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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Most human traits, including eye color, are determined by:
(a) The mother's genes.
(b) Groups of genes.
(c) A single gene.
(d) The father's genes.

2. What did Carl Linnaeus bring order to through his method of classification?
(a) The bacterial world.
(b) Naming bodies of water.
(c) Naming features of the moon.
(d) The plant world.

3. Somewhere between three and two million years ago, how many hominid species co-existed before vanishing abruptly?
(a) Twelve.
(b) Two.
(c) Six.
(d) Nine.

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

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

6. A Swedish DNA study concludes that all modern humans descended from how many people in Africa?
(a) 10,000.
(b) 2,000.
(c) 500.
(d) 80,000.

7. During the Cryogenian period 1.2 billion years ago, Earth was:
(a) Frozen.
(b) Devoid of water.
(c) Without a magnetic field.
(d) Highly volcanic.

8. The author states that one scientist claimed there is less genetic diversity among the entire human population than there is among a:
(a) Cluster of bacteria.
(b) School of fish.
(c) Clan of chimpanzees.
(d) Group of giraffes.

9. Which of the following is not one of the five major extinction episodes on Earth?
(a) Devonian.
(b) Cretaceous.
(c) Toarcian.
(d) Triassic.

10. How many chromosomes are there inside a human cell's nucleus?
(a) 21.
(b) 32.
(c) 46.
(d) 15.

11. When oceanographer Jacques Piccard and a U.S. Navy sailor descended more than 35,000 feet to the deepest part of the world's oceans, what happened?
(a) The power went out in their ocean capsule.
(b) They saw the remains of a sunken ship.
(c) They were stranded there for days and nearly died.
(d) They startled a flat fish upon touching down.

12. What percentage of a person's genes are shared with all other humans?
(a) 72.8.
(b) 99.9.
(c) 80.5.
(d) 65.7.

13. In 1871, Lord Kelvin suggested that life on Earth started because of:
(a) Ash falling from volcanic eruptions.
(b) Droplets of water reacting with superheated rocks.
(c) Lightning striking pools of chemical "soup."
(d) "Seeds" from space arriving by way of a meteor.

14. Species appear to exist, on average, how long?
(a) 9 billion years.
(b) 12 thousand years.
(c) 4 million years.
(d) 780 thousand years.

15. Who was Robert Fitzroy?
(a) Darwin's first cousin and fellow naturalist.
(b) Darwin's theology professor.
(c) Head of the HMS Beagle Laboratory.
(d) Captain of the HMS Beagle.

Short Answer Questions

1. Most life on Earth is based on what element?

2. The troposphere is the layer of atmosphere:

3. What organisms does the author say are the most enduring inhabitants of our planet?

4. Trilobites are fossils of what?

5. In times past, Earth was:

(see the answer keys)

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