Ballpark

Puzzle #23 answers

Puzzle #23 · 12 October 2026

The five questions from that day's Ballpark, each with its answer, the fact behind it and a link to the source. Rather play it first? It is in the archive.

1. What is the fastest speed ever reached by a maglev train (record set in Japan in 2015)?

A white L0 series maglev train with a long pointed nose on the test track in Yamanashi, Japan

603 km/h

603 km/h (375 mph), by JR Central's Series L0 on the Yamanashi test line on 21 April 2015. Source

Image: Maryland GovPics · CC BY 2.0, cropped

2. How much did the Human Genome Project (1990-2003) cost, in 1991 US dollars?

Craig Venter, Bill Clinton and Francis Collins at a White House podium announcing the draft human genome in 2000

2.7B US dollars

$2.7 billion in 1991 dollars. That was under the budget Congress had been told to expect, and it finished two and a half years early. Source

Image: National Human Genome Research Institute · Public domain

3. About how many people died when the Titanic sank in 1912?

Black-and-white photo of the four-funnelled liner RMS Titanic steaming out of Southampton in April 1912

1,500 people

About 1,500 of the roughly 2,200 aboard. The exact toll differs between the US and British inquiries. Source

Image: F. G. O. Stuart · Public domain

4. How many bones (vertebrae) are in a giraffe's neck?

An Angolan giraffe stretching its long neck to browse a bush, with its young calf beside it

7 vertebrae

Seven, the same number as in a human neck. Each one can be over 10 inches (25 cm) long, and the 6-foot neck weighs about 600 pounds. Source

Image: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

5. How tall is the Eiffel Tower, including antennas?

The Eiffel Tower against a clear blue sky, seen whole from its lower arch up to the antenna at its tip, above the rooftops of Paris and the gilded dome of Les Invalides

330 meters

330 m. It grows ~15 cm in summer heat. Source

Image: NonOmnisMoriar · CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped

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