Georges LeClerc (1707-1780) proposed a mechanism for calculating the age of the Earth using molten spheres of iron and measuring cooling times, after which he proposed that the Earth was at least 75,000 years old and perhaps as old as three million years.
Some students may feel that we should not focus on the past, and that our thoughts should be trained on new knowledge and invention, rather than antiquated ideas. What these students do not understand is the importance of the old ideas in shaping our current understanding of the world around us, and that an outright dismissal of past theories simply because they have been rejected by new evidence may limit our understanding of current theories.
There is value of learning about hypotheses that were once espoused to explain an observed phenomenon, but that have now been long disproved and invalidated. Darwin's theory of natural selection as the mechanism for evolution is all too often taught in a vacuum in high school biology classrooms, as if this brilliant naturalist developed a ground- breaking theory on natural order which had never before been contemplated in any form. It is only by learning about the gradual development of evolutionary theory, and the role of some religious individuals in shaping this theory, that students may come to see the logic and power behind Darwin's relatively simple ideas.
Many of the contributions upon which Darwin built his ideas came from scientists who were staunch creationists themselves. These scientists believed that all organisms on Earth had been placed here through special creation,ďż˝- by God, because there was little evidence at the time to support evolution. LeClerc also perceived that species were not fixed and could change over time; he even proposed that closely related species, such as the horse and donkey, had developed from a common ancestor and had been modified by different climactic conditions. Yet, LeClerc was a devout Christian creationist and devoted much of his writing to the debunking of evolutionary ideas. Despite their commitments to religion, LeClerc and Linnaeus both gave Darwin crucial raw material to work with-their ideas concerning the similarities between related species and possible connections with common ancestors cried out for a reasonable explanation.
For centuries before Darwin, data that challenged the biblical account of creation was surfacing in many fields of research. As explorers began to study the forces that shape the Earth, such as mountain building and volcanic eruptions, accounts from scripture and assertions that the Earth was very young began to be called into question. Uniformitarian geologists such as Charles Lyell felt that the only reason mountains and other features of the Earth's terrain had been built the way they had was because of long, gradual processes that shaped these structures. There was no way, he felt, that the Earth could be several thousand years old as asserted in the Bible. In addition, the discovery of new plants, animals, and fossils as explorers travelled to uncharted regions of the world aroused suspicion about the paucity of animal and plant kindsďż˝- in the Bible. Improvements in scientists' abilities to estimate the age of the Earth and the relative ages of fossils also pushed people to question old assumptions.
Q 1: Taking into account all that was argued by the author, the main idea of this passage is that:
A. religious scientists before Darwin greatly influenced his formation of the theory of natural selection.
B. similarities between species of plants and animals were too great to ignore as people attempted to explain relationships in nature.
C. Darwin relied on a great deal of information from those who lived before him as he formed his well-known conclusions about the mechanisms of evolution.
D. old ideas should not be dismissed simply because they are old and disproved.
E. There is no connection between old ideas and new ones
2. If the author were teaching a class on evolution in a university in the Unites States, the passage suggests that the class would spend a significant amount of time discussing:
A. the origins of Darwin's theory of natural selection. B. details of Darwin's theory of natural selection. C. the Biblical account of creation. D. taxonomy and classification and their importance in Darwin's ideas. E. the future of evolution
I am getting confused with these 2 questions, can someone pls help me out.
1. Answer of first is D. From passage -
Some students may feel that we should not focus on the past, and that our thoughts should be trained on new knowledge and invention, rather than antiquated ideas. What these students do not understand is the importance of the old ideas in shaping our current understanding of the world around us, and that an outright dismissal of past theories simply because they have been rejected by new evidence may limit our understanding of current theories.
Subsequent text is supporting how past theories helped darwin to come up with his theory and how old theories provided base for him.
2. Answer is A
Darwin's theory of natural selection as the mechanism for evolution is all too often taught in a vacuum in high school biology classrooms, as if this brilliant naturalist developed a ground- breaking theory on natural order which had never before been contemplated in any form. It is only by learning about the gradual development of evolutionary theory, and the role of some religious individuals in shaping this theory, that students may come to see the logic and power behind Darwin's relatively simple ideas.
