Self-study
In 2005, paleontologist Mary Schweitzer made headlines when she reported finding preserved soft tissue in the bones of a . █████████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ████████████ █████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that Schweitzer's discovery supports the case that dinosaurs are closely related to birds. The premise given is that the collagen proteins in T. Rex soft tissue discovered by Schweitzer are similar to collagen proteins in modern-day chickens.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that having "similar" collagen proteins--we don't know how similar--supports a close relationship between dinosaurs and chickens. This means the author assumes similar collagen proteins aren’t common to most animals, even if unrelated, and that two unrelated types of animals won’t share similar collagen proteins.
10.
The answer to which one ██ ███ █████████ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████
a
How rare is ██ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █ █████████
Irrelevant. How often or how rarely dinosaur soft tissues are discovered doesn't tell us whether or not the author is right to conclude a close relationship between dinosaurs and chickens in this case, based on similar collagen.
b
Is there any ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████
Irrelevant. Though the author says there is a “mountain of evidence” that dinosaurs and birds are related, this doesn't mean there is no evidence against that claim. For all we know, there could be two equally large \"mountains\" of evidence for and against that claim. We just want to know if the similar collagen proteins found in T. Rex and chicken tissues belong in either of the two mountains: whether the collagen counts as evidence for, against, or neither.
c
How likely is ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ████████ █████████
This would be useful to evaluate the argument. If it’s highly likely for animals that aren’t closely related to share collagens, then shared collagens between dinosaurs and chickens wouldn’t necessarily indicate a close relationship, which would weaken the argument. If it’s highly unlikely, then collagens likely do signify a close relationship, which would strengthen the argument.
d
Is it possible ████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ██████████
Irrelevant. Even if this were possible, knowing about this specific possibility wouldn't help us evaluate the broader claim that collagen works as evidence showing that dinosaurs and birds are closely related.
e
Before Schweitzer's discovery, ███ ███████████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ████████
It doesn't matter what researchers supposed before Schweitzer's discovery. We’re interested in whether the discovery constitutes evidence that dinosaurs and birds are closely related.