True or False Quiz
Goldfish, lightning, honey and unicorns: 15 famous claims to sort into myth or fact.
Humans have more than five senses. What is the name of the sense that tells you where your limbs are without looking?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Proprioception
Proprioception uses receptors in muscles, tendons and joints to tell the brain where each body part is, which is why you can touch your nose with your eyes closed.
Nociception is the sense of pain, thermoception detects temperature and equilibrioception is your sense of balance, run by the inner ear.
Bananas are technically berries. What other common fruit is also a true botanical berry?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Grape
Botanically a berry is a fleshy fruit that grows from a single ovary with the seeds inside, a definition grapes, bananas, tomatoes and blueberries all meet.
Strawberries and raspberries are aggregate fruits made of many tiny fruits, while cherries and peaches are drupes with a single stone.
Goldfish have a memory span of only 3 seconds. Is this true?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
False: they can remember things for months
Experiments have trained goldfish to respond to sounds, colours and feeding times, and they held on to the training for months afterwards.
Goldfish can also be taught to push levers and swim through mazes, and in one study they learned to tell Bach from Stravinsky.
What percentage of the Earth's water is fresh water?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
About 3%
Roughly 97 percent of Earth's water is salty ocean, leaving about 2.5 to 3 percent as fresh water, most of it locked in glaciers and ice sheets.
Less than 1 percent of all fresh water is easily accessible in rivers, lakes and shallow groundwater, the share people actually rely on.
The Great Wall of China is visible from space with the naked eye. Is this true?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
False: it is too narrow to see
The wall is mostly under 10 metres wide and similar in colour to the surrounding land, so astronauts, including China's Yang Liwei, have said they could not see it.
Highways, airports and city lights are far easier to spot from orbit than the wall, and the myth was in print decades before anyone reached space.
Octopuses have three hearts. How many brains do they have?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
9
An octopus has a central brain plus a cluster of neurons in each of its eight arms, so each arm can taste, touch and act semi-independently.
Two of its three hearts pump blood through the gills and the third serves the body, and its blood is blue because it uses copper-based haemocyanin.
Lightning never strikes the same place twice. Is this accurate?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
False: the Empire State Building is struck around 25 times a year
Tall, pointed structures attract lightning, and the Empire State Building's mast is hit about 25 times in a typical year, once eight times in 24 minutes.
A lightning bolt heats the air around it to about 30,000 °C, roughly five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
Honey never spoils. Roughly how old was the still-edible honey found in ancient Egyptian tombs?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
About 3,000 years old
Sealed jars of honey found in Egyptian tombs, including Tutankhamun's, were around 3,000 years old and still edible thanks to honey's low water content and acidity.
Even older honey residue, about 5,500 years old, has been found in Georgia, but the Egyptian jars are the famous ones that explorers actually tasted.
Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system despite not being closest to the Sun. What is its average surface temperature?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
465 °C (869 °F)
Venus has a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere that traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, keeping the surface at about 465 °C day and night.
Surface pressure on Venus is about 92 times that of Earth, similar to being 900 metres underwater, and sulphuric acid rains high in its clouds.
A group of flamingos is called a "flamboyance." What is a group of owls called?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
A parliament
A group of owls is a parliament, a term popularised by C.S. Lewis in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and linked to the owl's ancient reputation for wisdom.
Other collective nouns include a murder of crows, an unkindness of ravens and a conspiracy of lemurs.
Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the construction of the Great Pyramid. Is this true?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
True: the pyramids predate her by about 2,500 years
The Great Pyramid was completed around 2560 BC, Cleopatra died in 30 BC and the Moon landing came in AD 1969, so she is roughly 500 years closer to us.
Cleopatra was Greek by descent, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty founded by one of Alexander the Great's generals.
Your fingernails and hair continue to grow after death. Is this a fact?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
False: the skin dehydrates and retracts, creating the illusion
Growth needs glucose and oxygen, which stop arriving at death; the skin around nails and hair dries and pulls back, so they only look longer.
Funeral directors sometimes moisturise the fingertips of the deceased to counter this shrinkage before a viewing.
Scotland's national animal is real. What is it?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Unicorn
The unicorn has been Scotland's national animal since the 1400s, when it appeared on the royal coat of arms as a symbol of purity and power.
On the royal arms of the United Kingdom the unicorn stands opposite the English lion, and it is chained because a free unicorn was believed to be dangerous.
Sound can travel through space. Is this correct?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
False: space is a vacuum and sound needs a medium
Sound is a pressure wave that has to travel through matter, and the near-total vacuum of space has far too few particles to carry it.
Astronauts on the Moon could talk only by radio, and the lunar module's engine would have been silent to anyone standing outside.
There are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way. Is this true?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
True: roughly 3 trillion trees versus 100 to 400 billion stars
A 2015 study in Nature estimated about 3.04 trillion trees on Earth, while the Milky Way is thought to hold between 100 and 400 billion stars.
The same study found humans have cut the global tree count roughly in half since civilisation began, losing about 15 billion trees a year.
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All General Knowledge quizzes →About the True or False Quiz
The Eiffel Tower grows around 15 centimetres taller in summer as its iron expands. A day on Venus lasts longer than a Venusian year. Bananas are berries, but strawberries are not. Plenty of 'facts' repeated at dinner tables turn out to be myths, and some claims that sound made up are completely true. Telling the two apart takes more than a coin flip.
