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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When a cell creates a sperm cell or egg cell with reduced DNA, what is the process called?
(a) Meiosis.
(b) Alleles.
(c) Plasmosis.
(d) Mitosis.

2. What happens to animals that tend to lose in fights?
(a) They tend to challenge less dominant rivals in the future.
(b) They tend to change their fighting strategies.
(c) They tend to give up sooner in the future.
(d) They tend to fight more aggressively in the future.

3. What apparently selfish act of the penguin does the author describe?
(a) Stealing food from a baby penguin's mouth.
(b) Hiding behind other penguins when a predator is spotted.
(c) Stealing other penguins' eggs.
(d) Shoving each other to see who will fall off a cliff.

4. What does Dawkins say that evolution is about?
(a) The good of a particular DNA combination.
(b) The good of a species.
(c) The good of an individual person.
(d) The good of an individual gene.

5. What does the author compare nerves to?
(a) An engine.
(b) A computer.
(c) Electrical wires.
(d) An abacus.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the most stable result of the specific ESS simulation Dawkins describes?

2. What apparently unselfish act of a bee does the author describe?

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

4. In Dawkins' metaphor about DNA, how does he describe the creation of new DNA by sexual reproduction?

5. What apparently selfish act of the praying mantis does the author describe?

Short Essay Questions

1. What examples does Dawkins give of humanity's valuation of its own species?

2. What does Dawkins have to say about the phrase "to ensure the survival of the species?"

3. What does Dawkins say about how genes "teach" a behavior to a bee?

4. According to Dawkins, what happened to self-copying molecules that were less successful?

5. How do animals become active and quicker than plants?

6. What results in variety in Dawkins' view of early self-copying molecules?

7. In Dawkins' metaphor about DNA, what is the role of page numbers?

8. How does Dawkins say that DNA differs from blueprints for making a building?

9. How does Dawkins view whether fidelity is important to evolution?

10. Describe the behavior of chains of atoms in human blood, as Dawkins describes it.

(see the answer keys)

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