General Science Questions (MCQs) for Competitive Examinations

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Biofortification is the breeding crops to increase their nutritional value. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding or genetic engineering. Biofortification differs from ordinary fortification because it focuses on making plant foods more nutritious as the plants are growing, rather than having nutrients added to the foods when they are being processed.

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Pituitary gland, called Master Gland, is the smallest endocrine gland. It controls the general growth of the body coordinating the functioning of other endo crime glands and stimulates the primary sex hormones, i.e. ovaries and testes.

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Keratin is a family of fibrous structural proteins that is the key structural component of hair and nails. It is also the key structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. Besides, it provides the necessary strength and toughness for masticatory organs, such as the tongue.

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A typical adult human stomach will secrete about 1.5 liters of gastric acid daily. The best-known component of gastric juice is hydrochloric acid, the secretory product of the parietal, or oxyntic cell. It is known that the capacity of the stomach to secrete HCl is almost linearly related to parietal cell numbers.

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Skeletal muscle is a form of striated muscle which is under the voluntary control of the somatic nervous system. Most skeletal muscles are attached to bones by bundles of collagen fibres known as tendons. It is one of three major muscle types, the others being cardiac muscle and smooth muscle.

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Solitary cymose inflorescence refers to a determinate inflorescence composed of a single flower. Examples include poppy, gardenia (ornamental plant), tulip, etc. Flowers are said to be solitary when the plant bears only one, or when single flowers appear on the ends of lateral branches that are remote from one another.

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The largest invertebrate is Mollusc. With over 80,000 species, molluscs form the second largest phylum of animals on Earth and range from tiny snails to giant squid and octopuses.

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Animals that have a cavity between body wall and digestive tract are known as coelomates for e.g.. annelids, molluscs, arthropods, Echinodermata, and chordates etc. In contrast, animals in which the body cavity is absent are known as acoelomates. Platyhelminthes is an example of acoelomates. The presence or absence of body cavity or coelom plays a very important role in the classification of animals.

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Palynology is the scientific discipline concerned with the study of plant pollen, spores, and certain microscopic planktonic organisms, by this way diatom, in both living and fossil form. It is associated with the plant sciences as well as with the geologic sciences, notably those aspects dealing with stratigraphy, historical geology, study of organic microfossils (palynomorphs) extracted from ancient coals, paleontology and archaeology.

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Ossification is the process of laying down new bone material by cells called osteoblasts. It is synonymous with bone tissue formation. As per scientific evidence, by the age of 25 years nearly all bones are completely ossified in humans. Ossification test is a guess work based on the fusion of joints in the human body b/w birth and age 25. If all joints are fused the person must be of 25yrs of age or older.