These 15 questions take a familiar claim, ask whether it holds up, and then give you four options rather than a simple yes or no, so a lucky guess will not carry you far. Topics run from the human body and animal behaviour to geography, space and ancient history. It suits anyone who enjoys a 'did you know' moment, from trivia night regulars to families looking for a quick round at the table.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
Is this really a true or false quiz if there are four options?
Yes. Each question starts with a popular claim, but you must pick the option that gets both the verdict and the reason right, which makes it harder than a coin flip.
Where do the facts come from?
Every answer was checked in September 2026 against reference sources such as encyclopaedias, museums and scientific bodies, and the explanations cite the key figures.
Can I use the questions for a quiz night?
Yes. They work well as a quick-fire myth-busting round, and the explanations give the host a ready-made fact to read out after each answer.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Humans have more than five senses. What is the name of the sense that tells you where your limbs are without looking?
Proprioception Proprioception uses receptors in muscles, tendons and joints to tell the brain where each body part is, which is why you can touch your nose with your eyes closed. Nociception is the sense of pain, thermoception detects temperature and equilibrioception is your sense of balance, run by the inner ear. - Bananas are technically berries. What other common fruit is also a true botanical berry?
Grape Botanically a berry is a fleshy fruit that grows from a single ovary with the seeds inside, a definition grapes, bananas, tomatoes and blueberries all meet. Strawberries and raspberries are aggregate fruits made of many tiny fruits, while cherries and peaches are drupes with a single stone. - Goldfish have a memory span of only 3 seconds. Is this true?
False: they can remember things for months Experiments have trained goldfish to respond to sounds, colours and feeding times, and they held on to the training for months afterwards. Goldfish can also be taught to push levers and swim through mazes, and in one study they learned to tell Bach from Stravinsky. - What percentage of the Earth's water is fresh water?
About 3% Roughly 97 percent of Earth's water is salty ocean, leaving about 2.5 to 3 percent as fresh water, most of it locked in glaciers and ice sheets. Less than 1 percent of all fresh water is easily accessible in rivers, lakes and shallow groundwater, the share people actually rely on. - The Great Wall of China is visible from space with the naked eye. Is this true?
False: it is too narrow to see The wall is mostly under 10 metres wide and similar in colour to the surrounding land, so astronauts, including China's Yang Liwei, have said they could not see it. Highways, airports and city lights are far easier to spot from orbit than the wall, and the myth was in print decades before anyone reached space. - Octopuses have three hearts. How many brains do they have?
9 An octopus has a central brain plus a cluster of neurons in each of its eight arms, so each arm can taste, touch and act semi-independently. Two of its three hearts pump blood through the gills and the third serves the body, and its blood is blue because it uses copper-based haemocyanin. - Lightning never strikes the same place twice. Is this accurate?
False: the Empire State Building is struck around 25 times a year Tall, pointed structures attract lightning, and the Empire State Building's mast is hit about 25 times in a typical year, once eight times in 24 minutes. A lightning bolt heats the air around it to about 30,000 °C, roughly five times hotter than the surface of the Sun. - Honey never spoils. Roughly how old was the still-edible honey found in ancient Egyptian tombs?
About 3,000 years old Sealed jars of honey found in Egyptian tombs, including Tutankhamun's, were around 3,000 years old and still edible thanks to honey's low water content and acidity. Even older honey residue, about 5,500 years old, has been found in Georgia, but the Egyptian jars are the famous ones that explorers actually tasted. - Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system despite not being closest to the Sun. What is its average surface temperature?
465 °C (869 °F) Venus has a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere that traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, keeping the surface at about 465 °C day and night. Surface pressure on Venus is about 92 times that of Earth, similar to being 900 metres underwater, and sulphuric acid rains high in its clouds. - A group of flamingos is called a "flamboyance." What is a group of owls called?
A parliament A group of owls is a parliament, a term popularised by C.S. Lewis in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and linked to the owl's ancient reputation for wisdom. Other collective nouns include a murder of crows, an unkindness of ravens and a conspiracy of lemurs. - Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the construction of the Great Pyramid. Is this true?
True: the pyramids predate her by about 2,500 years The Great Pyramid was completed around 2560 BC, Cleopatra died in 30 BC and the Moon landing came in AD 1969, so she is roughly 500 years closer to us. Cleopatra was Greek by descent, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty founded by one of Alexander the Great's generals. - Your fingernails and hair continue to grow after death. Is this a fact?
False: the skin dehydrates and retracts, creating the illusion Growth needs glucose and oxygen, which stop arriving at death; the skin around nails and hair dries and pulls back, so they only look longer. Funeral directors sometimes moisturise the fingertips of the deceased to counter this shrinkage before a viewing. - Scotland's national animal is real. What is it?
Unicorn The unicorn has been Scotland's national animal since the 1400s, when it appeared on the royal coat of arms as a symbol of purity and power. On the royal arms of the United Kingdom the unicorn stands opposite the English lion, and it is chained because a free unicorn was believed to be dangerous. - Sound can travel through space. Is this correct?
False: space is a vacuum and sound needs a medium Sound is a pressure wave that has to travel through matter, and the near-total vacuum of space has far too few particles to carry it. Astronauts on the Moon could talk only by radio, and the lunar module's engine would have been silent to anyone standing outside. - There are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way. Is this true?
True: roughly 3 trillion trees versus 100 to 400 billion stars A 2015 study in Nature estimated about 3.04 trillion trees on Earth, while the Milky Way is thought to hold between 100 and 400 billion stars. The same study found humans have cut the global tree count roughly in half since civilisation began, losing about 15 billion trees a year.
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