1) The denaturating gradient version of this test separates nucleic acids of the same size based on their sequences. Polymerase chain reaction is often used to amplify samples for this test. (*) This test's results come under the form of ladders, which, for ten points, indicates genes when used for DNA testing.

Answer: Gel electrophoresis

For ten points each, answer these questions about the Scramble for Africa.

Which British foreign minister advocated for a "red line" spanning from Egypt to South Africa?

Answer: Cecil Rhodes

Cecil Rhodes was very popular among the settlers of this region bisected by the Zambezi River.

Answer: Rhodesia

Rhodesia was the theater of these wars against the natives, which established British control over Rhodesia.

Answer: Matabele Wars

2) This person began her political career in an event known as the "eight-eight-eight-eight" uprising. She was placed under house arrest shortly after her party won a nullified election. (*) She served as Prime Minister of Myanmar from 2016 to 2021. For ten points, name this Burmese pro-democracy activist.

Answer: Aung San Suu Kyi

For ten points each, answer these questions about staircases.

The staircase of this New Mexico chapel was built after its builder answered nine days of prayer.

Answer: Loretto Chapel

Construction of this staircase in Rome was delayed by an inheritance dispute of its original benefactor.

Answer: Spanish Steps

Rome started fining people who sit on its Spanish Steps to help fund repairs caused by this phenomenon.

Answer: Overtourism

3) This English king gained the Seven Islands of Bombay in his marriage to Catherine of Braganza. The Exclusion Crisis took place during his reign over religious matters. (*) Under his reign, England acquired what would become New York City. For ten points, name this English king crowned at the 1660 Restoration.

Answer: Charles II (prompt on Charles)

For ten points each, answer these questions about aerodynamics.

At low velocities, the magnitude of this force varies linearly as a function of velocity.

Answer: Drag

Wingtip devices are installed at the edge of planes' wings to combat this variety of drag.

Answer: Parasitic drag

Parasitic drag is caused by both form drag and this type of force.

Answer: Skin friction

4) A movie from this director was held back for six years by the Canadian NFB for political reasons. In his Jesus of Montreal, its protagonist claims that "a lack of love kills people." (*) A character in one of his movies argued that modern society's obsession with self-indulgence will lead to its collapse. For ten points, name the director of The Barbarian Invasions.

Answer: Denys Arcand (The first, second and third clues refer to Cotton Mill, Treadmill, Jesus of Montreal and The Decline of the American Empire respectively)

For ten points each, answer these questions about trains in literature.

This Agatha Christie novel is named after this famous train from Istanbul to London.

Answer: Murder on the Orient Express

The protagonist of this novel quits his job as a classics professor to discover the whereabouts of a Portuguese resistance fighter.

Answer: Night Train to Lisbon

This Patricia Highsmith book tells the story of two train passengers entering a pact to murder the parasites in each other's lives.

Answer: Strangers on a Train

5) One of the belligerents of this war was Khuzestan separatists. Late in this war, both sides attacked each other's capital cities in what is called the War of the Cities. (*) The USS Stark Incident occurred during this war which, for ten points, was declared after the Iranian Revolution opened religious rifts?

Answer: Iran-Iraq War

For ten points each, answer these questions about parenting.

Children suffering from this syndrome often had excessive amounts of attention from their parents.

Answer: Little emperor syndrome (accept king baby syndrome)

One of the main causes of the little emperor syndrome involves parents proactively removing obstacles that their children would otherwise face.

Answer: Snowplow parenting

Snowplow parenting is a more extreme form of this parenting style.

Answer: Helicopter parenting

6) Pair repulsion of these electrons is instrumental in determining molecular geometries. Resonance hybrids describe molecules with at least one of these electrons moving about a molecule (*) The number of these electrons in an atom governs its bonding behavior. For ten points, name the outermost layer of the electron shell.

Answer: Valence electrons

For ten points each, answer these questions about medieval Central Asia.

This Uzbek city was the capital of two Muslim empires.

Answer: Samarkand

Samarkand was a major stop along this overland trade route.

Answer: Silk Road

The Silk Road was theorized for spreading the disease responsible for the Black Death from Central Asia.

Answer: (Bubonic) plague

7) The Madrasah of Sankore, located in this African city, was one of three components of a preeminent Muslim university in medieval West Africa. Ansar Dine rebels destroyed shrines and mausoleums in this city in 2012. (*) Tales of this city's fabulous wealth, recorded by Leo Africanus in Descrittione dell'Africa, mesmerized Renaissance Europeans, which, for ten points, became a city synonymous with a faraway, mysterious place.

