002 and 2014 MTV Movie

Awards for Best On-Screen Team with his co-actor. Identify him and the film series.

ANSWER

Vin diesel

AUDIENCE QUESTION 4

In February 1995, he launched an INR 15 billion project to generate 513 MW of Power under the name of Kannur Power Projects (P) Limited in his native

Panchayat of Kalliasseri in Kannur District in North Kerala. Identify this technocrat malayali (padma bushan awardee) who recently passed away

.

K P P NAMBIAR

ROUND 4

CONNECTION

+30/ -15Martin FleischmannStanley Pons

+25 /-12Cyril Burt

+20 / -10Alan Sokal

+15 / -7

Haruko Obokata

+10 / -5

Charles Dawson

+5 / -2

Ramar Pillai

HOAXES IN SCIENCES (deliberately fabricated falsehood made to

masquerade as truth)

1. Fleischmann–Pons success claim on cold fusion (1989)- USA

2. Cyril Burt faking research data on heritability of IQ (1940s -1960s) - Britain

3. Alan sokal submitted a sham article to the cultural studies journal Social Text (1994) USA

4. Haruko Obokata committed research fraud over purported new method to create stem cells (STAP method) – 2011, Japan

5. Charles Dawson, who faked a fossil by combining orangutan and human skull (Piltdown hoax) – 1912, Britain

6. Ramar pillai, claimed to have invented herbal fuel – 1996, India

AUDIENCE QUESTION 5

The national biodiversity act provides for setting up of Biodiversity Management Committees in all local bodies, whether Panchayats or Municipalities throughout the country to prepare People's Biodiversity Register in consultation with local people.

People’s biodiversity Register shall contain comprehensive information on availability and knowledge of local biological resources, their medicinal or any other use or any

other traditional knowledge associated with them.

Name first district in Kerala to have completed people biodiversity register.

WAYANAD

ROUND 5F U R Y

POUNCE AND BOUNCE+10 / -5

1. The Ford GPA 'Seep' ( Seagoing Jeep), was an amphibious version of the WWII Ford GPW Jeep. Only 12,778 of them were built between 1942–1943. After World War II, the British brought a few of these

vehicles to be put to use in the Brahmaputra region. When they were leaving India, some were sold off to locals. One such local was the

grandfather of Mr Vinayak Shankar, partner of Krishna mines group in Tirunelveli. Recently Vinayak used this old war-horse for a noble

mission. Identify the mission.

CHENNAI FLOODS RESCUE WORK

2. Iraqi artist Hussein Adil and friends were heading to a cafe to drink tea in Baghdad when an important call came in on his mobile phone that saved him from the car bomb explosion that occurred within minutes. Death of his close friend in the bomb blast made him look for ways of expressing his pain and anger through art.So he decided to create something and enact a performance.

This is what Adil tells about his artistic creation and performance – “We have to be one of the countries in the world that needs them the most. But we don't make them." "I wanted to show the public what we have come to... and plant this question in their heads: what if we all looked like this?"

What did Adil do as part of his artistic endeavour?

He made his friend wear a mock bomb disposal suit and go about his daily life

3.“When we awoke on the morning of December 8, 1941, we found ourselves — without any foreknowledge — to be embroiled in war... Since then, the majority of us who had truly understood the awesome industrial strength of the United States never really believed that Japan would win this war. We were convinced that surely our government had in mind some diplomatic measures which would bring the conflict to a halt before the situation became catastrophic for Japan. But now, bereft of any strong government move to seek a diplomatic way out, we are being driven to doom. Japan is being destroyed. I cannot do [anything] other but to blame the military hierarchy and the blind politicians in power for dragging Japan into this hellish cauldron of defeat.”

These are the Excerpts from Dr. Jiro Horikoshi’s personal diary during the final year of the world war II.

In spite of his above position he was very much part of Japanese war machine. What is his most iconic creation and also identify the company for which he was working, which sells cars and ACs in India nowadays.

ZERO FIGHTER PLANE OF MITSUBISHI

4.Zoji La had been seized by Pakistani raiders in 1948 in their campaign to capture Ladakh. The initial attempt by Indian army failed.

Later the army under the leadership of Lt Gen Cariappa in an operation code named Bison launched an attack on November 1 which caught the Pakistanis by surprise.

What engineering feat of Indian army help spring a surprise attack on Pakistanis that resulted in victory for Indians?

Tanks were dismantled and winched across bridges and reassembled in Zo jila.

5. It was an American merchant Thomas Sullivan who, in 1908, first started sending X in small bags to his customers. But a German company did copy the idea and developed it, supplying troops fighting in the war front with X bags made of cotton which

they called X bombs. Identify X

TEA

6.Many human rights groups at a panel discussion held recently at United Nations, claimed use of X by Syrian army helicopters on opposition-held neighbourhoods of Syria, are the main driver behind the refugee crisis that has overwhelmed neighbouring countries including Europe and is a recruitment bonanza for ISIS because the group can claim to be standing up to these atrocities.Identify X , a cheap low tech but deadly weapon that has been used early in Israeli-Arab wars, Vietnam war, civil wars in Srilanka, Sudan and Balkans.

BARRELL BOMBS OR FLYING IEDs

AUDIENCE QUESTION 6

He was born in an Thiyya family on August 10, 1927,

in Chennai. His family originally hails

from Thalassery in Kerala. An astronomical

observatory and telescope in Kavalur, TamilNadu has

been named after him. Identify him.

