Were there a demonym for Atlantic readers, would it be Atlanticists? Atlanteans? Atlantickers? The one for Atlantic Trivia players is easier: That’s just geniuses.
And by the way, did you know that people from Liverpool are called Liverpudlians, people from Sydney are Sydneysiders, and Glasgow residents are Glaswegians?
My favorite demonym, however, is the bit of phonetic magic that turns the disparate St.
Swim out to the pelagic zone of your sea of knowledge, then dive, dive, dive.
And by the way, did you know that if all the salt in the world’s oceans were extracted and dried out, a layer of it could cover the entirety of the Earth’s land?
The layer, in case you’re interested, would be more than 500 feet thick.
Have a great weekend!
Find previous questions here, and to get Atlantic Trivia in your inbox every day, sign up for The Atlantic Daily.
Go for trivia launch. T-minus five, four, three—trivia ignition. Players, we have liftoff.
And by the way, did you know that so-called astronaut ice cream—that duplicitous treat!—was sent to space only once?
It is true that freeze-dried ice cream was developed under contract for NASA during the 1960s, but the only record of its presence on a mission is a menu from a single 1968 voyage.
“I chose and my world was shaken, so what? The choice may have been mistaken; the choosing was not.”
— Stephen Sondheim in a lyric presumably inspired by playing trivia
And by the way, did you know that Sondheim wrote exclusively with Blackwing 602 pencils, the flat-tailed, lightweight instrument also favored by John Steinbeck? They were discontinued while Sondheim was still writing, but he had purchased boxes and boxes of them just in case.
Atlantic Trivia (n.): that quiz which is too easy when one gets three of three correct and too difficult when one correctly answers any fewer.
And by the way, did you know—also a tidbit from Ross’s article—that the Chinese used their newfangled invention of paper only for packing and padding in the early days? It was not used for the dissemination of knowledge until some time later.
Let today’s trivia be the best of times, and more “age of wisdom” than “age of foolishness.” Good luck!
And by the way, did you know that Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers—a novel released over the course of 1836 in serialized form—was so popular in England that it spawned theatrical performances, joke books, bootlegs, and Pickwick-branded canes, hats, soaps, and cigars?
As was written in The Atlantic in 2015, “‘Literature’ is not a big enough category for Pickwick.
Today’s trivia is not asserting that loving France makes you lose the presidency, but it’s not not asserting that. See for yourself!
And by the way, did you know—classic fun fact incoming—that thanks to its overseas territories, France technically spans more time zones than any other country?
The European part of France exists entirely within one time zone.
You’ve got a very special lineup today: the worldwide record holder for most entertaining Atlantic-branded trivia published on March 20, 2026.
And by the way, did you know that in addition to the nearly 70,000 active records that Guinness maintains, it has a handful that it has consciously discontinued? Largest pie fight is out on the grounds of food waste, and largest penny pyramid ended in 1984 out of (prescient!) fear of a penny shortage.
Answer here my questions three, and quizzing pride shall come to thee!
And by the way, I’m sure you know that most of our warm and fuzzy fairy tales originally had horrifying endings, but let’s run through a few of them: The little mermaid turns into sea foam, Sleeping Beauty awakens only during childbirth, and Snow White’s wicked stepmother has to dance in burning iron shoes until she dies.
So if you see a fairy godmother out there, do not engage.
Until tomorrow.
Today’s questions look back to a quarter century ago, as well as to what feels like a quarter century ago: 2024. Good luck!
And by the way, did you know that in addition to Democrats and Republicans (as well as their Federalist, Whig, and other predecessors), the Senate has held members of at least a dozen smaller parties throughout its history? These members generally caucused with the big dogs, but they retained their boutique identities.
If you, like me, had an early bedtime last night, you might require The Atlantic’s help in answering today’s Oscars trivia. By all means, read up.
And by the way, did you know that this weekend’s tie between the two winners for Best Live-Action Short is the seventh in Oscars history? The most famous is Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand’s draw for Best Actress in 1969—but the most interesting is the first, which wasn’t really a tie at all.
Atlantic Trivia is going interactive! Starting today, you’ll be able to enter your own answer—and thus show off even more.
To play, type your response into the field below the question. If you need a hint, click to reveal. Next, click “Submit” to have your response checked. You’ll see the answer, a bit about the corresponding article, and the button to proceed. Good luck, and happy thinking.
Updated with new questions at 3:50 p.m. ET on March 3, 2026.
There’s an old rule of thumb that you retain about 10 percent of what you read, 20 percent of what you hear, 30 percent of what you see via image or video, and so on up the ladder of experiential learning, until you get to a 90 percent retention rate for the things you learn by doing yourself.
There’s an old rule of thumb that you retain about 10 percent of what you read, 20 percent of what you hear, 30 percent of what you see via image or video, and so on up the ladder of experiential learning, until you get to a 90 percent retention rate for the things you learn by doing yourself.
The teeny problem is that none of this is backed by science; it’s a bastardization of the “cone of learning” that the education theorist Edgar Dale developed but never intended to be prescriptive.
Updated with new questions at 3:05 p.m. ET on February 24, 2026.
If you put any stock in the ability of IQ tests to assess intelligence, we humans have spent the past century steadily getting smarter. (And if you don’t put any stock in them, well, we humans have steadily gotten better at IQ tests.)
Because IQ is a standardized measure, humankind’s average score still sits at 100—but this isn’t your granddaddy’s 100.
