October 12, 2012
Question 1 |
A biologist at San Francisco State is asking the public for help in monitoring honeybee behavior after he witnessed what outside of his lab?
A | A honeybee flying in a loopy, drunken fashion |
B | A bee regurgitating bright blue honey |
C | Maggots springing from the corpse of a fallen bee |
D | A swarm of bees clustering together to spell out threatening messages |
A bit of a trick question. A story did make the rounds this week about bees in France sucking up sugar water from an M&M factory and then producing blue honey, but biologist John Hafernik is more concerned about the maggots from a native fly that he saw sprouting from what he's now calling a "ZomBee." He's asking beekeepers to set up light traps and average citizens to collect corpses from under their porch lights to see if they're similarly infected.
Question 2 |
A surprising new study from Ohio State University says that the more educated you are, the more likely you are to do what:
A | Drive a foreign-made car |
B | Take on debt |
C | Smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day |
D | Commit a felony |
The study found that people with college degrees were more likely than those with high school educations to pay more than 40 percent of their monthly income to debt. And that's not even taking student loan debts into account. This is more like mortgages and credit cards.
Question 3 |
Sociologists have found that one particular demographic tends to breastfeed babies more than others. What is it?
A | Low-income churchgoers |
B | Single mothers in the western United States |
C | Triathletes |
D | Women of Lithuanian descent |
A new analysis of nearly 5,000 American infants and their mothers found that 66 percent of the women who attended church at least once a week breastfed their newborns, as opposed to 48 percent who never attended services. However, the study also showed that that margin dropped after the first six months, possibly indicating that the mothers had to give up breastfeeding in order to return to work and earn a wage.
Question 4 |
A survey published by the Pew Research Center this week indicates that 32 percent of Americans under 30 report what:
A | Feelings of deep, prolonged irony |
B | That they'ved moved back in with their parents |
C | Crushing student loan debt |
D | No religious affiliation |
They might experience feelings of deep irony, they've likely moved back in with their parents, and they no doubt are struggling with massive student debt, but in fact the Pew report indicated that Millennials are driving an overall rise in godlessness in America, though many still report feelings of spiritual connection.
Question 5 |
Daredevil Felix Baumgartner's plans to skydive from "near-space" this week (the jump has been postponed to this Sunday) prompted us to dig up a 2005 report that gave what reason for why young men tend to perform daredevil acts:
A | To get chicks |
B | To demonstrate their virility to other men |
C | To score lucrative Four Loko sponsorships |
D | To push the boundaries of what is possible and therefore advance the cause of scientific endeavor |
This is an easy one: to attract mates. But the catch? It doesn't really work. While the study found that daredevils were indeed seen as more brave, athletic, and fit than the rest of us, only those were performing their stunts for some noble or charitable cause "were perceived as more altruistic, agreeable, conscientious, and sexy than risk avoiders."
So these guys:
... are probably out of luck.
Question 6 |
An Australian research team has concluded that doing what for a half-hour before making a public presentation can significantly reduce performance anxiety?
A | Filling in a crossword puzzle |
B | Engaging in certain positions from the Kama Sutra |
C | Taking deep breaths from your diaphragm |
D | Singing songs from your childhood |
The research, from the University of Sydney, found that of the 46 classical musicians who were twice compelled to sight-read tricky pieces of music with little preparation, those who performed deep-breathing exercises between performances reported being noticeably less stressed.
(Somebody shoulda told that to this guy.)
Question 7 |
According to a study published this summer in Psychological Science, time flies when you're what:
A | Having fun |
B | Having flan |
C | Rollerskating |
D | Looking for your keys |
More specifically, time flies when you're experiencing a sense of awe. Respondents who watched awe-inducing videos (which showed things like waterfalls, whales, astronauts in space, etc.) reported feeling more time-rich and less impatient.
Allow us to contribute to your sense of awe on this rushed Friday:
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