105 Medical and Human Biology Trivia Questions

Welcome to our carefully-curated health and biology trivia questions post!

We hope you’re ready to test your knowledge of all things related to the human body, medicine, and health. From the tiniest cells to interworkings of the bodily system, there’s so much to learn about ourselves.

And we’ve got plenty of biology trivia questions to help you do just that! So, without further ado, let’s dive right into it!

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105 Medical and Human Biology Trivia Questions

In healthcare, PRN is a common abbreviation; for example, 1 tablet PRN for pain. What does PRN mean?

Answer: PRN means as needed. PRN stands for pro re nata.

What is the branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer?

Answer: Oncology.

On average, who has longer life spans? Men or women?

Answer: Women. Biological differences in hormones and immunity are thought to be contributing factors.

What is the most common sexually transmitted disease?

Answer: Human papillomavirus (HPV). Symptoms of HPV may include warts on the genitals or surrounding skin and can cause cervical cancer, anal cancer, and, oral cancer.

Which vitamin are you lacking in if you have scurvy?

Answer: Vitamin C. It can be treated by taking vitamin C supplements and eating citrus fruits, potatoes, broccoli, and strawberries.

Milkmaids were instrumental in the creation of which vaccine?

Answer: Smallpox vaccine. The vaccine was introduced in 1796 by Edward Jenner when he noticed that milkmaids who had gotten cowpox were immune to smallpox.

What is the biological cause of Down Syndrome?

Answer: An extra chromosome. Also called trisomy 21, Down Syndrome is caused by a third copy of chromosome 21.

When someone receives the MMR vaccine, which 3 diseases are they building immunity to?

Answer: Measles, mumps, and rubella.

What does a sphygmomanometer measure?

Answer: Blood pressure.

When squats are performed, which 3 muscle groups are being utilized?

Answer: The glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps.

Where in the body is most of the process of food absorption done?

Answer: The small intestine.

Which part of the body contains the most bones?

Answer: The hands. Each hand contains 27 bones, followed closely by the feet which have 26 bones in each foot.

In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered which groundbreaking antibiotic?

Answer: Penicillin.

What food product should you not feed babies under the age of 12 months due to the dangers of them developing botulism?

Answer: Honey. Honey can contain bacterial spores that can produce botulism toxin when it enters the digestive tracts of infants.

Where on the body is the mandible located?

Answer: The jaw.

What is the common term for myocardial infarction?

Answer: Heart attack.

When a person has aphasia, what do they have difficulty doing?

Answer: Communicating. Aphasia is a disorder that causes difficulties in communicating using language or understanding speech.

Which organ plays a vital role in removing toxins and wastes from the body?

Answer: The liver.

When receiving an injection, what is the difference between IM and Sub-Q?

Answer: IM is intramuscular or in the muscle. Sub-Q is subcutaneous or in the fatty tissue just under the skin.

What does a pap smear test for?

Answer: Cervical cancer.

Do endurance athletes typically have higher or lower resting heart rates?

Answer: Lower. Their heart rates can be as low as 30 to 40 beats per minute. It is likely because exercise strengthens the heart and allows the heart to pump a greater amount of blood with each heartbeat.

If a person has failing kidneys, it is very likely they would be receiving what type of treatment?

Answer: Dialysis. It utilizes a dialysis machine to help filter the blood of toxins and wastes.

What are the names of the two muscular pipes located within the neck?

Answer: Esophagus and trachea. The esophagus leads to the stomach and the trachea leads to the lungs.

What is the name of the autoimmune condition in which a person experiences hair loss on the scalp or other parts of the body?

Answer: Alopecia.

On an acid-base scale from 0 to 14, what is the pH of water?

Answer: 7. Water is considered neutral on the pH scale.

Electronic fetal monitoring is done while a mother is in labor, preparing to give birth. What 2 things are being measured by the machine?

Answer: The fetal heart rate and the mother’s contractions.

