Answer: CAV

Context: Assuming the player's optical pickup is in proper working order, crosstalk distortion normally does not occur during playback of CAV format LaserDiscs, as the rotational speed never varies. However, if the player calibration is out of order or if the CAV disc is faulty or damaged, other problems affecting tracking accuracy can occur. One such problem is "laser lock", where the player reads the same two fields for a given frame over and over again, causing the picture to look frozen as if the movie were paused.

Question: In which format does crosstalk generally not occur?


Answer: the rotational speed never varies

Question: Why does the CAV format prevent crosstalk?


Answer: the player reads the same two fields for a given frame over and over again, causing the picture to look frozen

Question: What happens during "laser lock"?


Answer: inconsistency

Context: Another significant issue unique to LaserDisc is one involving the inconsistency of playback quality between different makers and models of player. On most televisions, a given DVD player will produce a picture that is visually indistinguishable from other units. Differences in image quality between players only becomes easily apparent on large televisions and substantial leaps in image quality are generally only obtained with expensive, high-end players that allow for post-processing of the MPEG-2 stream during playback. In contrast, LaserDisc playback quality is highly dependent on hardware quality. Major variances in picture quality appear between different makers and models of LD players, even when tested on a low to mid-range television. The obvious benefits of using high quality equipment has helped keep demand for some players high, thus also keeping pricing for those units comparably high. In the 1990s, notable players sold for anywhere from US$200 to well over $1,000, while older and less desirable players could be purchased in working condition for as little as $25.

Question: Is LaserDisc quality consistent or inconsistent between player brands?


Answer: hardware quality

Question: What is LaserDisc playback quality dependent on?


Answer: $25

Question: How cheaply could an older LaserDisc player be purchased in the 1990s?


Answer: US$200 to well over $1,000

Question: What range of prices were high-end LaserDisc players in the 1990s?


Answer: adhesive

Context: Many early LDs were not manufactured properly; sometimes a substandard adhesive was used to sandwich together the two sides of the disc.[citation needed] The adhesive contained impurities that were able to penetrate the lacquer seal layer and chemically attack the metalized reflective aluminium layer, causing it to oxidize and lose its reflective characteristics. This was a problem that was termed "laser rot" among LD enthusiasts, also called "color flash" internally by LaserDisc-pressing plants. Some forms of laser rot could appear as black spots that looked like mold or burned plastic which cause the disc to skip and the movie to exhibit excessive speckling noise. But, for the most part, rotted discs could actually appear perfectly fine to the naked eye.

Question: What substandard product was used in LD manufacturing that caused "laser rot"?


Answer: "color flash"

Question: What was the internal name for "laser rot" within LD processing plants?


Answer: black spots that looked like mold or burned plastic which cause the disc to skip and the movie to exhibit excessive speckling noise

Question: What problems could occur with laser rot?


Answer: high cost of the players and discs

Context: LaserDisc did not have high market penetration in North America due to the high cost of the players and discs, which were far more expensive than VHS players and tapes, and due to marketplace confusion with the technologically inferior CED, which also went by the name Videodisc. While the format was not widely adopted by North American consumers, it was well received among videophiles due to the superior audio and video quality compared to VHS and Betamax tapes, finding a place in nearly one million American homes by the end of 1990. The format was more popular in Japan than in North America because prices were kept low to ensure adoption, resulting in minimal price differences between VHS tapes and the higher quality LaserDiscs, helping ensure that it quickly became the dominant consumer video format in Japan. Anime collectors in every country the LD format was released, which includes both North America and Japan, also quickly became familiar with this format, and sought the higher video and sound quality of LaserDisc and the availability of numerous titles not available on VHS. LaserDiscs were also popular alternatives to videocassettes among movie enthusiasts in the more affluent regions of South East Asia, such as Singapore, due to their high integration with the Japanese export market and the disc-based media's superior longevity compared to videocassette, especially in the humid conditions endemic to that area of the world.

Question: Why didn't LaserDiscs become popular in North America?


Answer: nearly one million

Question: By 1990, how many American homes were estimated to use LD?


Answer: prices were kept low to ensure adoption

Question: Why were LaserDiscs more popular in Japan?


Answer: LaserDiscs

Question: Which format was more popular in high humidity areas such as Singapore?


Answer: USD100

Context: The format also became quite popular in Hong Kong during the 1990s before the introduction of VCDs and DVD; although people rarely bought the discs (because each LD was priced around USD100), high rental activity helped the video rental business in the city grow larger than it had ever been previously. Due to integration with the Japanese export market, NTSC LaserDiscs were used in the Hong Kong market, in contrast to the PAL standard used for broadcast (This anomaly also exists for DVD). This created a market for multi-system TVs and multi-system VCRs which could display or play both PAL and NTSC materials in addition to SECAM materials (which were never popular in Hong Kong). Some LD players could convert NTSC signals to PAL so that most TVs used in Hong Kong could display the LD materials.

Question: How much did a LD cost in Hong Kong in the 1990s?


Answer: PAL standard

Question: Broadcast in Hong Kong used which standard formatting?


Answer: NTSC

Question: In contrast to broadcast, which format did consumers use in Hong Kong?


Answer: late 1990s

Context: Although the LaserDisc format was supplanted by DVD by the late 1990s, many LD titles are still highly coveted by movie enthusiasts (for example, Disney's Song of the South which is unavailable in the US in any format, but was issued in Japan on LD). This is largely because there are many films that are still only available on LD and many other LD releases contain supplemental material not available on subsequent DVD versions of those films. Until the end of 2001, many titles were released on VHS, LD, and DVD in Japan.

