Here are the answers to the online quiz.
| Q1 |
A common feature of all life on Earth is... |
|
4. contains DNA |
| Q2 |
If extraterrestrials had visited Earth at some random time
between the Earth's formation and now, what kind of life forms would they
most likely have found |
|
3. bacteria |
| Q3 |
Which of the following ideas is NOT being discussed as a
possible explanation for the origin of life on Earth? |
|
4. life on Earth came from Mars |
| Q4 |
The age of the Universe, the age of the Earth and the age
of the earliest evidence for life on Earth are respectively (in billions
of years): |
|
3. 13, 4.5, 3.8 |
| Q5 |
The Earth's atmosphere contains about 80% nitrogen and 20%
oxygen. The oxygen that we breathe... |
|
4. is the waste product of blue-green algae |
| Q6 |
The bombardment of the early Earth by meteorites can be quantified
by... |
|
2. measuring the number of craters in the lunar maria and
highlands |
| Q7 |
We may all be martians since... |
|
2. life could have begun first on Mars and then have been
carried to Earth inside of a meteorite |
| Q8 |
Astronomers have been searching for planets around Sun-like
stars. So far... |
|
3. about 100 large Jupiter-like planets have been found |
| Q9 |
Water and organic molecules... |
|
1. have been found in molecular clouds all over our galaxy
|
| Q10 |
The Drake equation... |
|
1. tries to estimate the number of advanced civilizations
in our galaxy |
| Q11 |
Fermi's paradox is... |
|
1. if technological civilizations are common in our Galaxy,
they should be here but they aren't |
| Q12 |
In our class Dr. Butler announced a discovery which made
world wide press the next day. We heard it first! He and his colleagues
had discovered the first stellar system with more than one planet. They
made this discovery by... |
|
1. the radial velocity or Doppler method (seeing how the velocity
of the star varies with time) |
| Q13 |
NASA's Terrestrial Planet finder (TPF) is a proposed space-borne
interferometer. TPF will use the technique of `nulling' to locate planets
near stars. The process of `nulling' is... |
|
2. using interference methods to eliminate the light from
the bright star, thereby rendering the fainter planet detectable |
| Q14 |
Predictions about the future of artificial intelligence
depended on Moore's Law which states that... |
|
2. computing power doubles every 2 years or so |
| Q15 |
The basic idea of the Gaia hypothesis is that... |
|
3. the physical and biological components of the Earth are
part of a single living entity |
| Q16 |
The Weak Anthropic Principle says that... |
|
1. the laws of physics we deduce by experiment must be compatible
with our own existence |
| Q17 |
If we receive a message from an extraterrestrial inhabiting
a planet orbiting one of the nearest stars, how long ago was the message
sent? |
|
3. a few years |
| Q18 |
If we succeed in detecting a signal from an extraterrestrial
civilization there is a protocol which says... |
|
2. don't reply immediately, inform the press |
| Q19 |
Which of the following are regularly reported in the media
as being UFOs? |
|
4. all of the above |
| Q20 |
The opinion about the existence of extraterrestrials that
most closely represents the opinions of the organisers of this course is...
|
| |
4. there is a good chance that some kind of alien life exists
out there somewhere |
