1. The double-helix strands of the DNA molecule are joined by molecules called
   1. amino acids
   2. RNA
   3. nucleotides
   4. none of the above


2. The solar system is an astrophysical structure that can be put into a box having sides of length
   1. ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ light year
   2. 2 light years
   3. 1000 light years
   4. none of the above


3. Which of the following star systems is the closest to us?
   1. Barnard's Star
   2. Sirius
   3. Orion Nebula
   4. Andromeda


4. The solar system is located how far from the center of the Milky Way?
   1. 2 million light years
   2. 60% out from the center
   3. 30% out from the center
   4. 100,000 light years


5. The Milky Way Galaxy is located near the edge of which of the following structures?
   1. the Globular Cluster
   2. the Local Group
   3. the Great Attractor
   4. the Local Supercluster


6. If the universe has been constructed in such a way that a particular direction of space is somehow different from the other directions of space, then the universe is said to be.
   1. isotropic
   2. closed
   3. anisotropic
   4. homogeneous


7. Silicon is thought to be able to form molecules giving rise to living organisms.This ability to form life molecules comes about because its atomic structure has
   1. 4 electrons in the outer shell
   2. 10 electrons in its outer orbit, just like carbon
   3. a naturally-occurring helical geometry that is just right for helix molecules to form
   4. none of the above


8. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that, in a closed system,
   1. random motion of bodies in the universe contributes to disorder globally, but not locally
   2. energy must always be conserved
   3. phase transitions can happen when matter is stressed
   4. the state of the isolated system must be more disordered now than at earlier times


9. Consider the following code segment representing the bases of a DNA molecule: TCAGTTG.The appropriate coding for the other side of the DNA helix is
   1. ATGACCA
   2. GACTGGT
   3. CGTTAAC
   4. AGTCAAC


10. A gene is the name for
    1. one of the 46 chromosomes found in every cell of our body
    2. small replicating sections of the DNA molecule
    3. any molecule that can be duplicated easily
    4. those cells of our body which can be linked to reproduction


11. A problem with the idea of silicon-based life is that silicon
    1. preferentially forms long chains of molecules
    2. likes to bond to oxygen too much, decreasing its ability to get energy from its surroundings
    3. silicon doesn't form solids at normal temperatures
    4. silicon is too heavy an atom to be able to form DNA type molecules that are weak enough to break apart


12. Showing that we are all entangled with other life existing within the biosphere of the Earth, one can calculate that, of all the molecules in our breath right now, the number of these molecules that came from Leonardo da Vinci's very last breath before he died falls into the following range:
    1. 5-6 molecules
    2. 10,000-55,000 molecules
    3. 1 million to 13 million molecules
    4. this number can't be calculated in any way


13. The type of evolutionary change that arises when more complex lifeforms suddenly come into existence is called
    1. genetic predisposition
    2. intelligence
    3. punctuated equilibrium
    4. none of the above


14. With respect to aliens coming to the Earth's surface, a close encounter of the second kind involves
    1. seeing the spaceship as it passes by
    2. communicating with the aliens
    3. finding physical evidence of UFOs
    4. experiencing an alien abduction


15. A large fixed radio telescope in Puerto Rico that is sometimes used for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is called
    1. Arecibo
    2. the Large Array
    3. Keck telescope
    4. none of the above


16. One of the chief problems with the idea that alien cultures will pick up our television signals that have been going out from the Earth to them for more than 50 years is that
    1. the signals cannot possibly make it to these star systems in so short a time period as 50 years, since these signals must travel at less than the speed of light
    2. the signals coming from television transmission towers breaks down when it passes through the Earth's atmosphere
    3. the aliens must be the same average size as us to be able to detect the signals
    4. television signals fall within a very narrow range of the full electromagnetic spectrum, making them hard to spot


17. The Drake equation tells us
    1. how many life bearing planets exist in the universe
    2. how many intelligent alien civilizations exist in our galaxy that are capable of communicating with us now
    3. the number of new stars being born in the Milky Way per year
    4. none of the above


18. On a very high-gravity Earth-like planet, one would expect that
    1. water covers most of the planet's surface
    2. land-based alien creatures will have legs directly under their bodies
    3. insects will be tinier than what they are on Earth unless they can shed their skins within the planet's oceans
    4. all of the above


19. The Perfect Cosmological Principle (from the Steady State cosmology theory) adds to the usual Cosmological Principle the requirement that the universe (on the largest of scales)
    1. is homogeneous in space
    2. is homogeneous in time
    3. is never expanding
    4. be rotating


20. The Stenonychosaurus dinosaur was picked as the dinosaur that intelligent life could have evolved from over tens of millions of years.This dinosaur was chosen instead of the other dinosaurs because it
    1. had such great success in hunting down other animals
    2. it naturally coöperated with other dinosaurs
    3. it had a very large brain to body weight size
    4. it was able to walk on two legs, and it is this attribute which is so important for the development of intelligence amongst creatures on the Earth


21. Which of the following statements about the Moon is true?
    1. The moon has always been devoid of life, and it has had little effect upon the development of life on the Earth.
    2. The Moon has helped to stop the Earth from changing its spin direction over millions of years.
    3. The Moon has no effect upon the core of the Earth.
    4. Most of the moons going around the other planets in the solar system have sizes that are substantial fractions of their planet's size.


