Ten questions on medicine and the breakthroughs behind it, each with the reasoning that made it matter.
Medicine moved from guesswork to reliability through a fairly small number of decisive discoveries, and knowing them explains a great deal about modern healthcare. This quiz covers vaccination, antibiotics, imaging and the basics of how the body regulates itself, along with the specialisms that divide the field. It concentrates on discovery and mechanism rather than on anatomy, which is covered separately in The Human Body. Nothing here is medical advice, and anything specific to your own health belongs with a doctor.
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
Play it insteadAnswer: A. The pancreas
Why: Specialised cells in the pancreas release insulin to regulate blood sugar. Diabetes results when this system fails or the body stops responding.
Answer: A. Alexander Fleming
Why: Fleming noticed in 1928 that mould contaminating a culture dish had killed the bacteria around it. Turning that into a usable drug took another decade and a separate team.
Answer: A. Deoxyribonucleic acid
Why: DNA carries the instructions for building and running an organism. Its double-helix structure was described by Watson, Crick, Franklin and Wilkins in 1953.
Answer: B. Vitamin D
Why: Skin synthesises vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet B light. It is needed for calcium absorption and therefore for bone strength.
Answer: D. Neurology
Why: Neurology covers the brain, spinal cord and nerves. Cardiology handles the heart and oncology deals with cancer.
Answer: B. 37 degrees Celsius
Why: The traditional figure is 37C, or 98.6F, though normal readings vary between people and across the day. Recent studies suggest the true average is slightly lower.
Answer: A. Training the immune system to recognise a specific threat
Why: A vaccine presents a harmless version or fragment of a pathogen so the immune system learns it in advance. Protection comes from that stored recognition, not from the vaccine itself fighting anything.
Answer: D. Edward Jenner
Why: Jenner demonstrated in 1796 that exposure to cowpox protected against smallpox. Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, the only human disease so far eliminated.
Answer: D. Bone and other dense tissue
Why: Dense material absorbs more X-rays and appears lighter on the image. Soft tissue shows poorly, which is why MRI or ultrasound is used instead for it.
Answer: A. 60 to 100 beats per minute
Why: Most healthy adults rest between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Trained endurance athletes are often well below that range.
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