VAINU BAPPU

ROUND 6 SWADES

+ 10 - 5

1. The Congreve rocket was a British military weapon designed and developed

by Sir William Congreve in 1804, based directly on ----.

Mysore rockets or Tipu rockets

2. CONNECT MOHIT GOEL

MADHAVA REDDY

Both owns companies that claim to sell the World's cheapest smart phones

FREEDOM 251

NAMOTELACCHE DIN

99 Rupees only

3. After failing to make women of child bearing age take iodine tablets, people at a NGO called “Grey for good” were

looking for creative solution to address iodine deficiency among tribal women in north-west Maharashtra. That is

when doctors told them that it can be absorbed through the skin. What was the creative solution the NGO came up with?

iODiNE BiNDi- Iodine skin patch in the form of Bindi

4. A cartoon drawn by Bill Leak published in The Australian as his response to something that happened on 12th December, 2015, in which India had played a very crucial role, generated controversy over its allegedly racist content across the world including India.

What was the content of the cartoon.

Cartoon depicts starving Indians eating solar panels given to them to curb carbon

emissions.

5. Hublot is a Swiss luxury watchmaker founded in 1980 by Italian Carlo Crocco. He named the Hublot after the French word for "porthole". The

watch that he created featured the first natural rubber strap in the history of watch making. All new Hublot models come with a smart card

and reader using which customers can check for authenticity of the watch. Why was this watch in news recently?

Controversy over Rs 70 lakh Hublot watch worn by Karnataka CM

Siddaramaiah

6. Why was the robot avatar of Rajinikanth wearing dark glasses all

the time?

Animating the e y e s , is time-consuming and cost more (budget & time constraints)

AUDIENCE QUESTION 7

He did his schooling at Sarvodaya High School and his pre-degree at Mar Ivanios before graduating from Regional Engineering College, Calicut and then he joined Siemens a German company. He started drawing when an accident left him with a broken leg and bedridden while he was studying in class 6. One day when his German boss saw how he could draw, he said, "Good work, you shouldn't waste

your time as an engineer. That helped him shift his career to a completely different field. Identify this malayali who made the state proud by being part of the award winning movie's crew.

SAJAN SCARIA – Chief animation supervisor for ‘Inside Out’ movie which won the Oscar for the best animated

feature film.

ROUND 7DA V I N C I CO D E

POUNCE AND BOUNCE+10 / -5

1. The culinary use of X has been mentioned in an 1890 recipe book titled Fancy Ices authored by Mrs. Agnes Marshall. But this molecular gastronomical technique was generally made famous by chef Heston Blumenthal at his restaurant, The Fat

Duck. X in the hands of trained chefs can help create exotic cocktails and ice creams. But in

the hands of amateurs it can be deadly, like the teenager who had her stomach removed after drinking a cocktail containing X or a wannabe cook who lost both arms

in an explosion while trying to cook with X . Identify X

LIQUID NITROGEN

2. Warp drive is a faster-than-light spacecraft propulsion system in many science fiction works, most notably Star Trek. A primary component of the warp drive is the

warp core. It is a fictional reactor that taps the energy released in a matter-antimatter annihilation to provide the energy necessary to power a starship's warp

drive. This experimental facility in USA was used as the set for

the starship Enterprise's warp core in the movie Star Trek Into Darkness. It is one among the 15 experimental facilities in the world.

Identify the purpose of this scientific facility which is largest and most energetic device of its kind built to date, and has the largest laser in the world.

TO PRODUCE FUSION ENERGY NATIONAL INGITION FACILITY (NIF), USA

3. An actor recently lent his voice to Google's GPS navigation app Waze for a limited time

as a marketing strategy for movie "London Has Fallen" in which he has acted. Identify this actor whose calming, trustworthy voice has been heard ranging

from describing penguins in documentaries to voicing God in movies.

MORGAN FREEMAN

4. Diemut Strebe, an artist who specialises in unique type of artworks had paid a

tribute to the artist Vincent Von Goh by creating a art installation in museum in

Germany. He insists it is more than just a display of art, it’s a scientific feat. Titled ‘Sugababe’, he said the art installation is based on the

Theseus’s paradox by Plutarch( if a ship would be the same ship if all its parts were

replaced). Identify the art installation.

He created a living replica of Vincent van Goh’s EAR using DNA from Lieuwe van Gogh, the great-great

grandson of the Vincent Van Goh’s brother Theo and a 3 D printer.

5. Anshu Agarwal, a 25-year-old freelance photographer, teacher in an NGO working in the village in Uttarkhand, as an exercise to teach the

children English showed them X movies on Sundays.

They were so smitten by them and once expressed how they wished to be like the characters in the

movies. He has been specializing for some time in a

particular type of photography which involves compulsory elaborate editing once the photos are

taken. His expertise in this type of photography and the children’s wish to be like in the movie

series they saw made him do the photo shoot and release the series of photos on his page Anshoots

Photography recently. What was the photo shoot about and also identify

X.

Children playing a game of Quidditch; Harry Potter

6. "Sexy and I Know It" is a hit song by American duo LMFAO from album, Sorry for Party Rocking. A group called satire came up with a

video which was a play on the above song to parody a very significant scientific achievement of the century. The video became viral on the net not just because it was funny but it also was accurate about the

scientific facts and depicted even the scientists involved in that mission accurately down to their hair styles and mannerisms.

Identify the scientific achievement or mission.

ANSWER

MARS CURIOSITY ROVER – We’re NASA and we know it