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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 compare nerves to?
(a) An abacus.
(b) A computer.
(c) An engine.
(d) Electrical wires.

2. What does longevity provide to an early molecule, according to Dawkins?
(a) Time to make copies of itself.
(b) Time to modify itself.
(c) Time to modify its surroundings.
(d) Time to repair itself.

3. In the set of bees Dawkins mentions that deal with this disease, what does a second gene the bees have do?
(a) Cause the bees to eat sick baby bees.
(b) Cause the bees to leave the hive where sick baby bees are.
(c) Cause the bees to throw sick baby bees out of the hive.
(d) Cause the bees to crush sick baby bees.

4. Which cells in an organism contain the creature's DNA?
(a) Barrier funciton cells.
(b) Paraxial cells.
(c) Interstitial cells.
(d) All of them.

5. How does the author say that human beings think of their own species?
(a) As able to rise above animal drives.
(b) As exempt from the laws of natural selection.
(c) As more imporant than other species.
(d) As a goal that evolution has achieved.

Short Answer Questions

1. What game, played by computers, does Dawkins use as an example of things that can happen automatically based on rules?

2. What apparently selfish act of the penguin does the author describe?

3. How does Dawkins characterize the natural world in his discussion of selfishness?

4. How many nucleotide chains are in DNA?

5. In the science fiction story Dawkins cites, is the machine created by the instructions beneficial or dangerous?

(see the answer key)

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