Grand Rounds archive
Every past Sunday quiz, with each question's category, answer and explanation. Newest first.
3 past puzzles, up to Sunday 1 November 2026. Today’s and future puzzles are never shown here.
November 2026
#3 · Sunday 1 November 2026
History of medicine
Worimi man Kelvin Kong became Australia’s first Aboriginal surgeon. What is his specialty?
Answer: Ear, nose and throat surgery
Accept ENT or otolaryngology. He champions ear health for Aboriginal children, who have some of the world’s highest rates of chronic middle-ear infection.
Anatomy
Which organ contains the islets of Langerhans?
Answer: The pancreas
The islets of Langerhans are clusters of hormone-making cells in the pancreas. Their beta cells make insulin.
Pharmacology
Sildenafil (Viagra) was first trialled for which condition?
Answer: Angina
The side effect stole the show.
Eponyms
Erb’s palsy is an injury to which nerve network?
Answer: The brachial plexus
Upper roots, C5–C6. ‘Waiter’s tip’ posture.
Microbiology
Which virus causes both chickenpox and shingles?
Answer: Varicella-zoster virus
It never really leaves.
On screen
Which city is the emergency department in ‘The Pitt’ set in?
Answer: Pittsburgh
The Pitt is set in the emergency department of a Pittsburgh trauma hospital, with each episode covering one hour of a shift.
Etymology
‘Quarantine’ comes from the Italian for what?
Answer: Forty days
Quaranta giorni. Venice made plague ships wait.
Physiology
What is the normal pH range of arterial blood?
Answer: 7.35 to 7.45
Normal arterial pH is 7.35 to 7.45. Below that is acidaemia, above is alkalaemia. Also accept 7.4.
Famous patients
Which US president was paralysed by an illness diagnosed as polio in 1921?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Some now suspect Guillain–Barré syndrome.
Language
What is the medical term for hiccups?
Answer: Singultus
Singultus is the medical term for hiccups, from the Latin for a sob.
Nobel Prizes
Which chemist, who never finished a PhD, shared the 1988 Nobel Prize for developing drugs including azathioprine and aciclovir?
Answer: Gertrude Elion
Accept Trudy Elion. Early on she was turned away from lab jobs for being a woman.
Pathology
Deficiency of which vitamin causes beriberi?
Answer: Thiamine (vitamin B1)
Beriberi is thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency, historically from diets of polished white rice. Also accept B1.
By the numbers
Roughly how many protein-coding genes are in the human genome?
Answer: About 20,000
Fewer than a grape has.
Toxicology
Which metal caused the ‘mad hatter’ symptoms in hat makers?
Answer: Mercury
Used to treat felt.
History of medicine
Who was known as ‘the Lady with the Lamp’?
Answer: Florence Nightingale
Also a pioneering statistician.
Anatomy
Which chamber of the heart has the thickest wall?
Answer: The left ventricle
The left ventricle pumps blood around the whole body, so its wall is about three times thicker than the right’s.
Pharmacology
Which chemotherapy drug was first isolated from the Pacific yew tree?
Answer: Paclitaxel
Accept Taxol.
On screen
Which 1966 film shrinks a medical team to travel through a man’s bloodstream?
Answer: Fantastic Voyage
In Fantastic Voyage (1966), a shrunken submarine crew travels through a scientist’s bloodstream to remove a brain clot.
Eponyms
Virchow’s triad describes the causes of what?
Answer: Thrombosis
Stasis, endothelial injury and hypercoagulability.
Brain-melter
Which parts of the body have the highest density of sweat glands?
Answer: The palms and soles
Hence sweaty palms in exams.
October 2026
#2 · Sunday 25 October 2026
History of medicine
Who gave the first public demonstration of ether anaesthesia, in Boston in 1846?
Answer: William Morton
At Massachusetts General. The room is now the Ether Dome.
Anatomy
What is the smallest skeletal muscle in the body?
Answer: Stapedius
It dampens the stapes against loud noise.
Pharmacology
Drugs ending in ‘-pril’ belong to which class?
Answer: ACE inhibitors
Ramipril, perindopril and friends. Hello, dry cough.
Eponyms
Kernig’s and Brudzinski’s signs are classic signs of what?
Answer: Meningitis
Classic, but not very sensitive.
Microbiology
Which bacterium causes cat-scratch disease?
Answer: Bartonella henselae
Bartonella henselae, usually from a kitten scratch or bite, causes swollen lymph nodes near the scratch.
On screen
Who played paediatrician Doug Ross in ‘ER’?
Answer: George Clooney
George Clooney played Dr Doug Ross, the paediatrician, in ER from 1994.
Etymology
‘Influenza’ comes from the Italian for what?
Answer: Influence
Of the stars, supposedly.
Physiology
Which hormone does the pineal gland secrete?
Answer: Melatonin
The pineal gland releases melatonin as light fades, helping set the sleep-wake cycle.
