When Stanley Miller's experiment was published in 1953, his results made global headlines. The general public thought Miller had answered the question of how life on Earth began by creating life in a test tube. However, scientists understood that Miller's experiment was neither a final answer nor a recipe for life. Rather, it was the first test of a long-standing hypothesis about the origin of life. Write an essay describing how the process of science progresses over time toward understanding how nature works.

Which traits do not correlate strongly with diversification rate within phyla but are likely to have been important in the original diversification of animal phyla during the Cambrian? Select True or False for each trait.

T/F presence of a head

T/F mobile lifestyle

T/F terrestrial lifestyle

T/F bilateral symmetry

Advocates of 'scientific creationism' and 'intelligent design' lobby school districts for such things as a ban on teaching evolution, equal time in science classes to teach alternative versions of the origin and history of life, or disclaimers in textbooks stating that evolution is 'just a theory.' They argue that it is only fair to let students evaluate both evolution and the idea that all species were created by God as the Bible relates or that, because organisms are so complex and well adapted, they must have been created by an intelligent designer. Do you think that alternative views of evolution should be taught in science courses? Why or why not?

The vast majority of animals that ever existed are now extinct, but Tereza Jezkova and John Wiens wondered which variables were most important in driving the diversification of species that exist today. Why are there so many species in some phyla, such as Cnidaria (see photo), but so few in others, such as Ctenophora? The researchers know that correlation does not equal causation. However, can the absence of a correlation enable you to reject a hypothesis of causation? How would the R2 values be different in a scenario where a single trait was important to diversification in many phyla versus a scenario where different traits were important to diversification in different phyla?

Describe one similarity between the End-Cretaceous Extinction and the Sixth Mass Extinction, and one difference.

Large-scale, worldwide adaptive radiations have occurred in which of the following situations?

a. When there are no available ecological niches

b. After each of the big five mass extinctions

c. Aafter colonization of an isolated island that contains suitable habitat and few competitor species

d. Whenever an evolutionary innovation was needed for organisms to thrive

Scientists studying the origin of life have accomplished which of the following steps?

a. Abiotic synthesis of protocells with self-replicating, catalytic RNA

b. Formation of vesicles that use RNA as a template for DNA synthesis

c. Formation of protocells that use DNA to direct the polymerization of amino acids

d. Abiotic synthesis of RNA’s bases (A, C, G, U)

Each option below lists several of the major events in the history of life on Earth. Which option presents the events in the correct order from the oldest to the most recent?