LCDs apply thin-film transistors (TFTs) of amorphous or polycrystalline silicon sandwiched between two glass plates. The TFTs supply voltage to liquid-crystal-filled cells, or pixels, between the sheets of glass. When hit with an electric charge, the liquid crystals untwist to an exact degree to filter white light generated by a lamp. This filtered light shines directly on the viewing screen or, in the case of projection televisions, is projected through a small chip that acts as a lens. LCDs that are capable of producing color images, such as in televisions and computers, reproduce colors through a process of subtraction, blocking out particular color wavelengths from the spectrum of white light until only the desired color remains. It is the variation of the intensity of light permitted to pass through the matrix of liquid crystals that enables LCD displays to present images full of gradations of different colors.
What is the correct ans for the following question
1. The process through which an LCD monitor displays different colors is most closely analogous to -stream of grains of sand fall into the lower portion -of a mixture according to size -performances within are muted to those outside -characters cut out such that a lamp in front of the paper casts shadows in the shapes of the characters -while an air conditioning system cools the interior of the building
LCDs apply thin-film transistors (TFTs) of amorphous or polycrystalline silicon sandwiched between two glass plates. The TFTs supply voltage to liquid-crystal-filled cells, or pixels, between the sheets of glass. When hit with an electric charge, the liquid crystals untwist to an exact degree to filter white light generated by a lamp. This filtered light shines directly on the viewing screen or, in the case of projection televisions, is projected through a small chip that acts as a lens. LCDs that are capable of producing color images, such as in televisions and computers, reproduce colors through a process of subtraction, blocking out particular color wavelengths from the spectrum of white light until only the desired color remains. It is the variation of the intensity of light permitted to pass through the matrix of liquid crystals that enables LCD displays to present images full of gradations of different colors.
What is the correct ans for the following question
1. The process through which an LCD monitor displays different colors is most closely analogous to -stream of grains of sand fall into the lower portion -of a mixture according to size -performances within are muted to those outside -characters cut out such that a lamp in front of the paper casts shadows in the shapes of the characters -while an air conditioning system cools the interior of the building
B is a good trap answer. Notice that the passage discusses "filtered light." This doesn't make the answer choice correct simply because it mentions filter. Analyzing (B) more carefully, we only have components being sorted. The way in which they are being sorted doesn't create a certain effect, the way that the twisting of the pixels corresponded to certain colors.
Option D: Here the outline (or shape) of the characters corresponds to the shadow cast on the wall. Change the outline and the shape will change. Much as changing how the pixel is twisted will change the color on screen. The Answer. (D) is by far the best answer as it is the only one that present us with a scenario in which the shape of one thing corresponds to the shape of another (outlines in paper correspond the shape of the shadow on the wall).
Scientific advances in the latter half of the twentieth century have allowed researchers to study the chemical activities taking place in the human brain during the sleep cycle in more detail. In the 1970s, Jacobs employed these advances to postulate that dreams and hallucinations share a common neurochemical mechanism with respect to the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine that accounts for the observable similarities between the two states of mind. To test the theory, researchers attempted to elucidate the role of these transmitters in the normal sleep cycle and the effect of hallucinogenic drugs on them. Although scientists still have much to discover about the chemical complexities of the brain, serotonin appears important for managing sleep, mood, and appetite, among other important functions, while neurons release norepinephrine to facilitate alertness and mental focus. Both are discharged in high quantities only during waking states. At the onset of sleep, the activity levels of neurons that release both the neurotransmitters drop, allowing the brain first to enter the four non-rapid eye movement (Non-REM) stages of sleep. When the brain is ready to enter the fifth stage, REM, which is associated with dreaming, the levels of these two chemicals drop virtually to zero. The Jacobs hypothesis held that the absence of norepinephrine was required to enable the brain to remain asleep, while the absence of serotonin was necessary to allow dreaming to occur. Lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, is a semi-synthetic psychedelic drug which causes significant alteration of the senses, memories and awareness; at doses higher than 20 micrograms, it can have a hallucinogenic effect. LSD mimics serotonin well enough to be able to bind at most of the neurotransmitter's receptor sites, largely inhibiting normal transmission. In addition, the drug causes the locus ceruleus, a cluster of neurons containing norepinephrine, to greatly accelerate activity. If the drug stimulates norepinephrine, thereby precluding sleep, and inhibits serotonin, which Jacobs had postulated was a necessary condition for dreaming, then the resulting hallucinations could merely be "dreaming while awake." The research thus far is promising but inconclusive; future scientific advances should allow this theory to be tested more rigorously.