Answer: Timbuktu

For ten points each, answer these questions about meteorites.

Most meteorites aren't visible to the naked eye because they burn off at this stage.

Answer: Atmospheric entry

During atmospheric entry, meteorites undergo this process of partial disintegration.

Answer: Ablation

Meteor showers made by ablation fall into this area.

Answer: Strewn field

8) A play from this playwright caused him to feud with the Marquess of Queensberry. Algeron declares, in one of his plays, that "the very essence of romance is uncertainty". (*) This playwright was imprisoned for his homosexuality. For ten points, name the author of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Answer: Oscar Wilde (the first two clues refer to The Importance of Being Earnest)

9) Modulations of keys are often associated with this chart in Western music. It may be mapped from the chromatic scale by multiplication. (*) This chart's outer ring represents major keys, which, for ten points, organizes keys as a clockwise sequence of perfect fifths.

Answer: Circle of fifths

10) This element is part of a detonator in nuclear weapons. It was named to highlight a political controversy of its discovery's era. (*) Its natural occurrence is due to its positions in the uranium 238 decay chain. For ten points, name this radioactive element used as the murder weapon used in Alexander Litvinenko's assassination.

Answer: Polonium

11) This kind of event is often the consequence of a dysfunctional power structure. It's not a war of succession, but the Praetorian Guard was often involved in these events in Ancient Rome. (*) This type of event poses a major threat within dictatorial regimes, which, for ten points, occurs when a faction within a ruling group displaces another one in power.

Answer: Palace coup

12) This German author partially rewrote their work after hearing on the radio that the Dutch government would collect work to document the war period. Prior to her capture by the Gestapo, this author lived in hiding in the Secret Annex. (*) This German author died during the Holocaust in a concentration camp. For ten points, was the author of The Diary of a Young Girl.

Answer: Anne Frank

13) The Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987 and its signatories pledged to ban substances destroying this atmospheric layer. The Dobson unit is used to measure its concentration. (*) Chlorine is a substance responsible for this layer's depletion which, for ten points, protects Earth against ultraviolet radiation.

Answer: Ozone layer

14) Usage of this service raises the legal issue of ownership of the data stored through it. Virtualization is the main technology enabling this service's deployment. (*) This computing service is provided without direct active management by its users which, for ten points, is often billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Answer: Cloud computing

15) This project was started in the aftermath of the cancellation of the Master Plan of 1948. One of the components of this project shares its name with an American Revolution battle that happened near one of its ends. (*) Substandard materials were found to be the cause of a collapse of one of this project's tunnels, which, for ten points, resulted in the biggest cost overrun in American construction history.

Answer: Big Dig (accept Central Artery/Tunnel Project)

16) In Hamiltonian mechanics, this principle holds in a coordinate if that coordinate does not appear in the Hamiltonian of a system. Tsiolkovsky's equation is derived from that principle. (*) A collision is said to be elastic if both energy conservation and this property holds. For ten points, which property holds in the absence of external forces?

Answer: Conservation of momentum

17) A character in this series of books defaulted on a mortgage in Wisconsin, leading to the Ingalls returning to that state. In another book of the same series, two characters risk their lives to save their town from starvation. (*) This series' family saves the title structure from a fire in the third book of the series. For ten points, name this series of autobiographical children's books set in late 19th century American Midwest.

Answer: Little House on the Prairie (the first two clues refer to Little House on the Prairie and The Long Winter respectively)

18) In reforms instituted under Peter the Great, this city became the seat of the Azov Guberniya. During WWII, this city was the namesake of a Soviet defensive front during Operation Blau. (*) Osip Mandelstam wrote notebooks named after this city. For ten points, name this Southwestern Russia city held by Wagner Group on June 24, 2023.

Answer: Voronezh

19) This variety of chemical reactions can occur throughphosphoester and phosphoramidate bonds, as well as anhydride linkages. The most abundant post-translational modification in eukaryotes is this process on proteins. (*) ATP is created by this process from ADP. In cell metabolism, this process exists in two varieties: oxidative and substrate-level. For ten points, name this process that adds a phosphate group to a molecule or ion.

Answer: Phosphorylation

20) The Serment du Jeu de Paume was taken during this following event in the early stages of the French Revolution. Subsequent to that Oath, the Third Estate formed the National Constituent Assembly. (*) Participants of this event were deputies grouped into three estates. Louis XVI organized, for ten points, this event to resolve the French financial crisis.

Answer: Estates-General of 1789 (accept États Généraux de 1789; prompt on Estates-General alone)