Genetic Typos

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: proven correct1% picked this

   The long-derided Lamarckian theory that organisms can pass on acquired characteristics to their offspring has been proven correct by the discoveries of Steele and

   The author is still tentative about Steele's theory, choosing to end the passage with the view of biologists who are still very skeptical about it. The passage was not congratulating Steele on having successfully proven Lamark correct.

   1%
2. B

   Correct77% picked this

   Steele and his colleagues have devised an account of a mechanism by which acquired characteristics could be passed on to an organism’s offspring, and

   Why this is right

   This sums up the New idea without getting too specific about the details about how it would work. But because the passage is frame around this broad Lamarkian question of, "Do organisms change in adapting to their environment (acquired characteristic) and then pass on to their offspring the new characteristic they've acquired?" The fact that this answer is couched in language of, "They claim to have found evidence" reflects the tentative, unresolved nature of this New scientific theory.

   Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   77%
3. C

   Too Strong1% picked this

   Although Steele and his colleagues have succeeded in showing that changes that occur in the immune system can be passed on to offspring, it

   Too Strong: succeeded in showing Out of Scope: elsewhere in body Steele has not successfully shown that changes in the immune system can be passed on to offspring. They have postulated that maybe a virus could carry altered DNA from immune system into the reproductive cells and thus get passed on to offspring. The last paragraph begins, "Even if the process Steele describes is possible", which indicates we don't actually know yet whether the process is possible. The author is saying, "even if we find out they're correct that this could happen, does it ever happen?" Finally, the author is never complaining that Steele has only showed that immune system acquired traits can be passed, but he's failed to show that acquired traits in other parts of the body can be passed along. The main clause of an answer choice should be the author's main emphasis. Do we think the author would want her one sentence takeaway from this passage to be, It's unlikely that you can pass acquired traits from anywhere but the immune system?

   1%
4. D

   Contradicted20% picked this

   In contrast to the standard theory of evolution, the claims of Steele and his colleagues that organisms can pass on acquired characteristics to their

   The fact that the claims of Steele rest on purely circumstantial evidence is not in contrast to the standard theory of evolution. In the second sentence of the final paragraph, the author indicates that "evolutionary mechanisms are never observed directly, so we must (always) make do with circumstantial", so the standard theory of evolution also rests on purely circumstantial evidence.

   20%
5. E

   Too Strong: showing / removed Wrong Obstacle1% picked this

   By showing that RNA can revert back into DNA, Steele and his colleagues have removed the main obstacle to general acceptance of the Lamarckian

   Steele didn't show that RNA can revert back into DNA. In the second sentence of the 3rd paragraph, it says "reverse transcription" has been observed frequently in other contexts. It's implying that scientific research, not Steele, has already shown this to be possible. This was not the main obstacle to believing Lamarckian notions of transferring acquired traits to your offspring. The main obstacle (the troublesome question for Lamarckians, in that next sentence) is whether altered DNA could be carried to the reproductive genes and replace the DNA that's there.

   1%