1. Which of the following, if true, would most undermine the central premise of the Jacobs hypothesis? of serotonin.
role in regulating sleep.
norepinephrine in the brain is a significant factor in enabling the brain to sleep.
Scientific advances in the latter half of the twentieth century have allowed researchers to study the chemical activities taking place in the human brain during the sleep cycle in more detail. In the 1970s, Jacobs employed these advances to postulate that dreams and hallucinations share a common neurochemical mechanism with respect to the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine that accounts for the observable similarities between the two states of mind. To test the theory, researchers attempted to elucidate the role of these transmitters in the normal sleep cycle and the effect of hallucinogenic drugs on them. Although scientists still have much to discover about the chemical complexities of the brain, serotonin appears important for managing sleep, mood, and appetite, among other important functions, while neurons release norepinephrine to facilitate alertness and mental focus. Both are discharged in high quantities only during waking states. At the onset of sleep, the activity levels of neurons that release both the neurotransmitters drop, allowing the brain first to enter the four non-rapid eye movement (Non-REM) stages of sleep. When the brain is ready to enter the fifth stage, REM, which is associated with dreaming, the levels of these two chemicals drop virtually to zero. The Jacobs hypothesis held that the absence of norepinephrine was required to enable the brain to remain asleep, while the absence of serotonin was necessary to allow dreaming to occur. Lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, is a semi-synthetic psychedelic drug which causes significant alteration of the senses, memories and awareness; at doses higher than 20 micrograms, it can have a hallucinogenic effect. LSD mimics serotonin well enough to be able to bind at most of the neurotransmitters receptor sites, largely inhibiting normal transmission. In addition, the drug causes the locus ceruleus, a cluster of neurons containing norepinephrine, to greatly accelerate activity. If the drug stimulates norepinephrine, thereby precluding sleep, and inhibits serotonin, which Jacobs had postulated was a necessary condition for dreaming, then the resulting hallucinations could merely be dreaming while awake. The research thus far is promising but inconclusive; future scientific advances should allow this theory to be tested more rigorously.
1. Which of the following, if true, would most undermine the central premise of the Jacobs hypothesis? of serotonin.
role in regulating sleep.
norepinephrine in the brain is a significant factor in enabling the brain to sleep.
LSD do not inhibit serotonin.
process of dreaming as the fifth stage.
D, IMO
Explanation = Jacob hypothesis "the absence of norepinephrine was required to enable the brain to remain asleep, while the absence of serotonin was necessary to allow dreaming to occur."
If "Some semi-synthetic hallucinogenic drugs other than LSD do not inhibit serotonin", and still person goes in a state of hallucination (that is dreaming while not falling asleep) then serotonin is still present yet a person is dreaming, contradicting with above hypothesis
Can you guys please share strategies for RC passages - generally I read whole passage trying to remember, making myself entrapped in subject of passage, read the question, then options if cant conclude on one, eliminate intermittently referring to passage but is it the best way? It could be time consuming...whats the best way?
But a better explanation: If other hallucinogens (i.e., drugs that cause hallucinations) are able to produce hallucinations without inhibiting serotonin, then the central premise of Jacobs' hypothesis--that dreams and hallucinations function via a similar brain mechanism involving the levels of serotonin and norepinephrine--would not hold.