Which class of medications can be used to treat allergy symptoms such as a runny nose, sneezing, and hives?

Answer: Antihistamines.

If a doctor writes a prescription for a medication that reads, “take one tab TID,” how many tabs are you supposed to take in a day?

Answer: 3. It means to take one tab, three times a day.

Gout is caused when too much of a certain chemical waste crystallizes and deposits in the body joints. What is the name of the chemical waste?

Answer: Uric acid. Gout is characterized by severe pain, redness, and tenderness in joints. It usually happens in the big toe.

When someone is experiencing nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Healthcare providers will commonly recommend a temporary BRAT diet. What foods does BRAT stand for?

Answer: Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. These foods are low in protein, fat, and fiber which makes them easier to digest.

When a person is being treated for tuberculosis they are put on a medication regimen. One of these medications, Rifampin, can cause the urine to change to what color?

Answer: Orange.

For anyone who has had chickenpox, there is a possibility of the virus reactivating in the body. What is this second reinfection called?

Answer: Shingles. It can cause a painful rash.

Reye syndrome is a condition in children that causes swelling in the liver and brain. In order to prevent Reye syndrome, which medication should you not give a child?

Answer: Aspirin.

What produce item is recommended for breastfeeding mothers to be placed in bras in order to help relieve pain and inflammation in the breasts?

Answer: Cold cabbage leaves.

What compound builds up in your muscles after intensive workouts?

Answer: Lactic acid.

What spice is useful to help reduce nausea or an upset stomach?

Answer: Ginger.

Where is the occipital lobe located in your body?

Answer: The back of the head (in the brain).

Which body parts never stop growing throughout our lives?

Answer: Ears and nose.

When you oscitate, what are you doing?

Answer: Yawning.

Where is an axillary temperature taken?

Answer: The armpit.

If a patient has a stomach ulcer, what color can their stools be?

Answer: Black. This is due to blood being exposed to gastric acids while moving through the digestive tract.

How many pairs of ribs are there in the human body?

Answer: 12.

What food product does the toxic compound, cyanide, smell like?

Answer: Bitter almonds. Raw bitter almonds contain glycoside amygdalin which breaks down into cyanide when ingested.

If someone asks who your PCP is, who are they referring to?

Answer: Your “primary care provider” or the doctor that you normally see for checkups.

Paints containing this element were banned in 1978 due to many children being poisoned from eating pieces of chipped paint. What element was it?

Answer: Lead.

When a doctor orders an EKG, what part of the body is being monitored?

Answer: The heart. EKG stands for electrocardiogram.

When someone has a hysterectomy, what part of the body is removed?

Answer: The uterus.

When getting the flu vaccine, people with what food allergy may have an allergic reaction?

Answer: Eggs. Most flu vaccines contain a small number of egg proteins.

Some babies are born with atrial septal defects. This means that they are born with what defect in their hearts?

Answer: A hole. An atrial septal defect is a hole between the two atria (upper chambers) of the heart.

An H. pylori bacterial infection in the stomach is the main cause of what painful condition?

Answer: Stomach ulcers.

If someone sprains their ankle, a doctor will recommend RICE treatment. What does RICE stand for?

Answer: Rest, ice, compression, and elevation.

What are you doing if you are masticating?

Answer: Chewing.

In what body part does digestion begin — the mouth, esophagus, stomach, or small intestine?

Answer: The mouth. The digestive process starts in your mouth when you chew. Your salivary glands make saliva, a digestive juice, which moistens food and helps it down the digestive tract.

What are the tissues called which connect bones to muscles?

Answer: Tendons.

What part of the brain controls hunger?

Answer: Hypothalamus.

About how long is the human small intestine?

Answer: 18 feet.

Around the age of 6, the first set of molars come in. When a person reaches 12, another set appears. The wisdom teeth are the final set of molars that typically appear between what ages?

Answer: Ages 18 and 21.

This phenomenon is believed to be caused by a memory mismatch, where a new experience is stored in long-term memory and completely bypasses the short-term memory. What is this experience?