Question: By what year had DVD taken over the LaserDisc market?


Answer: movie enthusiasts

Question: Which collector group highly values LaserDisc for their rareness?


Answer: 2001

Question: Until the end of what year were movies released in VHS, LD, and DVD in Japan?


Answer: Japan

Question: What country was the only to receive a LD release of Disney's Song of the South?


Answer: early 1980s

Context: In the early 1980s, Philips produced a LaserDisc player model adapted for a computer interface, dubbed "professional". In 1985, Jasmine Multimedia created LaserDisc Juke Boxes featuring music videos from Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, and Cyndi Lauper. When connected to a PC this combination could be used to display images or information for educational or archival purposes, for example thousands of scanned medieval manuscripts. This strange device could be considered a very early equivalent of a CD-ROM.

Question: In what decade did Philips produce a "professional" LD model for computer?


Answer: 1985

Question: In what year were LD jukeboxes created?


Answer: Jasmine Multimedia

Question: Who created LD Jukeboxes in 1985?


Answer: Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, and Cyndi Lauper

Question: Which musical artists were featured on LD Jukeboxes in 1985?


Answer: 24

Context: In the mid-1980s Lucasfilm pioneered the EditDroid non-linear editing system for film and television based on computer-controlled LaserDisc players. Instead of printing dailies out on film, processed negatives from the day's shoot would be sent to a mastering plant to be assembled from their 10-minute camera elements into 20-minute film segments. These were then mastered onto single-sided blank LaserDiscs, just as a DVD would be burnt at home today, allowing for much easier selection and preparation of an Edit Decision List. In the days before video assist was available in cinematography, this was the only other way a film crew could see their work. The EDL went to the negative cutter who then cut the camera negative accordingly and assembled the finished film. Only 24 EditDroid systems were ever built, even though the ideas and technology are still in use today. Later EditDroid experiments borrowed from hard-drive technology of having multiple discs on the same spindle and added numerous playback heads and numerous electronics to the basic jukebox design so that any point on each of the discs would be accessible within seconds. This eliminated the need for racks and racks of industrial LaserDisc players since EditDroid discs were only single-sided.

Question: How many EditDroid systems were ever built?


Answer: single-sided

Question: Were EditDroid discs single or multi-sided?


Answer: Lucasfilm

Question: Which production company engineered the EditDroid machines in the 1980s?


Answer: 1986

Context: In 1986, a SCSI-equipped LaserDisc player attached to a BBC Master computer was used for the BBC Domesday Project. The player was referred as an LV-ROM (LaserVision Read Only Memory) as the discs contained the driving software as well as the video frames. The discs used the CAV format, and encoded data as a binary signal represented by the analog audio recording. These discs could contain in each CAV frame video/audio or video/binary data, but not both. "Data" frames would appear blank when played as video. It was typical for each disc to start with the disc catalog (a few blank frames) then the video introduction before the rest of the data. Because the format (based on the ADFS hard disc format) used a starting sector for each file, the data layout effectively skipped over any video frames. If all 54,000 frames are used for data storage an LV-ROM disc can contain 324 MB of data per side. The Domesday Project systems also included a genlock, allowing video frames, clips and audio to be mixed with graphics originated from the BBC Master; this was used to great effect for displaying high resolution photographs and maps, which could then be zoomed into.

Question: In what year did the Doomsday project occur?


Answer: a SCSI-equipped LaserDisc player attached to a BBC Master computer

Question: Which equipment was used for the Doomsday Project?


Answer: LaserVision Read Only Memory

Question: What does LV-ROM stand for?


Answer: CAV

Question: The Doomsday Project discs used which formatting?


Answer: HyperCard

Context: Apple's HyperCard scripting language provided Macintosh computer users with a means to design databases of slides, animation, video and sounds from LaserDiscs and then to create interfaces for users to play specific content from the disc through software called LaserStacks. User-created "stacks" were shared and were especially popular in education where teacher-generated stacks were used to access discs ranging from art collections to basic biological processes. Commercially available stacks were also popular with the Voyager company being possibly the most successful distributor.

Question: Which of Apple's programming languages allowed users to ceatively manipulate LaserDiscs?


Answer: play specific content from the disc

Question: What did LaserStacks software enable Mac users to do?


Answer: in education

Question: Where were "stacks" created with the LaserStack software used?


Answer: Voyager

Question: Which commercial company was LaserStack's most successful distributor?


Answer: the U.S. Military

Context: Under contract from the U.S. Military, Matrox produced a combination computer/LaserDisc player for instructional purposes. The computer was a 286, the LaserDisc player only capable of reading the analog audio tracks. Together they weighed 43 lb (20 kg) and sturdy handles were provided in case two people were required to lift the unit. The computer controlled the player via a 25-pin serial port at the back of the player and a ribbon cable connected to a proprietary port on the motherboard. Many of these were sold as surplus by the military during the 1990s, often without the controller software. Nevertheless, it is possible to control the unit by removing the ribbon cable and connecting a serial cable directly from the computer's serial port to the port on the LaserDisc player.

Question: A combination computer/LD player was comissioned by what government entity?


Answer: 43 lb (20 kg)

Question: How much did Matrox's computer/LD combo weigh?


Answer: removing the ribbon cable and connecting a serial cable directly from the computer's serial port to the port on the LaserDisc player

Question: How could Matrox's computer unconventionally be controlled?


