Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A capital that is not the seat of government

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, yet the country's government, parliament and supreme court sit in The Hague. This split is unusual but not unique: Bolivia has a similar arrangement, with Sucre as the constitutional capital and La Paz as the seat of government. Amsterdam's status is written into the Dutch constitution, even though the monarch and most official business are based elsewhere.

Thirteen days that brought the world to the brink

The Cuban Missile Crisis unfolded in October 1962, when American reconnaissance flights spotted Soviet missile installations on Cuba. For thirteen days, President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev faced off in a confrontation widely regarded as the closest the Cold War came to nuclear war. It ended with the Soviet Union withdrawing its missiles in exchange for a US pledge not to invade Cuba, and the quiet removal of American missiles from Turkey.

The biggest animal that has ever lived

The blue whale is not just the largest cetacean; it is the largest animal known to have existed on Earth, outweighing even the biggest dinosaurs. Its heart alone can weigh as much as a small car, and its calls travel vast distances underwater. Despite this scale, blue whales feed mainly on tiny krill, straining them from the water through plates of baleen rather than teeth.

Why sailors once feared scurvy

Vitamin C is essential for collagen synthesis, the process that keeps skin, blood vessels and connective tissue strong. A lack of it causes scurvy, a disease that once devastated long sea voyages. British sailors earned the nickname "limeys" because citrus fruit was issued to prevent it. Humans, unlike most animals, cannot make vitamin C themselves, so it must come from the diet.

When scars keep growing

A keloid is an overgrowth of scar tissue that extends beyond the original wound, sometimes continuing to enlarge long after the injury has healed. Unlike ordinary scars, keloids can be raised, shiny and occasionally itchy or painful. They are more common in people with darker skin tones and often appear on the ears, shoulders and chest.