Updated with new questions at 4:30 p.m. ET on February 23, 2026.
If you put any stock in the ability of IQ tests to assess intelligence, we humans have spent the past century steadily getting smarter. (And if you don’t put any stock in them, well, we humans have steadily gotten better at IQ tests.)
Because IQ is a standardized measure, humankind’s average score still sits at 100—but this isn’t your granddaddy’s 100.
Updated with new questions at 3 p.m. ET on February 20, 2026.
If you put any stock in the ability of IQ tests to assess intelligence, we humans have spent the past century steadily getting smarter. (And if you don’t put any stock in them, well, we humans have steadily gotten better at IQ tests.)
Because IQ is a standardized measure, humankind’s average score still sits at 100—but this isn’t your granddaddy’s 100.
Updated with new questions at 2:50 p.m. ET on February 19, 2026.
If you put any stock in the ability of IQ tests to assess intelligence, we humans have spent the past century steadily getting smarter. (And if you don’t put any stock in them, well, we humans have steadily gotten better at IQ tests.)
Because IQ is a standardized measure, humankind’s average score still sits at 100—but this isn’t your granddaddy’s 100.
If you put any stock in the ability of IQ tests to assess intelligence, we humans have spent the past century steadily getting smarter. (And if you don’t put any stock in them, well, we humans have steadily gotten better at IQ tests.)
Because IQ is a standardized measure, humankind’s average score still sits at 100—but this isn’t your granddaddy’s 100.
Updated with new questions at 4:20 p.m. ET on February 13, 2026.
You won’t find this in Cortina d’Ampezzo over the next few weeks, but for several decades of the Olympics’ history, the contest awarded medals not just for sport but for art too.
In the Summer Games from 1912 to 1948, musicians, painters, and plenty of other aesthetes went brain-to-brain in events such as lyric poetry and chamber music. “Town planning” was even contested one year under the umbrella of the architecture competition.
Updated with new questions at 5:30 p.m. ET on February 12, 2026.
You won’t find this in Cortina d’Ampezzo over the next few weeks, but for several decades of the Olympics’ history, the contest awarded medals not just for sport but for art too.
In the Summer Games from 1912 to 1948, musicians, painters, and plenty of other aesthetes went brain-to-brain in events such as lyric poetry and chamber music. “Town planning” was even contested one year under the umbrella of the architecture competition.
Updated with new questions at 3:45 p.m. ET on February 11, 2026.
You won’t find this in Cortina d’Ampezzo over the next few weeks, but for several decades of the Olympics’ history, the contest awarded medals not just for sport but for art too.
In the Summer Games from 1912 to 1948, musicians, painters, and plenty of other aesthetes went brain-to-brain in events such as lyric poetry and chamber music. “Town planning” was even contested one year under the umbrella of the architecture competition.
Updated with new questions at 4:25 p.m. ET on February 5, 2026.
Every year since 2003, the umbrella organization for quizzing outfits around the globe has put on the granddaddy of knowledge competitions. Nothing in the tiny, nerdy world of trivia confers more authority than winning the World Quizzing Championships.
Updated with new questions at 4 p.m. ET on February 4, 2026.
Every year since 2003, the umbrella organization for quizzing outfits around the globe has put on the granddaddy of knowledge competitions. Nothing in the tiny, nerdy world of trivia confers more authority than winning the World Quizzing Championships.
Updated with new questions at 5:15 p.m. ET on February 3, 2026.
Every year since 2003, the umbrella organization for quizzing outfits around the globe has put on the granddaddy of knowledge competitions. Nothing in the tiny, nerdy world of trivia confers more authority than winning the World Quizzing Championships.
Updated with new questions at 3:45 p.m. ET on January 29, 2026.
In Princeton, New Jersey, a short stroll from the university you have heard of, there lies a little campus home to the Institute for Advanced Study. It was founded in 1930 not to confer degrees nor—God forbid!—to make money, nor even to conduct research toward any end in particular. The institute proclaims that its purpose is “the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.
Updated with new questions at 4:40 p.m. ET on January 22, 2026.
In Princeton, New Jersey, a short stroll from the university you have heard of, there lies a little campus home to the Institute for Advanced Study. It was founded in 1930 not to confer degrees nor—God forbid!—to make money, nor even to conduct research toward any end in particular. The institute proclaims that its purpose is “the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.
Updated with new questions at 3:50 p.m. ET on January 21, 2026.
In Princeton, New Jersey, a short stroll from the university you have heard of, there lies a little campus home to the Institute for Advanced Study. It was founded in 1930 not to confer degrees nor—God forbid!—to make money, nor even to conduct research toward any end in particular. The institute proclaims that its purpose is “the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.
In Princeton, New Jersey, a short stroll from the university you have heard of, there lies a little campus home to the Institute for Advanced Study. It was founded in 1930 not to confer degrees nor—God forbid!—to make money, nor even to conduct research toward any end in particular. The institute proclaims that its purpose is “the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.
Updated with new questions at 4:20 p.m. ET on January 16, 2026.
Welcome back to Atlantic Trivia! Are you hungry for more?
I hope that while I’ve been away, you have been enjoying plenty of food for thought—literally. Research shows that berries help improve memory and that a walnut-heavy diet is associated with higher cognitive performance. Fatty fish and leafy greens are linked to slower cognitive decline. Caffeine is a brain boost too.