Today’s Atlantic Trivia: Protein’s Gilded Age

Updated with new questions at 2:50 p.m. ET on January 15, 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.

A challenge: Combine all these ingredients, Chopped-style, into the perfect pre-trivia meal.

Meanwhile, I have been away these past few weeks thinking mostly about chicken parmigiana. It’s not brain food per se, but I reckon we can call it creativity fuel—so long as it’s eaten for breakfast. That is the suggestion in the first edition of my new newsletter, Better With Time, an eight-week course of ways to add oomph to various parts of the day. Sign up for it here.

But first—at last—trivia!

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Thursday, January 15, 2025

1. What artist who since releasing his first single in 2016 has been Spotify’s most streamed artist in four separate years—and the only among his peers to perform almost entirely in Spanish? — From Spencer Kornhaber’s article on how this artist amassed an Anglophone audience
2. What brand of protein bar named after a particularly ripped specimen of Michelangelo’s comes wrapped in gold foil and has roughly the protein-to-calorie ratio of boiled egg whites? — From Rachel Sugar’s essay arguing that American consumers have entered “late-stage protein”
3. What name that’s shared with a biblical monster did the philosopher Thomas Hobbes give to an imagined all-powerful ruler who he argued would deliver humanity from chaos? — From Gal Beckerman’s essay on how Hobbes has been misunderstood over the centuries

And by the way, did you know that the body turns all those egg whites and whatnot into tens of thousands of different kinds of proteins? Many of these have daunting, sciencey-sounding names—but there is also the group called “hedgehog proteins.”

Cells rely on these proteins to know where to go and what to turn into during embryonic development. They are so named because disabling them in fruit flies causes embryos to grow abnormal spikes.

Humans have three separate hedgehog proteins, two of which—the Indian and desert varieties—are named after real species. The third (sigh) is named after the most famous hedgehog of all: Sonic.

Until tomorrow!

Answers:

1. Bad Bunny. Spencer writes that Bad Bunny’s performance in Spanish is part of the “iron core of identity” that has made him so popular, but his music’s emotion is universally intelligible. “Universality can shear art from its social context,” Spencer says, and as Bad Bunny gears up to play the Super Bowl, he wonders: “Does what’s lost in translation matter?” Read more.
2. David. One bar has 28 grams of protein jammed into 150 calories, which is totally optimized and basically joyless, Sugar writes. Protein fans say that cavemen prioritized this macronutrient; an overwhelmed Sugar thinks “the best part of being a caveman would be not worrying about protein.” Read more.
3. Leviathan. Many in the Trump administration talk like top-grade Hobbesians, Gal writes, but their rhetoric ignores an element central to the work of the 17th-century philosopher: that the Leviathan would require the consent of the governed; this was the way to escape human nature’s horror. In Trump’s orbit, Gal writes, “it’s horror all the way down.” Read more.

How did you do? Come back tomorrow for more questions, and if you think up a great question after reading an Atlantic story—or simply want to share a fact—send it my way at [email protected].

Wednesday, January 14, 2025

1. What epithet for mitochondria, the body’s microscopic energy producers, is so ubiquitous that it has become its own meme? — From Bonnie Tsui’s article about how muscles carry “memories” of strengthening and weakening
2. What philosopher recounted in his early work Apology how his former teacher denied being a “corrupter of the youth” before being executed for the charge? — From Adam Kirsch’s essay on the perennial fear of philosophy’s influence on young minds
3. The Espacio Lejano Space Station is a radar system that China operates in the Patagonian desert under a 50-year lease from what country? — From Simon Shuster’s article on an area of the world that China won’t easily be shooed away from

And by the way, did you know that mitochondria can be shared among cells? If needed—often in instances of cellular distress—the organelles travel from one cell to another via little bridges called tunneling nanotubes.

I cannot help but anthropomorphize this incredible phenomenon: a knock at the cell membrane. Neighbor, can I borrow a cup of adenosine triphosphate?

