Feeling Nasty. London Infected Me...

... So Regretfully

I will have to pass on the Burton-upon-Trent Quizzing GP. And I really wanted to go to it. Bah. Annoyed.

You know it's funny. When I choose these it goes like a one-armed bandit. Dunno if that made sense.

Science & Technology
1. In physics, current theory suggests that 1 of these units is the smallest distance or size about which anything can be known. Named for a scientist, which unit of length is equal to about 1.616252 x 10-35 metres?
2. Derived from the work of a British mathematician and Presbyterian minister (c.1702-61), evidence or observations are used to update or to newly infer probability that a hypothesis may be true in which statistical inference?
3. Funded by Prince Leopoldo and Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici, which early scientific study organisation was founded in Florence in 1657 by students of Galileo, Torricelli and Vincenzo Viviani?
4. He developed the idea that organic compounds could be derived from inorganic ones, directly or indirectly, by substitution processes. In the 1840s, which German chemist (1818-84) converted carbon disulphide into acetic acid, thus further disproving the doctrine of vitalism?
5. Coined by the US physiologist Walter Bradford Cannon, what term is typically used to refer to a living organism and describes the property of a system, either open or closed, that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition?
6. Now a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen, its HQ is in Martorell. Which carmaker was founded by the Instituto Nacional de Industria (INI) in 1950, with initial Fiat assistance?
7. What term for the study of ants was coined by William Morton Wheeler (1865-1937)?
8. This French naturalist and zoologist was instrumental in establishing the fields of anatomy and palaeontology by comparing living animals with fossils, as well as establishing that extinction was a fact. Who wrote Règne animal distribué d'après son organisation (1817)?
9. Astrophysicists studying the universe confirmed it to be what age in 2008?
10. Manufactured by iRobot, which robotic disc-shaped vacuum cleaner has sold more than 2.5 million units since its introduction in 2002 and is the most successful domestic robot in North America?

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Answerstotheabove
1. Planck length. It is the base unit in the system of Planck units. It can be defined from three fundamental physical constants: the speed of light in a vacuum, Planck’s constant and the gravitational constant.
2. Bayesian inference (so-called due to the the frequent use of Bayes’ theorem – a law relating the conditional and marginal probabilities of two random events – in the inference process)
3. Accademia del Cimento (‘Academy of Experiment’) Giovanni Borelli and Nicolaus Steno were members. Tenets of the society included “Experimentation” and “Avoidance of speculation”.
4. Hermann Kolbe. He was the first person to use the word synthesis in its present meaning.
5. Homeostasis (Greek: ‘similar-standing still’) The concept came from that of milieu interieur that was created by Claude Bernard and published in 1865.
6. SEAT (Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo). Many SEAT cars were based on FIAT models. The SEAT Panda (later Marbella) was based on the Fiat Panda. Likewise, the Fiat 600 and the SEAT 600, the latter being the first car of many Spanish families.
7. Myrmecology. The Swiss psychologist Auguste Forel (1848-1931) was an early pioneer in the field.
8. Georges Cuvier (1769-1832). Brother of zoologist Frederic and opponent of early evolutionary theories, his book was translated into English under the title The Animal Kingdom.
9. 13.7 billion years. They also concluded that only 4% of the contents are ordinary matter and discovered that it will most likely expand forever without limit)
10. The Roomba. It is 13.4in/34cm in diameter and less than 3.5in/9cm high. A large contact-sensing bumper is mounted on the front, with an infrared sensor at its top front centre.