Take the Alumni Biology Challenge!

Complete the quiz below and submit by February 28, 2004. See rules below.

Questions? Call (614) 688-3632. GOOD LUCK!

Your Name:
E-mail address:		(Winner will be contacted via email)

1. You undoubtedly had several classes in B&Z (recently renamed Jennings Hall). B&Z/Jennings is populated with a number of critters that will meet their doom when renovation starts. Which of these cockroach inhabitants is the largest?

	Blatella germanica		Periplaneta americana
	Supella longipalpa		Blatta orientalis

2. Which tree planted widely around campus produces fruits that smell awful?

	Sugar Maple		Buckeye
	Ginkgo		Red Oak

Extra credit: What chemical is responsible for the vomit smell?

3. OSU's star quarterback is a Molecular Genetics major with a 3.7 GPA. Which paper, published before he was born, launched the field in which he majors?

	Darwin 1859		Watson & Crick 1953
	Banting & Best 1922		Hutchinson 1958

4. Professor Fred Sack, in our Plant Biology Department, has been in the news quite a lot over the last few years. Which of the following is untrue?

	He had an experiment on the Space Shuttle Columbia that exploded in February 2003
	His research was featured on TV spots shown during OSU football broadcasts
	He was interviewed by National Public Radio
	He was a guest on the David Letterman Show

5. Our Introductory Biology Program teaches how many students every year?
	2100	8500
	5200	12,000

6. Professor Susan Fisher introduced which innovation into Bio101 last year?

Testosterone set to music

None of the above

Dancing DNA

All of the above

The poetry of molecular biology

7. Our Microbiology Department includes several faculty members who work
on the Archaea. What is unusual about this group of organisms?

They are in their own kingdom

They use an entirely different genetic code from other organisms

They are intracellular parasites from which mitochondria evolved

They are resistant to every antibiotic every developed

8. What do our faculty members Michael Chan, Allison Snow, and Joe Krzycki
have in common?

	They all work in the Biochemistry Department
	They were named in the top 100 science stories of 2002 by Discover magazine
	They have a rock band that performs in the Short North on weekends
	They are all University Distinguished Professors

9. The Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, headed by Professor Roy Stein, is located where?

	Stone Lab		Jennings Hall
	The Bahamas		The Research Center

10. A famous Joni Mitchell song includes the line, "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." A parking garage now sits on 12th Avenue behind B&Z/Jennings Hall, but it was formerly the site of which facility?

	Iris gardens		Dairy barn
	Wetlands		Herbarium

11. The General Biology Annex, which currently houses the Introductory Biology program, will be torn down during the Jennings Hall renovation. What is unusual about it?

	It sits atop an abandoned coal mine
	It sits atop a city sewer
	It is the oldest building on campus
	It used to be the woman's fieldhouse

12. How many faculty in the College of Biological Sciences teach on regional campuses?

	none		10
	5		25

13. A technique known as PCR has transformed how biological research is done. What is the meaning of the acronym PCR?

	Particularly clever regeneration		Personal computing reaction
	Pentose carboxyl reagents		Polymerase chain reaction

14. The College of Biological Sciences occupies buildings named after Vernal G. Riffe, Jr. and Stanley J. Aronoff. What do these two have in common?

	They were prominent Ohio Legislators		They won Nobel Prizes
	They were presidents of Ohio State		They were governors of Ohio

15. Jennings Hall, the building formerly known as B&Z, is renowned on campus because:

	You have to go upstairs to get to the basement
	Odd and even numbered rooms are on opposite sides of the building
	Several portions of the building are referenced by human anatomical terms
	All of the above

16. Which of our department chairs has the distinction of : being shot at by a robber (his wallet was missing from a mugging earlier in the week), being mistaken for a terrorist, being nearly struck by lightning, and being held at gunpoint during an attempted coup?

	Ralph Boerner		Lee Johnson
	David Denlinger		Richard Swenson

17. Our biological sciences honorary, established in 1971, is named:

	Symbiota		Ecos
	Helix		Operon

18. Professors Seeger, Simcox, Vaessin and Wilson all use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster in their research. Which of the following is the name of a fruit fly mutant?

		Rutabaga		Bride of sevenless
		I'm not dead yet		Grunge
		Bag of marbles		All of the above

19. The disease "rickets" is caused by a deficiency in which of the following?

	Methionine		Vitamin C
	Vitamin D		Fatty acids
	Carbon dioxide

20. Which of these phrases is known as the "central dogma of biology?"

	RNA makes DNA makes protein		RNA makes protein makes DNA
	Protein makes DNA makes RNA		DNA makes RNA makes protein

RULES: Contest entries must be submitted by February 28, 2004 to be considered. Applicants must be alumni of the Ohio State College of Biological Sciences. One entry per person. There is only one correct answer for each question. Questions with more than one answer selected will be counted incorrect. In the event of a tie or multiple perfect scores, those entries will by collected and a winner drawn lottery-style by Dean Joan Herbers. The winner will be contacted via e-mail on March 12, 2004. Winner will receive two OSU football tickets to a 2004 season home game.

GAME DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

Contest winner's name will be posted on the Biological Sciences homepage.
GOOD LUCK!