Prelims, with answers of the BizSciTech Quiz hosted by Balaji Subramanian in January 2017 at the IV Edition of Interrobang, the NALSAR Quiz Festival.

2. PRELIMS WITH ANSWERS
30 questions
35 points
11-20 starred
26-30 two pointers

3. Q1. WHO DIRECTED HIS
EFFORTS? (OR)
WHAT DID HE FEED THE
SPECIMENS?In August 1897, following a trip to Ooty, he
captured twenty prime specimens that needed
feeding on his return to Begumpet. After
mounting a search, he found a volunteer named
Hussein Khan who met his requirements.
Khan was ordered to feed the specimens, and
paid the princely sum of one anna for each
specimen that survived.
Khan was able to successfully nourish eight of

4. SIR RONALD ROSS (OR) HIS OWN
BLOOD

5. Q2. WHAT INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY
WAS BATTLE-TESTED IN THE 1952
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, AND
REMAINS AN INTEGRAL PART OF
CAMPAIGNS TODAY?

7. THE TELEPROMPTER

8. Q3. WHAT VITAL DISCOVERY IS
CREDITED TO AMERICAN ATTEMPTS AT
CHEMICAL WARFARE IN WWII?
Although it was outlawed under the Geneva
Conventions, over 2,000 nitrogen mustard bombs –
100 tonnes of the poison – were secretly stockpiled on
the SS John Harvey, anchored off Italy when it was
blown up in a German air raid. The secret cargo
detonated, causing untold death and suffering.
A chemical warfare expert arrived to confront the
aftermath, and the autopsies he ordered showed
something startling: people who had succumbed to
the poison had very few lymph and bone marrow cells.

9. CANCER CHEMOTHERAPY
(SPECIFICALLY LEUKAEMIA)

10. Q4. CONSPIRACY THEORIES OVER
THE MEANING OF WHAT?
Historians believe the circle that encases the branding,
and the antenna-type symbol on top was an early
European symbol for quality adopted by the product’s
designers when they created it in 1952.
Conspiracy theorists, however, believe that the
antenna symbol is actually a Cross of Lorraine, a
symbol identified with the famed Knights Templar.
The “four-leaf clovers” that surround the branding has
also been interpreted as the cross pattee - a
geometric pattern of four triangles radiating outwards
that is also associated with the Knights Templar and

11. THE EMBOSSING ON OREO
COOKIES

12. Q5. HOW DOES VIRTUALIS
PREVENT VR USERS FROM
BECOMING SICK?
Virtualis LLC is a startup founded by a
professor at Purdue University. Its
primary offering is a patented method
of altering virtual reality simulations
to mitigate motion sickness (also
known as "simulator sickness") among
VR users, thus ensuring its success
with mainstream consumers.

14. ADDS A NOSE – VR HEADSETS BLOCK
THE NOSE FROM THE FIELD OF VISION,
AND DEPRIVE USERS OF A FIXED
REFERENCE POINT.

15. Q6. WHO IS LETTERMAN
INTERVIEWING?

17. Q7. WHAT WERE THESE STIRRING
SPOONS USED FOR?
In the 1970s, when McDonalds launched its
McCafe brand of hot beverages, its stores
handed out long plastic stirring spoons to
customers who wanted to mix in extra sugar.
However, the spoon only survived for a few
months before McDonalds decided to stop
issuing them to customers, with a
spokesperson commenting, “It has been
brought to our attention that people are using
them illegally and illicitly for purposes for which

19. MEASURING COCAINE FOR
SNORTING

20. Q8. WHAT ORGANISATION DOES
NARET HEAD?
"We say it's a little like the CIA," says inspector "M,"
with a laugh. She asked that her identity not be
revealed. "My whole life is staying under the radar,
staying away from cameras, using fake names, trying
to sneak in and out unnoticed."
Along with their boss, Jean Luc Naret, the director,
about 90 inspectors around the world decide which
establishments will win the industry equivalent of an
Oscar, a Nobel Prize and Megamillions jackpot all at
once.
"Very simple," Naret said. "There's no different type.

