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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What organisms does the author say are the most enduring inhabitants of our planet?
(a) Spiders.
(b) Fungi.
(c) Humans.
(d) Bacteria.

2. Photosynthesis was developed during the early history of life on Earth by what?
(a) Xenobacteria.
(b) Flavobacteria.
(c) Cyanobacteria.
(d) Magentobacteria.

3. What percentage of the human body consists of water?
(a) 14.
(b) 32.
(c) 65.
(d) 97.

4. Most human body cells live how long?
(a) 25 years.
(b) 38 weeks.
(c) Less than a month.
(d) 2 days.

5. When the KT meteor that killed the dinosaurs hit Earth, what percentage of life on the planet perished?
(a) 15.
(b) 95.
(c) 70.
(d) 40.

6. The dodo was a:
(a) Three-footed lizard.
(b) Flightless bird.
(c) Miniature whale.
(d) Large rodent.

7. Compared to Homo sapiens, Neanderthals were:
(a) Twice as tall.
(b) Larger and sturdier.
(c) Half as short.
(d) Smaller and weaker.

8. Mitochondria convert food and oxygen into ATP, which is what?
(a) A new generation of mitochondria.
(b) A self-destruction signal.
(c) Waste that needs to be discarded.
(d) Energy used by the body.

9. What is the name of the Navy-funded mini submarine often used in undersea explorations?
(a) Alvin.
(b) Chauncy.
(c) Levi.
(d) Chuck.

10. Approximately how many bacteria live on a square centimeter of human skin?
(a) 7,500.
(b) 350.
(c) 100,000.
(d) 4,000,000.

11. The oldest record of life found so far consists of fossilized traces of microbes discovered where?
(a) Poland.
(b) Greenland.
(c) Finland.
(d) Iceland.

12. The KT meteor caused dinosaurs to become extinct but paved the way for what to become the new dominant species?
(a) Mammals.
(b) Birds.
(c) Plants.
(d) Insects.

13. Compared to at sea level, oxygen at a few thousand feet above sea level is:
(a) More plentiful.
(b) Heavier.
(c) Purer.
(d) Thinner.

14. How did humans become dispersed across the planet?
(a) Through a giant flood.
(b) Through continental drift.
(c) Nobody knows for sure.
(d) Using canoes.

15. Which body of water holds more than half of the planet's water?
(a) Atlantic Ocean.
(b) Indian Ocean.
(c) Arctic Ocean.
(d) Pacific Ocean.

Short Answer Questions

1. Scientists assumed stromatolites were extinct until they were discovered where in 1961?

2. Regarding species that have gone extinct, scientists generally:

3. In 1871, Lord Kelvin suggested that life on Earth started because of:

4. Ice ages are caused by:

5. With so many hominid species existing in the past, why did only one survive?

(see the answer keys)

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