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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the author suggest might be better wording than "survival of the fittest"?
(a) Survival of the stable.
(b) Survival of the best.
(c) Survival of the most reliable.
(d) Survival of the most adaptable.

2. What would molecules that started to manufacture energy using the sun eventually become?
(a) Animals.
(b) Single-celled organisms.
(c) Inorganic materials.
(d) Plants.

3. What molecules does Dawkins say existed in ancient seas and formed amino acids?
(a) Methane, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
(b) Water, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulfur.
(c) Water, carbon dioxide, methane, and amonia.
(d) Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur, and amonia.

4. What does the Watt Governor machine regulate?
(a) How fast its arms spin.
(b) How heavy it becomes.
(c) How hot it becomes.
(d) How high it rises.

5. In Dawkins' metaphor about DNA, how many books are on the bookshelf?
(a) Forty-six.
(b) Twenty-three.
(c) Fifty-four.
(d) Thirty-two.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does longevity provide to an early molecule, according to Dawkins?

2. Which cells in an organism contain the creature's DNA?

3. Can a gene change it's strategy for survival?

4. What would happen to an early molecule that made many more copies of itself than other molecules made of themselves?

5. What does Dawkins suggest fooling certain genes into thinking the body is younger might do?

(see the answer key)

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