Answer: instant-access capability

Context: The format's instant-access capability made it possible for a new breed of LaserDisc-based video arcade games and several companies saw potential in using LaserDiscs for video games in the 1980s and 1990s, beginning in 1983 with Sega's Astron Belt. American Laser Games and Cinematronics produced elaborate arcade consoles that used the random-access features to create interactive movies such as Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. Similarly, the Pioneer Laseractive and Halcyon were introduced as home video game consoles that used LaserDisc media for their software.

Question: What quality made LDs a consideration for videogames in the 1980s and 1990s?


Answer: Sega's Astron Belt

Question: What was the first game to use LaserDiscs?


Answer: 1983

Question: In what year was Sega's AStron Belt released?


Answer: 5:3

Context: In 1991, several manufacturers announced specifications for what would become known as MUSE LaserDisc, representing a span of almost 15 years until the feats of this HD analog optical disc system would finally be duplicated digitally by HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Encoded using NHK's MUSE "Hi-Vision" analogue TV system, MUSE discs would operate like standard LaserDiscs but would contain high-definition 1,125-line (1,035 visible lines) (Sony HDVS) video with a 5:3 aspect ratio. The MUSE players were also capable of playing standard NTSC format discs and are superior in performance to non-MUSE players even with these NTSC discs. The MUSE-capable players had several noteworthy advantages over standard LaserDisc players, including a red laser with a much narrower wavelength than the lasers found in standard players. The red laser was capable of reading through disc defects such as scratches and even mild disc rot that would cause most other players to stop, stutter or drop-out. Crosstalk was not an issue with MUSE discs, and the narrow wavelength of the laser allowed for the virtual elimination of crosstalk with normal discs.

Question: With what operating ratio would MUSE Discs operate?


Answer: capable of reading through disc defects such as scratches and even mild disc rot that would cause most other players to stop, stutter or drop-out

Question: What benefits did the MUSE narrow wavelength red laser have?


Answer: Crosstalk

Question: In addition to scratches and rot, what other common LaserDisc issue was to be eliminated by MUSE discs?


Answer: almost 15 years

Question: How many years did it take Blu-ray and HD-DVD players to duplicate MUSE technology?


Answer: US$10,000

Context: In order to view MUSE encoded discs, it was necessary to have a MUSE decoder in addition to a compatible player. There are televisions with MUSE decoding built-in and set top tuners with decoders that can provide the proper MUSE input. Equipment prices were high, especially for early HDTVs which generally eclipsed US$10,000, and even in Japan the market for MUSE was tiny. Players and discs were never officially sold in North America, although several distributors imported MUSE discs along with other import titles. Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Lawrence of Arabia, A League of Their Own, Bugsy, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Chaplin were among the theatrical releases available on MUSE LDs. Several documentaries, including one about Formula One at Japan's Suzuka Circuit were also released.

Question: What was the price for early HDTVs?


Answer: tiny

Question: Did MUSE have a large or small target market, even in Japan?


Answer: Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Lawrence of Arabia, A League of Their Own, Bugsy, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Chaplin

Question: What were some movies that were released on MUSE LaserDiscs?


Answer: enhanced 16:9-ratio widescreen LaserDiscs

Context: With the release of 16:9 televisions in the mid-1990s, Pioneer and Toshiba decided that it was time to take advantage of this aspect ratio. Squeeze LDs were enhanced 16:9-ratio widescreen LaserDiscs. During the video transfer stage, the movie was stored in an anamorphic "squeezed" format. The widescreen movie image was stretched to fill the entire video frame with less or none of the video resolution wasted to create letterbox bars. The advantage was a 33% greater vertical resolution compared to letterboxed widescreen LaserDisc. This same procedure was used for anamorphic DVDs, but unlike all DVD players, very few LD players had the ability to unsqueeze the image for 4:3 sets, and very few if any 4:3 sets could be set to play them properly either. If the discs were played on a standard 4:3 television the image would be distorted. Since very few people owned 16:9 displays, the marketability of these special discs was very limited.

Question: What were "Squeeze LDs"?


Answer: 16:9-ratio widescreen

Question: With what aspect ratio did Squeeze LDs operate?


Answer: very few people owned 16:9 displays

Question: Why did Squeeze LDs have a very limited market?


Answer: distorted

Question: Could the 16:9 aspect ratio be easily resized by a normal LD player, or was the image significantly distorted?


Answer: 33%

Question: What percent vertical resolution increase did Squeeze LDs feature over regular widescreen LDs?


Answer: Terminator 2

Context: There were no anamorphic LaserDisc titles available in the US except for promotional purposes. Upon purchase of a Toshiba 16:9 television viewers had the option of selecting a number of Warner Bros. 16:9 films. Titles include Unforgiven, Grumpy Old Men, The Fugitive, and Free Willy. The Japanese lineup of titles was different. A series of releases under the banner "SQUEEZE LD" from Pioneer of mostly Carolco titles included Basic Instinct, Stargate, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Showgirls, Cutthroat Island, and Cliffhanger. Terminator 2 was released twice in Squeeze LD, the second release being THX certified and a notable improvement over the first.

Question: Which movie was released twice on Squeeze LD?


Answer: THX certified

Question: What improvement was added to Terminator 2's second Squeeze LD release?


Answer: Unforgiven, Grumpy Old Men, The Fugitive, and Free Willy

Question: What Warner Brothers films were available in 16:9 aspect ratio Squeeze LDs?


Answer: Basic Instinct, Stargate, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Showgirls, Cutthroat Island, and Cliffhanger

Question: What films were available for Japanese market Squeeze LDs?