21. THE MICHELIN GUIDE.

22. Q9. WHO GIVES HIS NAME TO THE
PROCESS BY WHICH BROMINE IS
EXTRACTED FROM BRINE?He patented the process in 1891, and set up the
company that bore his name to manufacture bromine.
When the Bromkonvention, a German cartel, realised
that his price (27 cents/lb) undercut theirs (45
cents/lb), they dumped the US market with large
quantities of the chemical at a predatory price (15
cents/lb).
In a stroke of genius, he survived the threat by
secretly procuring thousands of pounds of bromine
through an agent, repackaging it with his brand and
exporting it back to Germany, forcing the

23. HERBERT HENRY DOW

24. Q10. WHY WERE RABBITS
BROUGHT TO OKUNOSHIMA?

25. Okunoshima Island is a tiny, uninhabited landmass
that is today a tourist site in the south of Japan.
Rabbits are not native to the island, but about 200
were brought into it in 1932.
Okunoshima was chosen for the rabbits since it was
surrounded by three larger, mountainous islands.

27. TO TEST CHEMICAL WEAPONS.

28. Q11. WHAT IS ELBAKYAN’S CLAIM
TO FAME?
Nature’s 10 is an annual list released by the science magazine
containing ten personalities who mattered in the preceding year. This
year’s list includes Gabriela Gonzalez (gravitational waves), Demis
Hassabis (AlphaGo developer) and Celina Turchi (Zika specialist),
among others.
Also on the list is Alexandra Elbakyan, a Kazakh graduate student
currently pursuing a master’s degree in science history. Her biggest
opponents include the Dutch company Elsevier, which sued her for
millions of dollars in 2015.
Undeterred, she says she feels a moral responsibility to keep her
website afloat because of the users who need it to continue their
work. “Is there anything wrong or shameful in running it? I think no,
therefore I can be open about my activities,” she says.

29. SHE CREATED SCI-HUB.

30. Q12. ID THE CHARACTERS PLAYED
BY VIGGO MORTENSEN AND
MICHAEL FASSBENDER

31. SIGMUND FREUD; CARL JUNG.

32. Q13. WHO WERE TITAN’S
CUSTOMERS?
Titan Process House, a
textile unit in
Chaudhawadi (near
Malegaon in Maharashtra)
received its largest ever
order in June 2016. The
order was for the dying of
seven lakh metres of
white cloth received from
Bhilwara.

33. PANTS FOR THE RSS.

34. Q14. ORIGINS OF WHAT PRODUCT?
In 1941, Forrest Mars developed the product and set up
headquarters in Newark, having secured a patent March 3. The
______ Plain Chocolate Candies, as they were called, hit the
consumer market that same year. Within months, though, the
U.S. entered World War II, and ________ became reserved for
military use. Since the sugar coating prevented the candy from
melting in warm climates like the Pacific, _______ were issued as
part of soldiers’ C-Rations. Tubes were also sold in post
exchanges and ships’ service stores. The Newark factory —
located at 200 North 12th Street — produced 200,000 pounds
of _______ per week, most of it going to the military. As the
advertisements of the period maintained, _______ were “100% at
War.”

36. Q15. WHO ISSUED THIS 1970
BOARD GAME?
Two to four players compete at exploring for
oil, building platforms, and laying pipelines to
bring the offshore oil back to the player's home
company. Players take on the roles of
companies in their quest for oil. As with other
games focusing on offshore oil exploitation
(e.g. Omnia's North Sea Oil), there is also the
risk that storms will reduce production on, or
eliminate, one's oil platforms.
The first player to make $120,000,000 in cash
is the winner.

39. Q16. WHICH TOWN?
______ _____, New Hampshire is an area that
was until 1944 known as a resort town,
surrounded by the White Mountain National
Forest.
The area, in 1945 was used as the location for
a particular event that is said to have changed
the course of international trade and business,
until its eventual collapse in 1971.

