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-ster whom I’ve talked into taking the quiz on the record. This week’s contestant is Joshua Keating, who writes Slate’s new international news blog, the World.
Think you can ace my quiz and beat Keating? Good luck!
Here's an interesting footnote to this week's push towards war in Syria: A website that created a popular "Where's Damascus?" game reported that 65 users had played the game from within the U.S. Department of Defense ... and only 57 percent of them correctly located Damascus on a map. Don't worry. We won't be asking anything as hard as that on the Slate News Quiz.
Question 1 of 12
What product will add a boldfaced safety warning to its packaging next month, since its main ingredient is the nation's leading cause of sudden liver failure?
Tylenol faces more than 85 personal-injury lawsuits related to liver damage, a common side effect of its active ingredient, acetaminophen.
Question 2 of 12
Authorities in Sri Lanka are currently investigating photos taken last week of a group wedding held for nine couples. What was unusual about the couples?
Police are in hot water for staging a traditional Buddhist wedding for their breeding pairs of sniffer dogs.
Question 3 of 12
The Obama administration lobbied lawmakers this week for a "limited and tailored response" in Syria to hold Bashar al-Assad accountable for what?
Question 4 of 12
A psychiatric hospital in Pennsylvania has become the first medical center in North America to offer an in-patient treatment program for what disorder?
Question 5 of 12
On Saturday, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the first Supreme Court justice to officiate at a same-sex wedding. Coincidentally, one of the grooms had what very judicial name?
Roberts (no relation) married Ginsburg's close friend Michael Kaiser, who heads the Kennedy Center.
Question 6 of 12
This weekend, one of three finalist cities—Istanbul, Madrid, or Tokyo—will be announced as the next site for what?
Question 7 of 12
64-year-old Diana Nyad swam between Cuba and Florida this week. Her last two attempts, in 2011, had been aborted due to what danger?
In her successful fifth attempt, Nyad wore a full bodysuit and silicone mask to protect against box jellyfish and Portuguese man-of-wars.
Question 8 of 12
The rebel group M23 declared a ceasefire against UN peacekeeping troops last Friday, bringing a pause to the fighting that could still lead to war between what two countries?
Question 9 of 12
Why has a new skyscraper called the "Walkie Talkie" sparked outrage from its London neighbors?
The tower's curved front focuses sunlight just like a magnifying glass. The resulting scorching heat has melted cars, lit furniture on fire, and even fried eggs on the sidewalk.
Question 10 of 12
It was announced on Tuesday that a $320 million wall of ice, almost a mile long, will be built as a defense against what?
The underground ice barrier will prevent contaminated water from the leaking nuclear power plant to flow out to sea.
Question 11 of 12
According to a new Visa survey of American parents, what is the average amount left by the Tooth Fairy for a loose tooth?
That's a 23 percent rise over last year's average, substantially ahead of inflation.
Question 12 of 12
After being fired, who attracted media attention by performing a public self-crucifixion as a street protest?
The eight drivers, fired after striking for higher pay, have been nailed to wooden crosses outside company headquarters for three weeks.
You got 8 out of 12 answers correct in 20 minutes 30 seconds.
0
total
Tylenol
Sharpie markers
Splenda
Red Bull
They were babies
They were police dogs
They were mannequins
They were dead
Torture of opposition leaders
Violations of UN no-fly-zones
Chemical weapons attacks
His weird little mustache
Hoarding
Social anxiety
Bullying
Internet addiction
Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas
Samuel Alito
John Roberts
The Winter Olympics
A Guggenheim art museum
The Summer Olympics
MTV's The Real World
Hurricane-strength winds
Shark attacks
Jellyfish stings
Leg cramps
Colombia and Venezuela
India and Pakistan
Rwanda and DR Congo
Mali and Algeria
In high winds it emits an ultrasonic squeal
It reflects scorching heat onto the street below
A huge colony of wasps lives in its mezzanine garden
All its signage uses the font "Comics Sans"
Radiation, in Fukushima
Rising sea levels, in Oslo
Grizzly bears, in Nome, Alaska
White Walkers and wildlings, in Westeros
$0.70
$1.70
$2.70
$3.70
Paraguayan bus drivers
South African gold miners
Filipino schoolteachers
Tim Tebow
Average
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You
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Joshua Keating
Slate's international news blogger
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