Answer: Recordable LaserVision disc

Context: Another form of recordable LaserDisc that is completely playback-compatible with the LaserDisc format (unlike CRVdisc with its caddy enclosure) is the RLV, or Recordable LaserVision disc. It was developed and first marketed by the Optical Disc Corporation (ODC, now ODC Nimbus) in 1984. RLV discs, like CRVdisc, are also a WORM technology, and function exactly like a CD-R disc. RLV discs look almost exactly like standard LaserDiscs, and can play in any standard LaserDisc player after they have been recorded.

Question: What does the acronym RLV stand for?


Answer: Optical Disc Corporation (ODC, now ODC Nimbus)

Question: Which company originally developed and marketed the RLV?


Answer: 1984.

Question: In what year did ODC develop the Recordable LaserVision Disc?


Answer: reflective purple-violet (or blue with some RLV discs) color

Context: The only cosmetic difference between an RLV disc and a regular factory-pressed LaserDiscs is their reflective purple-violet (or blue with some RLV discs) color resulting from the dye embedded in the reflective layer of the disc to make it recordable, as opposed to the silver mirror appearance of regular LDs. The purplish color of RLVs is very similar to DVD-R and DVD+R discs. RLVs were popular for making short-run quantities of LaserDiscs for specialized applications such as interactive kiosks and flight simulators.

Question: What is the difference in appearance between an RLV disc and a regular LD?


Answer: to make it recordable, as opposed to the silver mirror appearance of regular LDs

Question: Why do RLV discs have a blue or purple reflective color?


Answer: making short-run quantities of LaserDiscs for specialized applications such as interactive kiosks and flight simulators

Question: For what purpose were RLVs popular?


Answer: silver mirror

Question: What color were regular LaserDiscs, in contrast to RLVs blueish purple hues?


Answer: 12 cm (4.7 in)

Context: There were also 12 cm (4.7 in) (CD size) "single"-style discs produced that were playable on LaserDisc players. These were referred to as CD Video (CD-V) discs, and Video Single Discs (VSD). A CD-V carried up to five minutes of analog LaserDisc-type video content (usually a music video), as well as up to 20 minutes of digital audio CD tracks. The original 1989 release of David Bowie's retrospective Sound + Vision CD box set prominently featured a CD-V video of Ashes to Ashes, and standalone promo CD-Vs featured the video, plus three audio tracks: "John, I'm Only Dancing", "Changes", and "The Supermen".

Question: In contrast to large LD disks, what is the size of a standard CD?


Answer: CD Video (CD-V) discs, and Video Single Discs (VSD)

Question: What were CD size "single"-style discs called that were compatible with LaserDisc players?


Answer: up to five minutes of analog LaserDisc-type video content

Question: How much video content could be stored on a CD-V disk?


Answer: music video

Question: What were CD-V's video capacities usually used for?


Answer: David Bowie

Question: Which artist released a music video and three audio tracks on CD-V in 1989?


Answer: audio CD tracks

Context: CD-Vs are not to be confused with Video CDs (which are all-digital and can only be played on VCD players, DVD players, CD-i players, computers, and later-model LaserDisc players, such as the DVL series from Pioneer that can also play DVDs). CD-Vs can only be played back on LaserDisc players with CD-V capability. VSDs were the same as CD-Vs, but without the audio CD tracks. CD-Vs were somewhat popular for a brief time worldwide, but soon faded from view. VSDs were popular only in Japan and other parts of Asia, and were never fully introduced to the rest of the world.

Question: What were VSDs lacking that CD-Vs included?


Answer: only in Japan and other parts of Asia

Question: In what areas of the world were VSDs popular?


Answer: VSDs

Question: Were VSDs or CD-Vs all digital and also playable on DVD players?


Answer: bilateral

Context: The annelids are bilaterally symmetrical, triploblastic, coelomate, invertebrate organisms. They also have parapodia for locomotion. Most textbooks still use the traditional division into polychaetes (almost all marine), oligochaetes (which include earthworms) and leech-like species. Cladistic research since 1997 has radically changed this scheme, viewing leeches as a sub-group of oligochaetes and oligochaetes as a sub-group of polychaetes. In addition, the Pogonophora, Echiura and Sipuncula, previously regarded as separate phyla, are now regarded as sub-groups of polychaetes. Annelids are considered members of the Lophotrochozoa, a "super-phylum" of protostomes that also includes molluscs, brachiopods, flatworms and nemerteans.

Question: What kind of symmetry do annelids have?


Answer: parapodia

Question: What do annelids use to move?


Answer: polychaetes

Question: Which subtype of annelids includes most marine worms?


Answer: oligochaetes

Question: Which subtype of annelids includes earthworms?


Answer: oligochaetes

Question: Since 1997, what are leeches seen as a subgroup of?


Answer: Septa

Context: The basic annelid form consists of multiple segments. Each segment has the same sets of organs and, in most polychaetes, has a pair of parapodia that many species use for locomotion. Septa separate the segments of many species, but are poorly defined or absent in others, and Echiura and Sipuncula show no obvious signs of segmentation. In species with well-developed septa, the blood circulates entirely within blood vessels, and the vessels in segments near the front ends of these species are often built up with muscles that act as hearts. The septa of such species also enable them to change the shapes of individual segments, which facilitates movement by peristalsis ("ripples" that pass along the body) or by undulations that improve the effectiveness of the parapodia. In species with incomplete septa or none, the blood circulates through the main body cavity without any kind of pump, and there is a wide range of locomotory techniques – some burrowing species turn their pharynges inside out to drag themselves through the sediment.

Question: What separates many annelids' segments?


Answer: Echiura and Sipuncula

Question: Which annelids show no segmentation?


