Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

Why a giraffe's neck is not as strange as it looks

A giraffe's neck can stretch well over a metre, yet it contains the same number of neck vertebrae as a human: seven. What makes the difference is the size of each individual bone, not the count. Giraffe neck vertebrae are enormously elongated, which is why the animal can browse leaves that other herbivores cannot reach. This shared number across almost all mammals, from mice to whales, is one of the more striking examples of a common body plan.

Franz Liszt and the Hungarian Rhapsodies

Franz Liszt composed his nineteen Hungarian Rhapsodies over several decades, with the best-known ones appearing in the 1840s and 1850s. The pieces draw on folk-style melodies and the fiery, improvisatory feel of Roma music, which Liszt encountered during his youth in Hungary. They became some of his most popular works, and their theatrical energy made them a favourite of virtuoso pianists ever since.

Emily Brontë's single novel

Emily Brontë published just one novel in her lifetime: Wuthering Heights, which appeared in 1847 under the pen name Ellis Bell. She also wrote poetry, much of it tied to the imaginary world she and her siblings invented as children. Her sister Charlotte wrote several novels, and Anne wrote two, which makes Emily's single, towering contribution to English literature all the more remarkable.

One element, many names

Astatine takes its name from the Greek word for "unstable", an apt choice for a highly radioactive element that occurs only in trace amounts in nature. Its chemical symbol is At, while Ar belongs to argon and Ae is not a recognised symbol at all. Astatine is so rare that the total amount present in the Earth's crust at any moment is estimated to be less than a gram.