Answers:

1. The powerhouse of the cell. As with the rest of the body, genes govern those industrious organelles, and repeated instances of muscle disuse and weakening are shown to suppress the genes that make mitochondria perform at their best, Tsui reports. In other words, each time you weaken, it becomes harder to get stronger again. Read more.
2. Plato. Plato was a student of the philosopher Socrates, whom Athens forced to drink poison when his influence grew too great. Today, Texas A&M administrators are similarly spooked by Plato, whom they removed from a class syllabus. Plato might have seen this coming, Adam suggests, convinced as he was that the conflict between philosophy and society is “inevitable.” Read more.
3. Argentina. The capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro is in line with Donald Trump’s plan to reestablish dominance in Latin America, Simon writes, but China will be hard to catch after years of a “methodical, well financed, and persistent” campaign to make itself indispensable in the region. Read more.

Tuesday, January 13, 2025

1. What geographic line passes through eight countries (including Mali), three continents (including Antarctica), and a royal observatory? — From Alexandra Petri’s list of things on the globe that Donald Trump might want to buy in addition to Greenland
2. One of the stars of TV’s ice-hockey romance Heated Rivalry cautioned straitlaced viewers that “you miss the story” by skipping over what parts of the show? — From Faith Hill’s article on what Heated Rivalry understands better than most romances
3. Living in exile since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, former Crown Prince Reza is a member of what dynasty that had ruled Iran since 1925? — From Karim Sadjadpour and Jack A. Goldstone’s analysis of the conditions necessary for Iran’s regime to collapse

And by the way, did you know that when the aforementioned dynasty took power in 1925, its country was still known to the world as Persia? It wasn’t until 1935 that the shah asked the international community to start calling the place Iran, to better reflect its makeup (not all Iranians are ethnically Persian).

This was generally accommodated. Then Winston Churchill got involved; the British premier worried that the new name was too close to Iraq’s and would cause confusion during World War II, when both countries were occupied by the Allies. He requested a temporary swap back, and the Iranians—or Persians?—amazingly agreed.

Answers:

1. The Prime Meridian. The spot for 0° longitude was picked to pass through the observatory in London’s borough of Greenwich, but the imaginary line traverses so much of the world that perhaps it “could be useful for spycraft,” Alexandra muses in her latest satire. Read more.
2. Sex scenes. Faith agrees with the Heated Rivalry actor, writing that a “frank sex scene” reveals so much more about characters than the mere implication—say, with a cutaway to breeze-ruffled curtains—that they have been intimate. Yet sex, Faith reports, is vanishing from our TV and movie screens. Read more.
3. Pahlavi. The exiled royal is a leader of the opposition to the Islamic Republic regime in Iran—a diverse coalition that Sadjadpour and Goldstone count as a precondition for counterrevolution. Their essay names four more boxes to tick, and they write that Iran is very close to doing so. Read more.

Monday, January 12, 2025

1. What 19th-century statesman and fighter is known as El Libertador for his independence campaign in northern South America (including in the country that now bears his name)? — From Vivian Salama’s article on the chance of a domino effect after Nicolás Maduro’s capture
2. English settlers who came to colonial America were thrilled to hunt the continent’s bountiful deer; the animals back in Britain could not be freely shot, because they legally belonged to what person? — From Yasmin Tayag’s essay on venison consumption in the United States
3. A Dostoyevsky tale about a character who faces a more talented, more popular look-alike at work is an inspiration for what 2010 psychological thriller that centers on the performance of a different Russian’s work? — From Faith Hill’s article on the movie’s theme of women navigating hyper-competition

And by the way, did you know that venison, which comes from the Latin for “to hunt,” once referred to any wild game? That meant deer, but also hare, boar, some goats, and elk and their ilk.

That catchall spirit lives on today in South Africa. Because the country’s continent has no native deer species, venison there means meat from eland, kudu, gemsbok, springbok, or impala—which, to save you a search, are all species of antelope.

Answers:

1. Simón Bolívar. El Libertador’s dream of a united Latin America was one shared by Venezuela’s and Cuba’s socialist leaders, particularly regarding the relationship between their two countries. However linked the states are, Vivian does not think that Donald Trump’s blow to Venezuela will bring about the regime’s demise in Cuba. Read more.
2. The King. The English hunted down the colonies’ deer population to about 1 percent what it had been in precolonial days, but the animals bounded back in a big way and are now often a nuisance. Yasmin’s solution: Eat them. Read more.
3. Black Swan. That other Russian’s work is Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, which—no spoilers—takes a toll on Natalie Portman’s character, especially once a fellow dancer played by Mila Kunis starts breathing down her neck. Faith writes that Black Swan’s story is eminently recognizable well beyond the ballet world. Read more.

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