Answer: front

Question: What end of annelids with well-developed segmentation has muscles that act like hearts?


Answer: peristalsis

Question: What is movement by ripples called?


Answer: turn their pharynges inside out to drag themselves

Question: What movement method do some burrowing annelids use?


Answer: sexual reproduction

Context: Although many species can reproduce asexually and use similar mechanisms to regenerate after severe injuries, sexual reproduction is the normal method in species whose reproduction has been studied. The minority of living polychaetes whose reproduction and lifecycles are known produce trochophore larvae, that live as plankton and then sink and metamorphose into miniature adults. Oligochaetes are full hermaphrodites and produce a ring-like cocoon around their bodies, in which the eggs and hatchlings are nourished until they are ready to emerge.

Question: How do annelids normally reproduce?


Answer: regenerate after severe injuries

Question: What can asexual reproduction techniques help annelids do?


Answer: trochophore

Question: What larvae live like plankton?


Answer: Oligochaetes

Question: What annelids are hermaphrodites?


Answer: Oligochaetes

Question: What annelids make a cocoon in a ring around themselves?


Answer: aeration and enriching

Context: Earthworms are Oligochaetes that support terrestrial food chains both as prey and in some regions are important in aeration and enriching of soil. The burrowing of marine polychaetes, which may constitute up to a third of all species in near-shore environments, encourages the development of ecosystems by enabling water and oxygen to penetrate the sea floor. In addition to improving soil fertility, annelids serve humans as food and as bait. Scientists observe annelids to monitor the quality of marine and fresh water. Although blood-letting is no longer in favor with doctors, some leech species are regarded as endangered species because they have been over-harvested for this purpose in the last few centuries. Ragworms' jaws are now being studied by engineers as they offer an exceptional combination of lightness and strength.

Question: How do earthworms help the soil they live in?


Answer: up to a third

Question: How much of near-shore marine annelids are burrowing?


Answer: enabling water and oxygen to penetrate the sea floor

Question: How do burrowing marine annelids help ocean ecosystems?


Answer: Ragworms

Question: What annelids' jaws are being studied by engineers?


Answer: they have been over-harvested

Question: Why are some leeches endangered?


Answer: annelids are soft-bodied

Context: Since annelids are soft-bodied, their fossils are rare – mostly jaws and the mineralized tubes that some of the species secreted. Although some late Ediacaran fossils may represent annelids, the oldest known fossil that is identified with confidence comes from about 518 million years ago in the early Cambrian period. Fossils of most modern mobile polychaete groups appeared by the end of the Carboniferous, about 299 million years ago. Palaeontologists disagree about whether some body fossils from the mid Ordovician, about 472 to 461 million years ago, are the remains of oligochaetes, and the earliest indisputable fossils of the group appear in the Tertiary period, which began 65 million years ago.

Question: Why are annelid fossils rare?


Answer: jaws and the mineralized tubes that some of the species secreted

Question: What fossil signs of annelids are found?


Answer: 518 million years ago

Question: How old is the earliest annelid fossil?


Answer: modern mobile polychaete groups

Question: What types of annelids appeared 299 million years ago?


Answer: the mid Ordovician

Question: What period started around 472 million years ago?


Answer: shallow ring-like constrictions called annuli

Context: No single feature distinguishes Annelids from other invertebrate phyla, but they have a distinctive combination of features. Their bodies are long, with segments that are divided externally by shallow ring-like constrictions called annuli and internally by septa ("partitions") at the same points, although in some species the septa are incomplete and in a few cases missing. Most of the segments contain the same sets of organs, although sharing a common gut, circulatory system and nervous system makes them inter-dependent. Their bodies are covered by a cuticle (outer covering) that does not contain cells but is secreted by cells in the skin underneath, is made of tough but flexible collagen and does not molt – on the other hand arthropods' cuticles are made of the more rigid α-chitin, and molt until the arthropods reach their full size. Most annelids have closed circulatory systems, where the blood makes its entire circuit via blood vessels.

Question: What externally divides annelids' segments?


Answer: septa ("partitions")

Question: What divides annelids' segments internally?


Answer: a common gut, circulatory system and nervous system

Question: What do the segments of an annelid share?


Answer: a cuticle

Question: What covers an annelid's exterior?


Answer: collagen

Question: What is an annelid's cuticle made of?


Answer: Greek

Context: Most of an annelid's body consists of segments that are practically identical, having the same sets of internal organs and external chaetae (Greek χαιτη, meaning "hair") and, in some species, appendages. However, the frontmost and rearmost sections are not regarded as true segments as they do not contain the standard sets of organs and do not develop in the same way as the true segments. The frontmost section, called the prostomium (Greek προ- meaning "in front of" and στομα meaning "mouth") contains the brain and sense organs, while the rearmost, called the pygidium (Greek πυγιδιον, meaning "little tail") or periproct contains the anus, generally on the underside. The first section behind the prostomium, called the peristomium (Greek περι- meaning "around" and στομα meaning "mouth"), is regarded by some zoologists as not a true segment, but in some polychaetes the peristomium has chetae and appendages like those of other segments.

Question: What language does the term 'chaetae' come from?


Answer: hair

Question: What does 'chaetae' mean?


Answer: the frontmost and rearmost sections

Question: Which parts of annelids are different from true segments?


Answer: Greek

Question: What language does 'prostomium' come from?


Answer: little tail

Question: What does 'pygidium' mean?


