GenS 4014 Are We Alone?

Online Quiz

Below is an online version of what the final quiz might look like (in fact, this is the quiz of S1/1999). There are 20 multiple choice questions. Choose the best answer by checking a, b, c, or d. Hit the "Done!" button to view your score.

The quiz should take you only about 20 minutes but you will have one hour to complete the actual quiz at the end of session.

Here are some online quiz statistics.

A common feature of all life on Earth is...
1. needs oxygen
2. is multicellular
3. reproduces sexually
4. contains DNA

If extraterrestrials had visited Earth at some random time between the Earth's formation and now, what kind of life forms would they most likely have found
1. stone age humans
2. humans with radio telescopes
3. bacteria
4. dinosaurs and insects

Which of the following ideas is NOT being discussed as a possible explanation for the origin of life on Earth?
1. life originated in a "warm primordial soup" - possibly in tide pools
2. life originated several kilometers beneath the surface of the Earth or at the bottom of the oceans near hydro-thermal vents
3. life on Earth came from Mars
4. life on Earth originated on the Moon

The age of the Universe, the age of the Earth and the age of the earliest evidence for life on Earth are respectively (in billions of years):
1. 1000, 100, 5
2. 50, 10, 4.1
3. 13, 4.5, 3.8
4. 1.1, 0.6, 0.5

The Earth's atmosphere contains about 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen. The oxygen that we breathe...
1. came from volcanic emission
2. came from cow digestive tracts
3. is generated by ozone depletion
4. is the waste product of blue-green algae

The bombardment of the early Earth by meteorites can be quantified by...
1. meteorologists using a state of the art PC
2. measuring the number of craters in the lunar maria and highlands
3. measuring the abundance of volcanic gases in the atmosphere
4. careful mapping of the holes in the ozone layer

We may all be martians since...
1. sequencing of martian DNA shows that it is very similar to DNA on Earth
2. life could have begun first on Mars and then have been carried to Earth inside of a meteorite
3. there is good evidence for artificial canals on the martian surface
4. we are adapted to living on land and there is much less water on Mars than there is on Earth

Astronomers have been searching for planets around Sun-like stars. So far...
1. they haven't found any
2. about 100 small Earth-like planets have been found
3. about a dozen large Jupiter-like planets have been found
4. about a dozen Earth-like planets have been found

Water and organic molecules...
1. have been found in molecular clouds all over our galaxy
2. are probably only found on Earth because so far it's the only place where life has been detected
3. are only found in living creatures
4. are only found in plants and animals

The Drake equation...
1. tries to estimate the number of advanced civilizations in our galaxy
2. describes the organic gases from eukaryotic bacteria
3. quantifies the observation that once a species goes extinct it never comes back
4. describes how life gets more and more complex as it evolves

Fermi's paradox is...
1. if technological civilizations are common in our Galaxy, they should be here but they aren't
2. why are plants green? They should be black to absorb light better
3. the asteroid belt should be a planet but it's not
4. comets should contain lots of water ice but they don't

In our class Dr. Butler announced a discovery which made world wide press the next day. We heard it first! He and his colleagues had discovered the first stellar system with more than one planet. They made this discovery by...
1. the radial velocity or Doppler method (seeing how the velocity of the star varies with time)
2. the astrometric method (seeing how the position on the sky of the star varies with time)
3. the occulting method (seeing how the apparent luminosity of the star varies as the planet intersects the line of sight towards us, blocking out some of the light)
4. the symbiotic method (seeing how the biogenic atmospheres of the planets change the spectra of the central star)

NASA's Terrestrial Planet finder (TPF) is a proposed space-borne interferometer. TPF will use the technique of `nulling' to locate planets near stars. The process of `nulling' is...
1. cancellation of interstellar sound waves
2. using interference methods to eliminate the light from the bright star, thereby rendering the fainter planet detectable
3. shining an intense laser beam from Earth onto the star and surrounding regions of sky in the hope of illuminating the neighbouring planet so we can see it by reflected light
4. using radio receivers to observe the planet and eliminating any possible radio signals from the bright star by tuning to a different frequency

Predictions about the future of artificial intelligence depended on Moore's Law which states that...
1. computing power doubles every 2 weeks or so
2. computing power doubles every 2 years or so
3. exponential growth in the human population means exponential growth in the number of computers
4. computers will be smarter than people when a panel of experts cannot distinguish between the computer's answers and a human's answers to arbitrary questions

The basic idea of the Gaia hypothesis is that...
1. a supreme being watches over life on Earth
2. the physical and biological components of the Earth are waging a constant battle for supremacy
3. the physical and biological components of the Earth are part of a single living entity
4. all the races of humanity are one species

The Weak Anthropic Principle says that...
1. the laws of physics we deduce by experiment must be compatible with our own existence
2. the laws of physics we deduce by experiment need not be compatible with anything whatsoever, including our own existence
3. the laws of physics deduced by experiment are invalid
4. people invented physics, therefore only people see physical laws in action

If we receive a message from an extraterrestrial inhabiting a planet orbiting one of the nearest stars, how long ago was the message sent?
1. a few hours
2. a few days
3. a few years
4. a few millennia

If we succeed in detecting a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization there is a protocol which says...
1. keep it secret
2. don't reply immediately, inform the press
3. inform only the military and large corporations
4. reply immediately to inform the aliens of our coordinates

Which of the following are regularly reported in the media as being UFOs?
1. weather balloons
2. the planet Venus
3. military aircraft
4. all of the above

The opinion about the existence of extraterrestrials that most closely represents the opinions of the organisers of this course is...
1. flying saucers with alien beings have landed on Earth but so far scientists have been unable to find them
2. it is probable that alien beings will resemble human beings more closely than they will resemble bizarre Hollywood creatures
3. there is much evidence that extraterrestrials visited Earth before the evolution of humanity but it has been destroyed by plate tectonics
4. there is a good chance that some kind of alien life exists out there somewhere

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