Play the Slate News Quiz

With Jeopardy! superchampion Ken Jennings.

Welcome back to Slate’s weekly news quiz. I’m your host, 74-time Jeopardy! winner Ken Jennings.

Every Friday I’ll be testing your knowledge with 12 challenging questions on the week’s news events, big and small, including happenings in science, sports, politics, and culture both high and low. The questions are multiple-choice, and time is of the essence: You have 30 seconds to answer, and as the seconds tick away, the question’s point value drops from 50 all the way down to zero, so you’ll want to click on your answer as fast as you possibly can. There’s no penalty for an incorrect answer, so feel free to take a guess if your puny human brain fails you.

At the end of the quiz, you’ll be able to compare your score with that of the average contestant, as well as to the score of a Slate staffer whom I’ve talked into taking the quiz on the record. This week’s contestant is Slate senior editor Dan Kois, editor of the Slate Book Review.

Think you can ace my quiz and beat Kois? Good luck!

At the end of a week when "Gangnam Style" dethroned Justin Bieber's "Baby" as the most-watched YouTube video of all time, we present another wildly popular Internet tradition: the Slate News Quiz. In fact, I'd like to get this week's quiz up to 803,761,000 hits as well, so please tell your friends.

Question 1 of 12

On Wednesday, the White House rolled out a new hashtag asking supporters to take to Twitter in support of what?

The hashtag #My2K refers to the $2,000 tax hike an average middle-class family will experience should all the Bush-era tax cuts expire as part of the "fiscal cliff" at the end of the year.

Question 2 of 12

What can a tiny jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii do that earned it a 6,500-word profile in the New York Times Magazine this week?

The so-called "Benjamin Button jellyfish" can transform itself back into a polyp and is thought to be potentially immortal.

Question 3 of 12

Mexican president Felipe Calderón called a news conference last week to announce his plan to remove what two words from Mexico's official name?

The country is officially the Estados Unidos Mexicanos. "Mexico doesn't need a name that emulates another country and that no one uses on a daily basis," said Calderón.

Question 4 of 12

According to new government statistics released a week ago, what country has seen a skyrocketing suicide rate, with a 50 percent increase in attempts over the past three years?

Before its economic crisis began, Greece had the lowest suicide rate in the European Union.

Question 5 of 12

What surprising fate has befallen Sandy Island, in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Caledonia?

An Australian science ship has sailed right through where Sandy Island was supposed to be. The island is now believed to be a cartographic error that's remained on maps for 140 years.

Question 6 of 12

Where were confidential Long Island police documents—including a Mitt Romney motorcade route—discovered last week?

Question 7 of 12

Who went on strike Wednesday in solidarity with the protestors in Tahrir Square?

The judges went on strike in protest of President Mohamed Morsi's edict last Thursday giving him near-absolute power.

Question 8 of 12

A new international study of 508 chimps and orangutans has revealed that apes, like many humans, may have what?

Like most humans, the apes studied were found to be happier at the beginning and end of their life than they are in between.

Question 9 of 12

Which of these groups from this week's headlines has the oldest average age?

The Stones, whose 50th anniversary tour kicked off in London last Sunday, are over 68 1/2, on average. The runners-up, the Supreme Court justices, have an average age of just under 67.