UPSC GK Questions 2026

Each nucleotide of DNA is made of these three parts, and many nucleotides joined together form the polynucleotide chain. In a DNA strand, the sugar of one nucleotide is linked to the phosphate of the next by a phosphodiester bond, making a sugar-phosphate backbone.

With an area of about 7.86 lakh sq km, New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, after Greenland. New Guinea lies just north of Australia and is shared by two countries: its western half belongs to Indonesia and its eastern half is the mainland of Papua New Guinea.

A magnesium atom sits at the centre of every chlorophyll molecule, so a plant cannot make chlorophyll without it. Chlorophyll is built around a ring-shaped structure called a porphyrin, with a single magnesium ion held at its centre.

A carbonate reacts with an acid at room temperature to give carbon dioxide, and only carbon dioxide turns limewater milky.

Nominal GDP values each year's output at that year's own (current) prices, not at constant prices, so this statement is not correct.

The body's weight stays the same, but standing puts it on the small area of the feet, so the pressure is greater.

Silver is the best conductor, nichrome is an alloy with high resistivity, and glass is an insulator with enormous resistivity.

Incorporated in 1920 and later taken over by the government, SCCL is India's oldest government-owned coal mining company. Coal was found in the Godavari valley near Yellandu in the 1870s, and the Hyderabad (Deccan) Company began mining there in 1886.

During a hard sprint the muscles run short of oxygen and switch to anaerobic respiration, which leaves lactic acid behind.

Gravitational force varies inversely as the square of the distance, so halving the distance makes the force 2 × 2 = 4 times larger.

Man Kautuhal was compiled under the patronage of Raja Man Singh Tomar, who ruled Gwalior from 1486 to 1516. Man Singh Tomar was a great patron of music, and his court is closely linked with the growth of the Dhrupad style of Hindustani singing.

Plants need magnesium in fairly large amounts, so it is a macronutrient, not a micronutrient. Plant nutrients are grouped by how much of them a plant needs.

S-waves are transverse waves: they shake the ground at right angles to their direction of travel, and that sideways motion forms crests and troughs.

The events fall in 1972, 1974, 1985 and 2001 in that order, which is also UPSC's official key. The Simla Agreement was signed on 2 July 1972 by Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after the 1971 war; it turned the ceasefire line in Kashmir into the Line of Control.

Lactase breaks down lactose, the sugar in milk, so a person who still makes enough of it can digest milk at any age.

For a 4d orbital, n = 4 and l = 2, which gives l = 2 angular nodes and n − l − 1 = 1 radial node.

A bacterium is a living cell filled with cytoplasm, while a virus is only genetic material inside a protein coat.

Accelerators speed up the vulcanisation of rubber; they are not a part of paint.

Animal cells are bounded only by a flexible cell membrane; a rigid cell wall is found in plants, fungi and bacteria.

The first three are written into Article I of the SAARC Charter; ending cross-border terrorism is not one of its listed objectives.