6 questions, easy to hard, then Ivy's pick. Here is every answer, and why.
Answer: 26. It once had 27: '&' (ampersand) was recited at the end, 'and per se and', which is where the word ampersand comes from.
Answer: Scurvy. A 1747 trial by James Lind showed citrus cured it, one of the first controlled trials. The Royal Navy's lime ration is why Americans called British sailors 'limeys'.
Answer: 42.195 km (26.2 miles). The odd number dates from the 1908 London Olympics, when the course was lengthened so it could start at Windsor Castle and finish in front of the royal box.
Answer: It gets lower. The Doppler effect: the sound waves are stretched as the source recedes. The same effect, applied to light, is how astronomers know the universe is expanding.
Answer: Krakatoa. It is the loudest sound in recorded history; sailors 60 km away had their eardrums burst. Its dust turned sunsets blood-red worldwide, possibly inspiring the sky in Munch's 'The Scream'.
Answer: False. Dozens of double-blind trials find no effect. In one, parents told their child had drunk sugar rated the child as more hyperactive, when the drink was sugar-free. The party, not the cake, does it.
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