Answer: spiral in alternating directions

Context: Annelids' cuticles are made of collagen fibers, usually in layers that spiral in alternating directions so that the fibers cross each other. These are secreted by the one-cell deep epidermis (outermost skin layer). A few marine annelids that live in tubes lack cuticles, but their tubes have a similar structure, and mucus-secreting glands in the epidermis protect their skins. Under the epidermis is the dermis, which is made of connective tissue, in other words a combination of cells and non-cellular materials such as collagen. Below this are two layers of muscles, which develop from the lining of the coelom (body cavity): circular muscles make a segment longer and slimmer when they contract, while under them are longitudinal muscles, usually four distinct strips, whose contractions make the segment shorter and fatter. Some annelids also have oblique internal muscles that connect the underside of the body to each side.

Question: How are the layers arranged in annelids' cuticles?


Answer: collagen fibers

Question: What are annelids' cuticles made out of?


Answer: mucus-secreting glands in the epidermis

Question: What do non-cuticle annelids use to protect their skin?


Answer: the dermis

Question: What layer is under the epidermis?


Answer: (body cavity

Question: What does 'coelom' mean?


Answer: limbs

Context: The setae ("hairs") of annelids project out from the epidermis to provide traction and other capabilities. The simplest are unjointed and form paired bundles near the top and bottom of each side of each segment. The parapodia ("limbs") of annelids that have them often bear more complex chetae at their tips – for example jointed, comb-like or hooked. Chetae are made of moderately flexible β-chitin and are formed by follicles, each of which has a chetoblast ("hair-forming") cell at the bottom and muscles that can extend or retract the cheta. The chetoblasts produce chetae by forming microvilli, fine hair-like extensions that increase the area available for secreting the cheta. When the cheta is complete, the microvilli withdraw into the chetoblast, leaving parallel tunnels that run almost the full length of the cheta. Hence annelids' chetae are structurally different from the setae ("bristles") of arthropods, which are made of the more rigid α-chitin, have a single internal cavity, and are mounted on flexible joints in shallow pits in the cuticle.

Question: What are parapodia?


Answer: hair-forming

Question: What do chetoblast cells do?


Answer: microvilli

Question: What hair-like extensions do chetoblasts make?


Answer: bristles

Question: What are setae?


Answer: fused bundles of cilia

Context: Nearly all polychaetes have parapodia that function as limbs, while other major annelid groups lack them. Parapodia are unjointed paired extensions of the body wall, and their muscles are derived from the circular muscles of the body. They are often supported internally by one or more large, thick chetae. The parapodia of burrowing and tube-dwelling polychaetes are often just ridges whose tips bear hooked chetae. In active crawlers and swimmers the parapodia are often divided into large upper and lower paddles on a very short trunk, and the paddles are generally fringed with chetae and sometimes with cirri (fused bundles of cilia) and gills.

Question: What are cirri?


Answer: ridges whose tips bear hooked chetae

Question: What kind of parapodia do burrowing annelids often have?


Answer: polychaetes

Question: What type of annelids have limb-like parapodia?


Answer: unjointed paired extensions of the body wall

Question: What are parapodia?


Answer: local control centers

Context: The brain generally forms a ring round the pharynx (throat), consisting of a pair of ganglia (local control centers) above and in front of the pharynx, linked by nerve cords either side of the pharynx to another pair of ganglia just below and behind it. The brains of polychaetes are generally in the prostomium, while those of clitellates are in the peristomium or sometimes the first segment behind the peristomium. In some very mobile and active polychaetes the brain is enlarged and more complex, with visible hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain sections. The rest of the central nervous system is generally "ladder-like", consisting of a pair of nerve cords that run through the bottom part of the body and have in each segment paired ganglia linked by a transverse connection. From each segmental ganglion a branching system of local nerves runs into the body wall and then encircles the body. However, in most polychaetes the two main nerve cords are fused, and in the tube-dwelling genus Owenia the single nerve chord has no ganglia and is located in the epidermis.

Question: What are ganglia?


Answer: the pharynx

Question: What is an annelid's brain in a ring around?


Answer: throat

Question: What is a pharynx?


Answer: in the peristomium or sometimes the first segment behind the peristomium

Question: Where are clitellates' brains?


Answer: in the prostomium

Question: Where are polychaetes' brains?


Answer: arthropods

Context: As in arthropods, each muscle fiber (cell) is controlled by more than one neuron, and the speed and power of the fiber's contractions depends on the combined effects of all its neurons. Vertebrates have a different system, in which one neuron controls a group of muscle fibers. Most annelids' longitudinal nerve trunks include giant axons (the output signal lines of nerve cells). Their large diameter decreases their resistance, which allows them to transmit signals exceptionally fast. This enables these worms to withdraw rapidly from danger by shortening their bodies. Experiments have shown that cutting the giant axons prevents this escape response but does not affect normal movement.

Question: What species group are annelids' muscle control similar to?


Answer: the output signal lines of nerve cells

Question: What are giant axons?


Answer: shortening their bodies

Question: How do annelids withdraw from danger?


Answer: light, chemicals, pressure waves and contact

Context: The sensors are primarily single cells that detect light, chemicals, pressure waves and contact, and are present on the head, appendages (if any) and other parts of the body. Nuchal ("on the neck") organs are paired, ciliated structures found only in polychaetes, and are thought to be chemosensors. Some polychaetes also have various combinations of ocelli ("little eyes") that detect the direction from which light is coming and camera eyes or compound eyes that can probably form images. The compound eyes probably evolved independently of arthropods' eyes. Some tube-worms use ocelli widely spread over their bodies to detect the shadows of fish, so that they can quickly withdraw into their tubes. Some burrowing and tube-dwelling polychaetes have statocysts (tilt and balance sensors) that tell them which way is down. A few polychaete genera have on the undersides of their heads palps that are used both in feeding and as "feelers", and some of these also have antennae that are structurally similar but probably are used mainly as "feelers".

