In Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes recounts how Plato’s Academy amended his definition of a human—“a featherless biped” to include “with broad, flat nails”—after Diogenes brought him a plucked chicken. Clearly, none of these philosophers were being entirely serious, but this exchange highlights a difficulty with phylogenies based entirely upon phenotypes. Which of these definitions would have prevented Diogenes from presenting another animal to Plato and declaring it a man?

a. “a hairy biped with stereoscopic vision”
b. “a featherless biped with fingers and a nose”
c. “a biped with an upright posture and fully opposable thumbs”
d. “a biped that talks and uses tools”


c. “a biped with an upright posture and fully opposable thumbs”

Biology & Microbiology

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The Cnidarians possess:

a. a water vascular system. b. bi-lateral symmetry. c. stinging cells. d. spicules. e. setae.

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Which of the following occurs near the equator?

A) the Hadley cell B) the Ferrel cell C) the Polar cell D) the Westerlies

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The extracellular state of a virus is a (capsid/nucleocapsid/virion).

Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).

Biology & Microbiology