On this webpage you will find an archive of science and MIT trivia questions compiled from MIT Club of Boston newsletters.  Some of these questions have been featured in our annual Science Trivia Challenge.


Q: We've fired a lot of stuff out into space over the years and a lot of it is still out there. Match each of the following space probes with their current known distance from the planet Earth.

1. 259 million km:    ________     A) Cassini-Huygens
2. 1.5 billion km:     ________     B) Juno (the spacecraft)
3. 3.4 billion km:     ________     C) New Horizons
4. 17.9 billion km:     ________     D) Voyager 1

A: 1-B.  Juno is on its way to explore Jupiter.
     2-A.  Cassini-Huygens is currently orbiting Saturn.
     3-C.  New Horizons is heading for Pluto.
     4-D.  Voyager 1 launched in 1977, has left the solar system, and is still going!


Q: Lots of vegetables that we eat come out of the ground, but not all of them come from the true root of the plant (even if they are commonly referred to as "roots"). Which one of these vegetables does come from the true root of a plant?

A) Ginger
B) Onion
C) Potato
D) Taro
E) Turnip

A: E) Turnip (taproot). The others are modified stems: Ginger (rhizome), Onion (bulb), Potato (tuber), Taro (corm)


Q: The annual pumpkin drop from the Green Building to the "dot" below occurs around Halloween. As the tallest building on campus, the Green Building is a likely site for hacks, another MIT tradition. Which of the following interactive games was "hacked" on the Green building in 2012?

A) Twister
B) Tic Tac Toe
C) Tetris
D) a modified/beginner's Go

A: C) Tetris