Performing in the presence of whom might possibly lead to improved performances in teenaged males?

Saturday, 5 March 2011 - 9:16am IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
1. Performing in the presence of whom might possibly lead to improved performances in teenaged males?
Adolescent males
The aged


Neuroscientists at the University of California, San Francisco have discovered that teenage male songbirds, still working to perfect their song, perform better in the presence of a female bird.

2. Genes for what self-destructive habit have been found recently?



3. What is the value of planet earth, according to a scientist?
£3000 trillion
£450 gazilion
£200 billion


Greg Laughlin from the University of California-Santa Cruz came up with the figure by calculating the sum of the planet’s age, size, temperature, mass and other vital statistics. The Daily Mail reports that the Earth came out to be the most expensive of all planets.

4. What alcoholic beverage may not be around in 2050 thanks to climate change?
Red wine


Experts said the steady rise in temperatures is threatening the vineyards around Bordeaux region of France which is famous for producing some of the most esteemed and expensive wines on earth.

5. In the blind, the part of the brain used for vision can be used for what?
Language processing
Mathematical processing
Musical abilty


MIT neuroscientists proved that the visual cortex can change its function as it is capable of being recruited for language processing. This disproves that language processing can only occur in highly specialised brain regions that are genetically programmed for language tasks.

6. Which of the following are most likely to show bias against people who are different, according to experts?
People with low self-esteem
People who are assertive
People who show artistic tendencies


A new study has explained that people who feel badly about themselves are more likely to show bias against people who are different. ‘When we feel bad about ourselves, we can denigrate other people, and that makes us feel better about ourselves,’ Jeffrey Sherman of the University of California said.

7. NASA and India recently teamed up to do research on which of the following?
Decreasing solar activity
Increasing widths of blackholes
Measuring the lengths of supernova explosions


A joint research sponsored by the department of science and technology, India and NASA has explained the "puzzle" of recent period of decreased solar activity during the Sun's 11-year cycle. Solar scientists around the world were puzzled by the extended disappearance of sunspots in 2008-2009. The recent solar minimum, a period characterised by a lower frequency of sunspots and solar storms, was the deepest observed in almost 100 years.

8. What psychological state eases the fear of death and dying?


A George Mason University study has suggested that being a mindful person not only makes you more tolerant, but it can also neutralise fears of dying and death.

9. Facebook recently disabled what application despite its overwhelming popularity?
Breakup Notifier


The app, which amassed over three million users, worked by sending users an email whenever a "friend" altered their relationship status.

10. German engineers have invented a car that can run on what?


Researchers at University of Berlin have created a car that can be controlled by a headphone-like device which detects the driver's brainwaves while a computer converts these signals into electronic commands that are used to guide the car.

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