40. BRETTON WOODS.

41. Q17. WHERE DOES THIS STORE
SOURCE ITS INVENTORY?
The store stocks about 7,000 items a day: from nail clippers,
art, to Sully masks from Monsters, Inc.
The store differs from a normal thrift store in the way that it
sources its items; the shelves here are full of things people
wanted, not junk they threw away. “You might find a wedding
dress at a thrift store," spokeswoman Branda Cantrell said, "but
you wouldn’t find a Vera Wang wedding dress. And we’ve had
several of those.”
The store also has a dedicated museum to the wacky things
they’ve discovered, from a 19th-century Victorian fan to a 6ft
papier-mâché Tinker Bell, to a Jim Henson Hoggle puppet used
in the David Bowie classic Labyrinth. On more than one

43. Q18. WHO WAS THE SUBJECT OF
THE STUDY?
A 2011 British Medical Journal paper studies three phases in the
subject’s life: 1798-1800, 1805-1810, and 1824-1826.
Most cases of hearing loss commence with the inability to perceive
higher frequency sounds, and gradually progress down the frequency
range.
The study counted occurrences of frequencies higher than 1568Hz in
the subject’s work, and found that they steadily decreased over the
first two periods but increased in the third.
They concluded that the subject was searching for an auditory
feedback loop in his work in the beginning of his hearing loss.
Towards the third phase, he had lost all but his inner ear, and was
compelled to work according to instinct, thus explaining the
resurgence of higher frequencies.

45. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.

46. Q19. WHOSE NEW LOGO?

47. JUVENTUS FC

48. Q20. WHAT IS MARTIN RIESE’S
OCCUPATION?
Martin Riese, America’s only certified
professional in the field, is a part of a
rather small community. He has made a
living from tasting, analyzing, judging and
educating individuals regarding the many
different flavours that we are often
unaware of.
He has also created a menu containing 44
pages of different varieties of the
beverage at the Ray and Stark in Los

49. HE IS A WATER SOMMELIER.

50. Q21. WHAT DOUBLE-POSITIVE
ACTIVITY IS THE PRIME EXAMPLE
OF AN IDEOMOTOR RESPONSE?
The term "ideomotor response" is most
commonly used in reference to the process
whereby a thought or mental image brings
about a seemingly "reflexive" or automatic
muscular reaction, often of minuscule degree,
and potentially outside of the awareness of the
subject.
This leads to the body sometimes reacting
reflexively to ideas alone without the person
consciously deciding to take action. This has

52. Q22. WHO OPERATES UNDER THESE
RESTRICTIONS?
According to Andy Wilman, they aren’t allowed to have a handwritten
leaderboard and they can’t call their news segment The News.
They’ve had debates over whether or not they can still say “cock.”
This year, they went to Namibia to film. The lawyers had a sit down
with them and told them that because they had previously called the
scenery “beautiful” earlier, they now had to “watch that you don’t do
that.”
So now, they had to say, “For legal reasons, this scenery is shit.”
We also learn that the new contract with Amazon runs for the next
three years. “That means,” Wilman muses, “he has got to get into a
low-slung car in three years’ time, and get out of it. I wanna be there
just to see that. Big puddle of piss in the seat.”

53. THE CAST OF TOP GEAR/THE
GRAND TOUR.

54. Q23. WHOSE NEW LOGO?
The new logo is written with the “ill”
replaced by a colon and two slashes,
just as displayed in a conventional
URL. Creative director Tim Murray
explained the decision to Wired:
“Because it has a portion of URL
embedded in the middle of the logo,
you know this must be some kind of

56. Q24. WHICH COMPANY?
In 2011, this company announced a $25000
cash donation to the Dian Fossey Fund
International, becoming an official corporate
partner. The donation was to support the
organisation's ongoing conservation and
habitat protection efforts to conserve in Africa.
"We are very excited to give back to the animals
that inspired our tough yet beautiful product,"
said an executive of the company.

