Join us on our Quiz of the Day adventure. In this post, every question uncovers fascinating facts and delivers bite-sized knowledge nuggets just for you! Ready to dive into the answers from this week’s ( 7 Dec 2024 to 13 Dec 2024) exciting lineup of questions? Let’s explore what you’ve learned!
Quiz 1
What is a river basin?
Ans. A river basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point. e.g. a river mouth. It can also flow into another body of water, like a lake or ocean. The Amazon basin located in northern South America, is the largest river basin in the world. The Amazon river and all of its tributaries drain an area of more than 7 million square kilometres. The Congo river is the world’s second-largest river system after the Amazon.
Facts about the Ganga river basin: It is the largest river basin in India. The length of the Ganga river basin is more than 2500 km. It is a whopping 1,086,000 square kilometers covering countries like Tibet, Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.
Quiz 2
What is Svalbard in Norway known for?
Ans. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure backup facility for the world’s crop diversity. It is on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The Seed Vault provides long-term storage for duplicate seeds worldwide, conserved in gene banks. This provides the world’s food supply security against the loss of seeds in gene banks due to mismanagement, accidents, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease, and natural disasters. The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement among the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen). The Crop Trust, officially known as the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is an international nonprofit organization with a secretariat in Bonn, Germany. Its mission is to conserve and make the world’s crop diversity available for food security.
Quiz 3
What is the Karman Line?
Ans. The Kármán line is a conventional definition of the edge of space. The international record-keeping body FAI(Fédération aéronautique internationale) defines the Kármán line at an altitude of 100 kilometres (54 nautical miles; 62 miles; 330,000 feet) above mean sea level.
While named after Theodore von Kármán, who calculated a theoretical limit of altitude for airplane flight at 83.8 km (52.1 mi) , he was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics.
The Kármán line is mainly used for legal and regulatory purposes of differentiating between aircraft and spacecraft, which are then subject to different jurisdictions and legislations. While international law does not define the edge of space, or the limit of national airspace, most international organizations and regulatory agencies (including the United Nations) accept the FAI’s Kármán line definition or something close to it.
Quiz 4
Which Indian State has announced the Snow Leopard, KUZU, as the official mascot for its Statehood celebration?
Ans. To mark the 50th anniversary of Sikkim’s statehood, the State Government has announced “KUZU,” a Snow Leopard as the official mascot for the grand celebration. The event will highlight facts about the Snow Leopard in Sikkim.
Quiz 5
What is The Thucydides Trap ?
Ans: American political scientist Graham T. Allison popularised the term Thucydides Trap. Fact: It describes an apparent tendency towards war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great power as a regional or international hegemon. Thucydides, the ancient Greek historian of the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens, has long been considered the father of both scientific history and political realism. These historical facts provide insight into modern geopolitical strategies.
Quiz 6
Which Indian recently received the ‘Champion of the Earth’ award from UNEP?
Ans. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has named veteran ecologist Madhav Gadgil one of the six ‘Champions of the Earth’ for 2024. Significantly, this prestigious award is often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize for the Environment’. It is the UN’s highest environmental honor. It is given to individuals or organizations who have made significant contributions to environmental protection and sustainability. Also, one can explore the facts about previous awardees to understand the impact of this honor.
The annual award, the UN’s highest environmental honor, recognizes trailblazers at the forefront of efforts to protect people and the planet. Since 2005, the award has recognized 122 laureates for outstanding and inspirational environmental leadership. Gadgil, 82, received this honor in the ‘lifetime achievement’ category. ‘He has spent decades, a testament to his unwavering commitment, protecting people and the planet through research and community engagement. Gadgil’s work has greatly influenced public opinion and official policies on protecting natural resources, from landmark environmental impact assessments of state and national policies to grassroots environmental engagement. He is renowned for his seminal work in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats of India, a unique global biodiversity hotspot.
UNEP’s 2024 Champions of the Earth
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