General Science Questions (MCQs) for Competitive Examinations

Notes:
Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease caused by corkscrew-shaped bacteria called Leptospira. Signs and symptoms can range from none to mild such as headaches, muscle pains, and fevers; to severe with bleeding from the lungs or meningitis. If the infection causes the person to turn yellow, have kidney failure and bleeding, it is then known as Weil’s disease.

Notes:
Rings of cartilage are present in the throat, specifically in the trachea or windpipe, to ensure that the air passage does not collapse. These semi-circular rings provide the necessary structural support to keep the airway open regardless of pressure changes that occur during breathing. This is very important for maintaining a clear, open path for air to flow into our lungs for respiration.

Notes:
The brain’s limbic system controls emotional expression through the hypothalamus, which has control over the body’s emotional responses systems. The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating hunger, thirst, response to pain, levels of pleasure, sexual satisfaction, anger and aggressive behavior, etc. It also regulates pulse, blood pressure, breathing, and arousal in response to emotional circumstances.

Notes:
Van Mahotsav was started in 1950 by K. M. Munshi, the then Union Minster for Agriculture and Food to create enthusiasm among masses for forest conservation and planting trees. It is a week-long festival is celebrated in July on different days in different parts of India. The festival aims at increasing the green cover of India.

Notes:
Claspers are organs found in male elasmobranchs. Each male has two claspers. They are located along the inner side of the shark or ray’s pelvic fin and are used in reproduction. During mating, the male deposits his sperm into the female’s cloaca (the opening that serves as the entrance to the uterus, intestine and urinary tract) via grooves that lie in the upper side of the claspers.

Notes:
Animals, such as mammals and birds, that maintain a constant body temperature regardless of the temperature of the surroundings are called warm blooded. These include birds and mammals. Whales are aquatic mammals hence, being mammal, they are warm blooded. The have a thick layer of fats called blubber underneath their skin to maintain temperature even in cold water of oceans.

Notes:
Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a bacterial infection due to Salmonella typhi, also known as Salmonella enterica serotype typhi, that grows in the intestines and blood. Typhoid is spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person.

Notes:
Strontium-90 is a radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission. Used mostly in weapons and nuclear power plants, poisoning usually occurs through accidental ingestion. Studies have also linked strontium-90 to various forms of skin cancer.

Notes:
Smut of wheat is caused by Ustilago tritici. Rust is caused by Puccinia grlaminae. Mild symptoms may be present prior to heading, including yellowish leaf streaks and stiff, dark green leaves. Affected plants head out early, producing sterile heads with clumped, sooty olive-black spores in place of healthy glumes and kernels.

Notes:
Credit for developing cell theory is usually given to three scientists: Theodor Schwann, Matthias Jakob Schleiden, and Rudolf Virchow. In 1839, Schwann and Schleiden suggested that cells were the basic unit of life. In 1858, Rudolf Virchow concluded that all cells come from pre-existing cells, thus completing the classical cell theory.