Question: What kind of things can annelids' sensors detect?


Answer: on the neck

Question: What does 'nuchal' mean?


Answer: polychaetes

Question: What type of annelids have nuchal organs?


Answer: chemosensors

Question: What are the nuchal organs thought to do?


Answer: ocelli

Question: What term means 'little eyes'?


Answer: body cavities

Context: Most annelids have a pair of coelomata (body cavities) in each segment, separated from other segments by septa and from each other by vertical mesenteries. Each septum forms a sandwich with connective tissue in the middle and mesothelium (membrane that serves as a lining) from the preceding and following segments on either side. Each mesentery is similar except that the mesothelium is the lining of each of the pair of coelomata, and the blood vessels and, in polychaetes, the main nerve cords are embedded in it. The mesothelium is made of modified epitheliomuscular cells; in other words, their bodies form part of the epithelium but their bases extend to form muscle fibers in the body wall. The mesothelium may also form radial and circular muscles on the septa, and circular muscles around the blood vessels and gut. Parts of the mesothelium, especially on the outside of the gut, may also form chloragogen cells that perform similar functions to the livers of vertebrates: producing and storing glycogen and fat; producing the oxygen-carrier hemoglobin; breaking down proteins; and turning nitrogenous waste products into ammonia and urea to be excreted.

Question: What are coelomata?


Answer: septa

Question: What are annelids' body cavities separated from other segments by?


Answer: vertical mesenteries

Question: What are annelids' body cavities separated from each other by?


Answer: modified epitheliomuscular cells

Question: What is the mesothelium made of?


Answer: waves of contraction and expansion that sweep along the body

Context: Many annelids move by peristalsis (waves of contraction and expansion that sweep along the body), or flex the body while using parapodia to crawl or swim. In these animals the septa enable the circular and longitudinal muscles to change the shape of individual segments, by making each segment a separate fluid-filled "balloon". However, the septa are often incomplete in annelids that are semi-sessile or that do not move by peristalsis or by movements of parapodia – for example some move by whipping movements of the body, some small marine species move by means of cilia (fine muscle-powered hairs) and some burrowers turn their pharynges (throats) inside out to penetrate the sea-floor and drag themselves into it.

Question: How does peristalsis work?


Answer: the septa enable the circular and longitudinal muscles to change the shape of individual segments

Question: Why are annelids' segments like water-balloons?


Answer: throats

Question: What are phrynges?


Answer: fine muscle-powered hairs

Question: What are cilia?


Answer: parasites and infections

Context: The fluid in the coelomata contains coelomocyte cells that defend the animals against parasites and infections. In some species coelomocytes may also contain a respiratory pigment – red hemoglobin in some species, green chlorocruorin in others (dissolved in the plasma) – and provide oxygen transport within their segments. Respiratory pigment is also dissolved in the blood plasma. Species with well-developed septa generally also have blood vessels running all long their bodies above and below the gut, the upper one carrying blood forwards while the lower one carries it backwards. Networks of capillaries in the body wall and around the gut transfer blood between the main blood vessels and to parts of the segment that need oxygen and nutrients. Both of the major vessels, especially the upper one, can pump blood by contracting. In some annelids the forward end of the upper blood vessel is enlarged with muscles to form a heart, while in the forward ends of many earthworms some of the vessels that connect the upper and lower main vessels function as hearts. Species with poorly developed or no septa generally have no blood vessels and rely on the circulation within the coelom for delivering nutrients and oxygen.

Question: What can coelomocyte cells defend against?


Answer: Respiratory

Question: What type of pigment is dissolved in annelids' blood?


Answer: blood vessels

Question: What runs the length of annelids' bodies with well-developed septa?


Answer: circulation within the coelom

Question: What do annelids without septa have to use for circulation?


Answer: leeches and their closest relatives

Context: However, leeches and their closest relatives have a body structure that is very uniform within the group but significantly different from that of other annelids, including other members of the Clitellata. In leeches there are no septa, the connective tissue layer of the body wall is so thick that it occupies much of the body, and the two coelomata are widely separated and run the length of the body. They function as the main blood vessels, although they are side-by-side rather than upper and lower. However, they are lined with mesothelium, like the coelomata and unlike the blood vessels of other annelids. Leeches generally use suckers at their front and rear ends to move like inchworms. The anus is on the upper surface of the pygidium.

Question: What type of annelids are very different from others?


Answer: connective tissue layer of the body wall

Question: What type of tissue takes up most of the body of a leech?


Answer: two

Question: How many coelomata do leeches have?


Answer: mesothelium

Question: What lines the coelomata of leeches?


Answer: suckers at their front and rear ends

Question: What do leeches use to move?


Answer: turned inside out to extend

Context: Feeding structures in the mouth region vary widely, and have little correlation with the animals' diets. Many polychaetes have a muscular pharynx that can be everted (turned inside out to extend it). In these animals the foremost few segments often lack septa so that, when the muscles in these segments contract, the sharp increase in fluid pressure from all these segments everts the pharynx very quickly. Two families, the Eunicidae and Phyllodocidae, have evolved jaws, which can be used for seizing prey, biting off pieces of vegetation, or grasping dead and decaying matter. On the other hand, some predatory polychaetes have neither jaws nor eversible pharynges. Selective deposit feeders generally live in tubes on the sea-floor and use palps to find food particles in the sediment and then wipe them into their mouths. Filter feeders use "crowns" of palps covered in cilia that wash food particles towards their mouths. Non-selective deposit feeders ingest soil or marine sediments via mouths that are generally unspecialized. Some clitellates have sticky pads in the roofs of their mouths, and some of these can evert the pads to capture prey. Leeches often have an eversible proboscis, or a muscular pharynx with two or three teeth.