57. CORNING (PART POINTS FOR
GORILLA GLASS).

58. Q25. WHAT DID THE PROJECT AIM
TO PRESERVE?
In 1964, the government’s aid request resulted in a
multinational task force of historians, mathematicians
and engineers gathering on the Azores islands to
discuss various stabilization methods, although it was
important to keep the destabilization intact as well.
After two decades of discussion, steps were taken to
resolve some of the issues. Apartments and homes in
the vicinity were vacated for safety concerns and 50
cubic yards of soil were removed from underneath.
After a decade of corrective efforts, the results were
finally seen, with those working on the project stating

59. THE ANGLE OF THE LEANING
TOWER OF PISA.

60. Q26. (A) WHICH COMPANY?
Began life in 1916 as an import arm of the British
Chloride Electric Storage Co.
Went through several name changes, doing business as
Chloride International Ltd., Chloride India Ltd.,
Chloride Industries Ltd., etc. before embarking on a
collaboration with Japan’s Shin Kobe Electric Machinery
Co. and settling on its current name.
Currently holds about 33% market share in its core
business areas, but is under fierce competition from
Hyderabad’s Amara Raja Group

61. Q26. (B) WHAT APPLICATION?
This company’s core business areas are in the automotive,
industrial and domestic sectors.
They are also the sole suppliers of this product to a certain
institution, meaning that about 800 products each are in
continuous use in 15 stations.
Each of these stations represents a unique challenge for the
company. 13 of these stations are either Kilo-class or Type
209, meaning that the company’s products must endure an
environment rich in diesel fumes and therefore be fire-proof.
The other two stations are in environments in which human
beings cannot safely enter, so must be built to endure lengthy
periods without maintenance.

62. (A) EXIDE; (B) SUBMARINES IN THE
INDIAN NAVY

63. Q27. (A) WHAT FEATURE OF MORTON
SALT IS BEING ADVERTISED THROUGH
ITS LOGO AND MOTTO?

64. Q27. (A)

65. Q27. (B) WHAT ADDITIVE DID
MORTON ADD TO ACHIEVE THIS
FEATURE?

66. (A) ANTI-CLUMPING (WHEN IT
RAINS, THE SALT POURS); (B)
MAGNESIUM CARBONATE

67. Q28. (A) WHO SPEARHEADED THIS
CAMPAIGN, DESIGNING THE LOGO ON
THE NEXT SLIDE FOR IT?
In late 2007, Greenpeace decided to name a
whale in an effort to protect it from Japanese
whaling expeditions.
The poll to decide upon a name was hacked to
ensure that the leading contender was “Mr.
Splashy Pants”.
Greenpeace’s decision to disregard the hacker’s
votes enraged an online community, which
collectively decided to ensure that “Mr. Splashy

69. Q28. (B) POEM BY WHOM?

70. (A) ALEXIS OHANIAN; (B) SERENA
WILLIAMS

71. Q29. (A) WHAT DEVICE? (B) WHAT
PROFESSION?
These locations typically contain devices which
generate strong electromagnetic fields and radio
waves.
Measures are taken to prevent interference with these
devices, meaning that cellular tower signals are
significantly weakened in the immediate vicinity.
The alternative, preferred by most professionals in the
field, allows only for one-way communication of small
messages.
Because of this, it can function perfectly well in

72. (A) PAGERS; (B)
DOCTORS/HOSPITAL WORKERS

73. Q30. (A) WHAT COMPANY DID RAJ
NARAYAN SET UP?
(B) WHO WAS X, INSTRUMENTAL TO ITS
SUCCESS?G Raj Narayan joined HAL in Bangalore after his Master's degree
in electronics engineering, and worked on avionics for about a
decade.
In 1970, he began pursuing his hobby full time, and started a
company in his garage to manufacture products such as the
Dhruva, Saarang, and Swaroopini to serve a niche market. The
company initially found it difficult to sell its products in the
market, but found an early adopter in a famous radical X in
1979, who took to their products immediately.
Narayan remarks that this was the turning point for his
company, which now boasts of a state-of-the-art facility in
Bangalore's Electronics City. X himself knew this, telling
Narayan that he was "more of a salesman and promoter" than a

74. (A) RADEL ELECTRONICS; (B)
BALAMURALIKRISHNA

75. STAND BY FOR THE
FINALS.
Ten minutes from now.