Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A word that changed its meaning

The Book of Revelation, the final book of the Christian Bible, is also known as the Apocalypse - from the Greek apokalypsis, meaning an uncovering or disclosure. For centuries the word simply described a revelation, often a dramatic one. Its modern sense of cataclysmic destruction is a later shift, shaped by the violent imagery that fills that same book.

A handover that ended an era

Hong Kong became a British colony after the First Opium War in the 1840s, and remained under British administration for more than 150 years. In 1984 Britain and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing that sovereignty would return to China on 1 July 1997. The handover marked the end of the British Empire's last significant overseas possession in Asia.

Carbon and its quiet ubiquity

Carbon's symbol, C, sits at the centre of the periodic table's Group 14 and is the backbone of all known life. Its ability to bond with itself in chains and rings allows for millions of different compounds, which is why organic chemistry is essentially the study of carbon. Diamond and graphite are both pure carbon, yet they could hardly look more different.

Where the new year arrives first

Beijing welcomes the new year several hours before Paris, and roughly thirteen hours before New York. The reason is the International Date Line, which runs through the Pacific Ocean and separates calendar days. This means that while much of the world is still finishing December 31, parts of the Pacific have already begun January 1.