Famous patients
Which physicist lived with motor neurone disease for over 50 years?
Answer: Stephen Hawking
Diagnosed at 21. Died at 76.
Language
What is a borborygmus?
Answer: A rumbling stomach
Plural: borborygmi.
Nobel Prizes
Who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize with Watson and Crick for DNA’s structure?
Answer: Maurice Wilkins
Rosalind Franklin had died in 1958.
Pathology
Reed–Sternberg cells are the hallmark of which cancer?
Answer: Hodgkin lymphoma
The ‘owl’s eye’ cells.
By the numbers
How many bones are in one human hand and wrist?
Answer: 27
8 carpals, 5 metacarpals, 14 phalanges.
Toxicology
Which plant poison was used to execute Socrates?
Answer: Hemlock
Socrates was sentenced to death in Athens in 399 BC and drank poison hemlock.
History of medicine
Who pioneered antiseptic surgery using carbolic acid in the 1860s?
Answer: Joseph Lister
Yes, Listerine.
Anatomy
What are you actually hitting when you bang your ‘funny bone’?
Answer: The ulnar nerve
Not funny. Not a bone.
Pharmacology
What is the antidote to paracetamol overdose?
Answer: N-acetylcysteine
Accept NAC or acetylcysteine.
On screen
In ‘Scrubs’, who is JD’s reluctant mentor?
Answer: Dr Perry Cox
Dr Perry Cox, played by John C. McGinley, mentors JD while insisting he doesn’t.
Eponyms
Which spots inside the mouth are an early sign of measles?
Answer: Koplik spots
Grains of salt on a red background.
Brain-melter
What is the medical term for brain freeze?
Answer: Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia
From eating ice cream too fast.
#1 · Sunday 18 October 2026
History of medicine
Which Hungarian obstetrician championed handwashing in the 1840s and died in an asylum?
Answer: Ignaz Semmelweis
Proven right after his death. Wash your hands.
Anatomy
Which bone is the only one in the body that doesn’t articulate with another bone?
Answer: The hyoid
Held in place by muscles and ligaments alone.
Pharmacology
William Withering described which heart drug in 1785, from the foxglove plant?
Answer: Digitalis
Accept digoxin.
Eponyms
‘Saturday night palsy’ is a compression injury of which nerve?
Answer: The radial nerve
Arm draped over a chair after a big night. Wrist drop follows.
Microbiology
Which fungus causes ‘rose gardener’s disease’?
Answer: Sporothrix schenckii
Sporotrichosis, from a thorn prick.
On screen
In the early seasons of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, what was the hospital called?
Answer: Seattle Grace Hospital
Later Seattle Grace Mercy West, then Grey Sloan Memorial.
Etymology
The word ‘malaria’ comes from Italian for what?
Answer: Bad air
Mala aria. Blame the swamps, not the mosquitoes.
Physiology
How long does a red blood cell live, on average?
Answer: About 120 days
Red cells live about 120 days, then the spleen and liver recycle them. That’s why HbA1c reflects roughly the last three months of blood glucose.
Famous patients
Which US president secretly had Addison’s disease?
Answer: John F. Kennedy
JFK had Addison’s disease (adrenal failure), kept quiet during his presidency and managed with steroids.
Language
What is the photic sneeze reflex better known as, by its acronym?
Answer: ACHOO syndrome
Sneezing on stepping into bright light. Autosomal dominant. Bless you.
Nobel Prizes
Who shared the 1923 Nobel Prize for the discovery of insulin?
Answer: Frederick Banting and John Macleod
Banting shared his half with Charles Best.
Pathology
What is the most common primary malignant bone tumour in adolescents?
Answer: Osteosarcoma
Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer in teenagers, typically around the knee during growth spurts.
By the numbers
Roughly how many litres of blood does the heart pump per minute at rest?
Answer: About 5 litres
Cardiac output: heart rate × stroke volume.
Toxicology
Which poison is classically said to smell of bitter almonds?
Answer: Cyanide
Not everyone can smell it. It’s genetic.
History of medicine
Which Persian physician wrote ‘The Canon of Medicine’ around 1025?
Answer: Avicenna
Ibn Sina. A standard textbook for 600 years.
Anatomy
What is the longest nerve in the human body?
Answer: The sciatic nerve
The sciatic nerve runs from the lower back down the back of the leg, and is about as thick as a thumb at its widest.
Pharmacology
Aspirin’s ancestor came from the bark of which tree?
Answer: Willow
Salicylates, from Salix.
In print
Which creator of Sherlock Holmes was also a doctor?
Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle
Holmes was based on his teacher, Dr Joseph Bell.
Eponyms
What are the transverse grooves across the nails after a severe illness called?
Answer: Beau’s lines
Beau’s lines are dents across the nails where growth paused during a severe illness. They grow out over months.
Brain-melter
What is the longest word in major English dictionaries, a lung disease from fine silica dust?
Answer: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
Invented in 1935 to be the longest word. It worked.