Run this live with your team

Everyone answers on their phone, you control each question, live scores and a podium. £5 includes five rounds; add up to five more for £1 each.

Strange but True

No invented facts here. The challenge is spotting the real explanation.

Free to use with your own team, courtesy of WorkplaceHero - workplacehero.co.uk

Question sheet

1. Why can pieces of pumice float on water?
- A. They repel all water
- B. They contain many gas-filled spaces
- C. They are made of frozen lava foam
- D. They generate lifting bubbles
2. A narwhal's long tusk is usually which structure?
- A. An elongated left upper canine tooth
- B. A right lower incisor
- C. A keratin horn
- D. An extension of the nasal bone
3. How many main foliage leaves does a Welwitschia plant keep growing throughout its life?
- A. One
- B. Four
- C. Dozens each year
- D. Two
4. Which metal melts at about 30°C, low enough for body heat to melt it?
- A. Copper
- B. Iron
- C. Gallium
- D. Aluminium
5. Which takes longer on Venus: one complete spin or one orbit of the Sun?
- A. They take the same time
- B. The complete spin takes longer
- C. The spin takes only a few hours
- D. The orbit takes about twice as long
6. Where do seahorse embryos develop after transfer from the female?
- A. In the male's brood pouch
- B. In a nest beneath a rock
- C. In the female's gill chamber
- D. On the male's dorsal fin
7. What is an axolotl retaining juvenile features into reproductive adulthood called?
- A. Parthenogenesis
- B. Aposematism
- C. Diapause
- D. Neoteny
8. How does the sandbox tree, Hura crepitans, launch its seeds?
- A. Its leaves catapult them in rain
- B. Its roots pump them underground
- C. Its ripe fruit bursts explosively
- D. Its flowers fling them before fruit forms
9. Which metal makes the oxygen-carrying pigment in octopus blood blue?
- A. Cobalt
- B. Copper
- C. Manganese
- D. Iron
10. Which feature most quickly distinguishes a slow worm from a snake?
- A. It can blink
- B. It has scales
- C. It flicks its tongue
- D. It moves without legs
11. Where does a male platypus deliver venom from?
- A. Grooved front teeth
- B. Tail spines
- C. Forefoot claws
- D. Hind-limb spurs
12. Which sea-cucumber structure is reduced to tiny elements called ossicles?
- A. Its digestive tract
- B. Its jaws
- C. Its skeleton
- D. Its respiratory tree

Answer sheet (for the quizmaster)

1. B - They contain many gas-filled spaces
Gas-filled spaces can make pumice less dense than water. Pieces can eventually sink as gas escapes.
2. A - An elongated left upper canine tooth
The familiar tusk is a canine tooth growing through the upper lip, usually on the left.
3. D - Two
Its two long-lived leaves keep growing and split into strips, making the plant look as though it has many leaves.
4. C - Gallium
Gallium melts at about 29.76°C, below normal body temperature. A warm hand can supply enough heat to melt it.
5. B - The complete spin takes longer
Venus rotates once in about 243 Earth days but orbits the Sun in about 225. A sunrise-to-sunrise day is different.
6. A - In the male's brood pouch
The male carries embryos in a pouch and releases the young when they hatch.
7. D - Neoteny
Axolotls normally retain external gills and other juvenile features while becoming capable of breeding.
8. C - Its ripe fruit bursts explosively
The fruit bursts and launches seeds. High-speed video shows the flying seeds can spin backwards.
9. B - Copper
Octopuses use copper-containing haemocyanin rather than iron-containing haemoglobin.
10. A - It can blink
Slow worms are legless lizards with eyelids. Snakes lack movable eyelids.
11. D - Hind-limb spurs
Male platypuses possess venom-delivering spurs on their hind limbs.
12. C - Its skeleton
Tiny calcium-carbonate ossicles replace the conspicuous rigid skeleton seen in many other echinoderms.