Answer: Déjà vu. In this scenario, you have a weird sensation that you’ve been through an experience before.

The word for an upright-walking primate is what?

Answer: Hominid.

What process produces a duplicate of the original cell?

Answer: Mitosis.

A human red blood cell has how many parts hemoglobin?

Answer: Four.

Which organ in the human body is the only one that can float in water?

Answer: Lungs.

What type of scientist studies microscopic plants and animals?

Answer: Microbiologist.

Enzymes are composed of what organic molecule?

Answer: Proteins.

What is the biggest artery in the human body?

Answer: The aorta.

What makes up most of dust particles found in a house?

Answer: Dead skin.

What are the small bones that make up a backbone called?

Answer: Vertebrae.

The sartorius muscle is located in which part of the human body?

Answer: Leg; it is the longest muscle in the body, spanning both the hip and the knee joints.

Where is the uvula located within the human body?

Answer: The throat.

Graves’ disease affects which part of the body?

Answer: Thyroid.

In which part of the body are the lacrimal glands?

Answer: Eyes.

Which body parts continue to grow throughout your entire life?

Answer: Ears and nose.

What is the largest organ in the human body?

Answer: Skin.

If you needed braces, what kind of doctor would you visit?

Answer: An orthodontist.

What’s the heaviest organ in the human body?

Answer: Liver.

Of all the different types of blood types, which is the rarest?

Answer: AB Negative.

What substance in your ears helps keep germs and dirt out?

Answer: Earwax.

A healthy body functions best at an internal temperature of what?

Answer: About 37°C or 98.6°F.

What blood type do you need to be a universal donor?

Answer: O-.

Which finger on your hand has the fastest growing nail?

Answer: The middle finger.

Piloerection is caused by contractions in small muscles that are connected to hair follicles. What’s a more common name for this?

Answer: Goosebumps.

The humerus bone is located in which part of the human body?

Answer: Arm.

What is the scientific term for fingers and toes?

Answer: Phalanges.

What project was finally completed in 2003, when scientists identified all human genes and determined the sequence of their DNA base pairs?

Answer: The Human Genome Project.

MRI is short for what radiology technique which uses scanners with strong magnetic fields to create anatomical images of the physiological processes of the body?

Answer: Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

What are erythrocytes another word for?

Answer: Red blood cells.

What animal is the closest living relative of a human?

Answer: Bonobos.

The first vaccine was for which disease?

Answer: Smallpox.

Animals that eat both plants and animals are known as what?

Answer: Omnivores.

What is the name of the blood vessels that carries blood back to the heart?

Answer: Veins.

Ibu, Advil, Motrin and Nurofen are different brand names for which drug?

Answer: Ibuprofen.

What disease used to be called consumption?

Answer: Tuberculosis.

Marie Curie was instrumental in developing what as a therapeutic tool?

Answer: Radiation.

In which part of the body would you find your stapes bone?

Answer: In the inner ear.

In which part of the body would you find your sacrum?

Answer: At the base of the lumbar vertebrae and pelvis.

The trachea belongs to which body system?

Answer: Respiratory system.

Astigmatism affects which part of the human body?

Answer: Eyes.

What is the formal term for the disease commonly called pinkeye?

Answer: Conjunctivits.

Exposure to sunlight can help the body produce what vitamin?

Answer: Vitamin D. Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin that has been produced on this earth for more than 500 million years.

Which brain disorder results in a progressive and irreversible decline in memory and various other cognitive functions — is it Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Crohn’s or Hansen’s?

Answer: Alzheimer’s.

What sticky sweetener was traditionally used as an antiseptic ointment for cuts and burns?

Answer: Honey.

What’s the itchy skin condition tinea pedis better known as?

Answer: Athlete’s foot.

What is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men?

Answer: Prostate cancer.

What is the outermost layer of the eye called?

Answer: The sclera.

What’s the smallest bone in the human body?

Answer: Stapes bone in the inner ear.

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