Missing ingredients, brand new colours and the chances of alien life – take the Thursday quiz | Life and style

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Gather round, faithful quizzers, for another adventure is at hand. Dare you tackle our 15 questions on topical news, general knowledge and pop culture trivia? If you do, you will be excited to find you are being treated to a brand new regular feature. The quiz is also, as ever, littered with a few silly in-jokes and references, which you can point out in the comments when you spot them. Enjoy!

The Thursday quiz, No 207

  1. 1.The viral trend for so-called Dubai chocolate has sparked an international shortage of which ingredient?

  2. 2.Eye boffins, which the Thursday quiz believes is the correct technical term, claim to have made people experience a brand new colour by bombarding their retinas with lasers for no readily apparent reason. What have they called the new colour?

    Eye close up

  3. 3.The chances of anything coming from Mars (pictured) are a million to one, they say, but nevertheless boffins of the space variety (also the correct technical term) reckon they may have detected signs of life on which catchily named exoplanet?

    Mars

  4. 4.Talking of space, Nasa’s oldest astronaut (not pictured) returned to Earth after a seven-month mission on the International Space Station (also not pictured). How old is Don Pettit?

    1980s vintage space Lego

  5. 5.Police in Sri Lanka are investigating reports that, despite tight security, somebody managed to take a photograph of a rare relic of the Buddha. What?

    A camera

  6. 6.Twenty-one humanoid robots (although not the one pictured) joined thousands of runners at a half-marathon over the weekend. Where?

    A lifesize humanoid robot

  7. 7.The Who have been keeping whom on his toes as drummer, appearing to publicly sack him and then reinstate him in short succession?

    Drums

  8. 8.Talking of the Beatles, here is Karl-Heinz with his opening lines. This week the Thursday quiz imagines the German soccer legend would like you to see if you can remember the opening line to And I Love Her by the Beatles. Is it …

    Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

  9. 9.A brand new round! “Farther or nearer with Geordie Alan Shearer” makes its debut. This week we imagine the England soccer legend wants to know, if he leaves his home town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which is farther or nearer – Moscow or Lisbon?

    Alan Shearer

  10. 10.Everybody knows that Donald Trump recently unilaterally tried to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. But what is the gulf on Mexico’s west coast called?

    Map of Mexico

  11. 11.It is Tony Visconti’s birthday today. Happy birthday Tony! As well as producing Indiscreet by Sparks, he produced 11 studio albums by David Bowie. Which was the last Bowie album that he worked on?

    Tony Visconti

  12. 12.Anthony Albanese claimed a cultural victory for Australia when authorities in which country relented and permitted the sale of Vegemite in an Australian-themed cafe, after initially raising fears over food standards?

    Anthony Albanese holds up a jar of Vegemite

  13. 13.Which Batman actor (not pictured, that’s cosplay) recently broke ranks and said he hated his costume and that it was “horrendous to wear” and “made it difficult to make the movie”?

    A man dressed as Batman

  14. 14.Yet another “Texas school has banned X” question, sorry. This time someone has banned children from learning about which US state, because its flag and seal depict a Roman goddess and you can – the shock, the horror, we can barely write the words – see an artist’s drawing of her exposed left breast

    A clown

  15. 15.This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. She knows that the artists Nnena Kalu, Mohammed Sami, Rene Matić and Zadie Xa have all been nominated for the Turner prize. But what does the winner receive?

    Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working and are absolutely 100% positive you aren’t attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch Aerial Troubles by Stereolab instead?

Aerial Troubles by Stereolab

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