The kids’ quiz

This quiz answers questions posed by children — will you get a better score than your parents? 1 Tilly, 6, asks: how do ants communicate and work together?

A By buzzing at each other in a special kind of ant language

B Using pheromones and smell

C By waving their legs around in the air

D By reading each other’s minds

2 Ryan, 8, asks: what is the largest part of the brain? A The cerebrum

B The cerebellum

C The frontal lobe

D The hypothalamus

3 Evie, 9, asks: which was the first TV show to be broadcast?

A A Trip to the Moon

B Train Pulling into a Station

C The Queen’s Messenger

D Tom and Jerry 4 Fleur, 11, asks: why were whale bones used in corsets?

A The bones of whales weren’t used in corsets – instead dress makers used a special material called baleen

B So that the whale bones from creatures that had died and were washed up on to the shore didn’t have to go to waste

C Because corset makers usually lived by the sea, near to lots of whales

D Bird bones were used at first but they kept on snapping when people ate too much cake

5 Maxwell, 11, asks: which country has the highest population density? A India

B Singapore

C Monaco

D The Maldives

Answers (no peeking!)

1 B. Ants communicate using chemical substances called pheromones – they have a unique smell that sends messages to other ants. They can use it to lay a trail for other ants to follow, to say where food can be found or to warn of danger. Scientists also think ants make noises by rubbing parts of their bodies to communicate.

2 A. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain. Different parts of it control muscle functions, speech, thinking, emotions, reading, writing and learning.

3 C. The first TV drama to be broadcast was The Queen’s Messenger, in 1928.

4 A. Baleen, also called whalebone, is a bristly material in whales’ mouths for filtering water. From the 16th century it was used in corsets to create the small waist shape fashionable for women at the time.

5 C. In 2020, Monaco had about 18,200 people per square kilometre. This is a tricky question, however, as it depends on your definition of “country”! Macau has more than 20,000 people per square kilometre; it is not an independent state but a separate administrative region of China.