22. Life was present on the Earth as early as
    1. 9 billion years ago
    2. 4.5 billion years ago
    3. 3.8 billion years ago
    4. 6 million years ago


23. It is necessary for a Earth-like planet to spin fast on its axis so as
    1. to even out the temperatures on all sides of the planet
    2. to create winds in the atmosphere to distribute carbon and water vapor around the planet, thereby giving good conditions for life everywhere
    3. to keep poisonous gases from settling on the planets surface
    4. all of the above


24. One of the first astronomers to dedicate their research to the search for signals of extraterrestrial intelligence is/was
    1. Cecilia Payne
    2. Sandy Faber
    3. Jocelyn Bell
    4. Jill Tarter


25. The project that has the goal of recording all of the DNA software necessary to reproduce a human being by the year 2003 is called
    1. the Human Cell Catalog
    2. Project Phoenix
    3. the Human Biosphere 1 Project
    4. the Human Genome Project


26. Planets in extra-solar systems have been found from observations of
    1. the planets as they revolve around their stars
    2. the change in the locations of the stars due to the effect of Jupiter-size planets
    3. the type of light coming from the extra-solar systems
    4. the irregular motions of nearby stars just outside of the extra-solar systems


27. The place in the solar system that is thought to have the best chance of supporting life right now is
    1. Saturn's moon Titan
    2. the planet Mars
    3. Neptune
    4. Jupiter's moon Europa


28. Life on the Earth comes from one type of amino acid. That type is called
    1. left-handed amino acid
    2. right handed amino acid
    3. alanine
    4. none of the above


29. The percentage of the DNA molecule that is useless for genetic coding is
    1. 97%
    2. 80%
    3. 54%
    4. 37%


30. Which one of these terms does not correspond to a fundamental phase of matter?
    1. gas
    2. solid
    3. liquid
    4. crystal


31. The Large Magellanic Cloud is
    1. a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way
    2. a large globular cluster with some of the oldest stars we can see in the Milky Way
    3. a rich star-forming region in the Orion Spur Spiral Arm of the Milky Way
    4. none of the above


32. If we take a scale model of the universe by assuming that the Milky Way is no bigger that an aspirin (i.e., a disk-shaped pill that is about 0.5 cm in diameter), how far away is the edge of the observable universe?
    1. 1 meter
    2. 30 meters
    3. 1 kilometer
    4. none of the above


33. If you wanted to look in a part of the star-filled night sky that definitely pointed to outside our galaxy, you would look in the direction of
    1. the Big Dipper
    2. the constellation Orion
    3. the constellation Sagittarius
    4. the band of stars called the Milky Way


34. If a spacecraft in empty space is traveling at 90% of the speed of light to the left, and shoots out a highly destructive photon to the right (i.e., behind it), will this beam be able to do damage to a spacecraft traveling at 95% of the speed of light in the opposite direction?
    1. No.
    2. Yes, but it will take an infinite amount of time.
    3. Yes, it will hit in a finite amount of time.
    4. None of the above.


35. Free-falling rooms at different locations above the surface of the Earth can be "falling" in completely different directions. This situation exemplifies that
    1. gravity changes with height above the Earth
    2. free-fall frames of reference are always local
    3. gravitational fields never change in time
    4. none of the above


36. The boundary that distinguishes the inside of a black hole (where light rays cannot escape) from the outside of a black hole (where light rays can still escape) is called the
    1. Chandrasekhar Limit
    2. Hawking Radiation Limit
    3. Schwarzschild Limit
    4. Einstein Radius


37. In a negatively-curved universe, which of the following statements is true?
    1. The universe has a phase where it is expanding and a phase where it is contracting.
    2. A triangle with sides having large cosmological lengths will have angles that are greater than 180°.
    3. Two spacecraft simultaneously leaving a planet in the same direction will eventually diverge from each other, even though they have fixed on-board directional controls.
    4. None of the above.


38. If you get yourself into a free-fall state, which of the following statements is the most correct?
    1. You have shut off gravity locally and globally.
    2. You have shut off gravity globally, but not locally.
    3. You have shut off gravity locally, but not globally.
    4. You have not shut off gravity either globally or locally.


39. Which of the following is the best representative for a topologically genus-one object?
    1. A music CD that has been cracked exactly in half across its flat surface.
    2. A water bottle without the screw cap on top.
    3. A house that is totally closed up except for one open window and one fireplace chimney.
    4. A sheet of 8½″ × 11″ paper that has had one staple smoothly removed from its top left corner.


40. Euclidean geometry is characterized by which of the following?
    1. Lengths that are measured in terms of the sum of the squares of the lengths arising from the lengths in all dimensions.
    2. Parallel lines that never cross.
    3. Triangle angles that always add up to 180°.
    4. All of the above.

Last edited 1933 CST, 8 January 2015