Quiz

BuzzFeed Staff

Science

Have you been paying attention to what's happened in science this month?

Can You Get 8/8 On This October Science Test?

The [2017 Nobel Prize in physics](https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/nobel-prize-in-physics-2017) was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne for work that led to the discovery of ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. All three are members of the LIGO-Virgo collaboration, a team of over a thousand scientists who in February last year announced they had seen gravitational waves for the first time.

Gravitational waves

Which discovery won three scientists the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics?

The [2017 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine](https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomchivers/scientists-who-showed-how-our-body-clocks-work-have-won-the) went to three US scientists for their work on how our bodies' internal "clocks" are run by the chemistry in our cells.  
Jeffrey C Hall, Michael W Young, and Michael Rosbash discovered a gene in fruit flies that controls a protein that builds up in cells over the course of a night and dissipates in the day.

Fruit flies

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine went to scientists who figured out how our body clocks work. Which of these did they use in their experiments?

Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson came up with [the technique](https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/nobel-prize-in-chemistry-2017), called cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM). It allows scientists to freeze biomolecules – molecules involved in the processes of life. Once they are frozen, scientists can look in detail at the structures of these molecules and the processes they are involved in. The method has been used to analyse the Zika virus, among other applications.

Freezing

Three scientists won the 2017 Nobel prize in chemistry for developing a process called "cryo-electron microscopy". What does the "cryo" part of the name of the process signify?

According to the [World Meteorological Organisation](https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/greenhouse-gas-concentrations-surge-new-record): "Globally averaged concentrations of CO2 reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400.00 ppm in 2015 because of a combination of human activities and a strong El Niño event."

403.3 parts per million

The amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere reached a record high in 2016, it was announced this month. What was the record-breaking concentration?

The [Dawn spacecraft](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6980) should have enough fuel to last until the second half of 2018. After that it will remain in a stable orbit around Ceres indefinitely, but won't be able to communicate with Earth.

Dawn

A NASA mission around dwarf planet Ceres was extended this month and will keep going until its fuel runs out. What is the spacecraft called?

Somebody must have liked Haumea because earlier this month scientists [announced](https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/this-potato-shaped-dwarf-planet-has-got-a-ring) that there was a ring on the potato-shaped dwarf planet.

A ring

Speaking of dwarf planets, it was announced this month that dwarf planet Haumea has what astronomical feature?

It passed under Earth's orbit on October 14, sixty times further away than the moon. Astronomers aren't yet 100% whether it's an asteroid or a comet, or where it came from.

A/2017 U1

Which of these is the name of an apparent interstellar object that came flying past Earth earlier this month?

This month physicists [announced](https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/scientists-have-seen-gravitational-waves-formed-from) that they'd seen gravitational waves and a blast of light from colliding neutron stars for the first time. It confirms a long-suspected theory about where elements heavier than iron come from. Dr Kate Maguire, an astrophysicist at Queen's University Belfast, told journalists at a briefing: "Heavier elements, such as gold and platinum, are definitively formed in a neutron star merger. We can now say that conclusively."

Colliding neutron stars make gold

Complete the sentence:

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Can You Get 8/8 On This October Science Test?

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