Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

The first woman in space was not American

Valentina Tereshkova flew solo aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963, nearly two decades before Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983. Tereshkova was a former textile worker and amateur skydiver when she was selected for the Soviet space programme. She spent almost three days in orbit, more than all American astronauts combined up to that point, and remains the only woman to have flown a solo space mission.

Why some chemical symbols seem to ignore English

Iodine's symbol is simply I, but nickel's is Ni, and both make sense once you know the rules: symbols come from the element's name, with a second letter added when needed to avoid confusion. Some symbols, however, come from Latin names entirely, which is why iron is Fe (ferrum), gold is Au (aurum) and lead is Pb (plumbum). The periodic table is a quiet record of the languages and history behind chemistry.

Rivers, mountains and the limits of a single country

The Murray is Australia's longest river, winding roughly 2,500 kilometres from the Australian Alps to the Southern Ocean. The Tien Shan, or "Mountains of Heaven", stretch across Central Asia, with their highest peaks in Kyrgyzstan and China, though the range also reaches into Uzbekistan. Both facts are reminders that natural features rarely respect political borders.

San Diego and the difference between biggest and capital

San Diego is California's second-largest city, but the state capital is Sacramento. That mismatch is common: New York's capital is Albany, not New York City, and Australia's is Canberra, not Sydney. Capital cities are usually chosen for political or strategic reasons rather than size, which is exactly why so many of them surprise people in quizzes.