Biologist: Species with broad geographic ranges probably tend to endure longer than species with narrow ranges. The broader a species’ range, the more likely that species is to survive the extinction of populations in a few areas. Therefore, it is likely that the proportion of species with broad ranges tends to gradually increase with time.
The biologist’s conclusion follows logically from the above if which of the following is assumed?
Pharmaceutical companies spend more than ever on research and development; yet the number of new drugs patented each year has dropped since 1963. At the same time, profits—at constant 1963 dollars—for the industry as a whole have been steadily increasing.
Which of the following, if true, is the single factor most likely to explain, at least in part, the three trends mentioned above for money spent, drugs patented, and profits made?
Researchers conditioned a group of flies to associate a particular odor with a weak electric shock. Twenty-four and forty-eight hours later the researchers conducted tests on the flies, both individually and in groups, to determine whether the flies retained the conditioning. When tested individually, the flies were significantly less likely to avoid areas marked with the odor. The researchers hypothesized that in the presence of the odor, a fly that retains the conditioned association gives off an alarm signal that arouses the attention of any surrounding flies, retriggering the association in them and thereby causing them to avoid the odor.
The researchers’ hypothesis requires which of the following assumptions?
Since 1978 when the copyright law was changed, books that are less than fifty years old must not be photocopied without the publisher’s permission. Thus, any book that has been photocopied since 1978 without the publisher’s permission must be at least fifty years old.
The reasoning above exhibits a flaw similar to one in which of the following?