Question: What does 'everted' mean?


Answer: pharynx

Question: What part of a polychaete can be everted?


Answer: Eunicidae and Phyllodocidae

Question: What types of annelids have evolved jaws?


Answer: seizing prey, biting off pieces of vegetation, or grasping dead and decaying matter

Question: What do annelids use jaws for?


Answer: palps covered in cilia

Question: What do some annelids have 'crowns' of?


Answer: Siboglinidae

Context: The gut is generally an almost straight tube supported by the mesenteries (vertical partitions within segments), and ends with the anus on the underside of the pygidium. However, in members of the tube-dwelling family Siboglinidae the gut is blocked by a swollen lining that houses symbiotic bacteria, which can make up 15% of the worms' total weight. The bacteria convert inorganic matter – such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide from hydrothermal vents, or methane from seeps – to organic matter that feeds themselves and their hosts, while the worms extend their palps into the gas flows to absorb the gases needed by the bacteria.

Question: What type of annelids are tube-dwelling?


Answer: a swollen lining

Question: What blocks the Siboglinidae's gut?


Answer: 15%

Question: How much of a Siboglinidae's weight is symbiotic bacteria?


Answer: hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide

Question: What gases come from hydrothermal vents?


Answer: methane

Question: What gases come from seeps?


Answer: soluble waste products

Context: Annelids with blood vessels use metanephridia to remove soluble waste products, while those without use protonephridia. Both of these systems use a two-stage filtration process, in which fluid and waste products are first extracted and these are filtered again to re-absorb any re-usable materials while dumping toxic and spent materials as urine. The difference is that protonephridia combine both filtration stages in the same organ, while metanephridia perform only the second filtration and rely on other mechanisms for the first – in annelids special filter cells in the walls of the blood vessels let fluids and other small molecules pass into the coelomic fluid, where it circulates to the metanephridia. In annelids the points at which fluid enters the protonephridia or metanephridia are on the forward side of a septum while the second-stage filter and the nephridiopore (exit opening in the body wall) are in the following segment. As a result, the hindmost segment (before the growth zone and pygidium) has no structure that extracts its wastes, as there is no following segment to filter and discharge them, while the first segment contains an extraction structure that passes wastes to the second, but does not contain the structures that re-filter and discharge urine.

Question: What do metanephridia remove?


Answer: protonephridia

Question: What do annelids without blood vessels do to remove waste?


Answer: two

Question: How many stages are there in annelids' waste filtration?


Answer: protonephridia

Question: What annelid system combines both filtration states in one organ?


Answer: two

Context: It is thought that annelids were originally animals with two separate sexes, which released ova and sperm into the water via their nephridia. The fertilized eggs develop into trochophore larvae, which live as plankton. Later they sink to the sea-floor and metamorphose into miniature adults: the part of the trochophore between the apical tuft and the prototroch becomes the prostomium (head); a small area round the trochophore's anus becomes the pygidium (tail-piece); a narrow band immediately in front of that becomes the growth zone that produces new segments; and the rest of the trochophore becomes the peristomium (the segment that contains the mouth).

Question: How many sexes of annelids were there originally?


Answer: nephridia

Question: What releases sperm from annelids?


Answer: trochophore larvae

Question: What do annelid eggs become?


Answer: plankton

Question: What do annelids' larvae live like?


Answer: the prostomium (head)

Question: What does the trochophore become when annelids mature?


Answer: about 25%

Context: However, the lifecycles of most living polychaetes, which are almost all marine animals, are unknown, and only about 25% of the 300+ species whose lifecycles are known follow this pattern. About 14% use a similar external fertilization but produce yolk-rich eggs, which reduce the time the larva needs to spend among the plankton, or eggs from which miniature adults emerge rather than larvae. The rest care for the fertilized eggs until they hatch – some by producing jelly-covered masses of eggs which they tend, some by attaching the eggs to their bodies and a few species by keeping the eggs within their bodies until they hatch. These species use a variety of methods for sperm transfer; for example, in some the females collect sperm released into the water, while in others the males have a penis that inject sperm into the female. There is no guarantee that this is a representative sample of polychaetes' reproductive patterns, and it simply reflects scientists' current knowledge.

Question: How many species of polychaetes have known lifecycles?


Answer: 14%

Question: What percent of polychaetes produce yolk-rich eggs?


Answer: reduce the time the larva needs to spend among the plankton

Question: What is the benefit of yolk-rich eggs?


Answer: jelly

Question: What are most polychaetes' eggs covered in?


Answer: change sex

Context: Some polychaetes breed only once in their lives, while others breed almost continuously or through several breeding seasons. While most polychaetes remain of one sex all their lives, a significant percentage of species are full hermaphrodites or change sex during their lives. Most polychaetes whose reproduction has been studied lack permanent gonads, and it is uncertain how they produce ova and sperm. In a few species the rear of the body splits off and becomes a separate individual that lives just long enough to swim to a suitable environment, usually near the surface, and spawn.

Question: What do some non-single-sex polychaetes do?


Answer: permanent gonads

Question: What are most polychaetes lacking for reproduction?


Answer: the rear of the body splits off and becomes a separate individual

Question: How do some annelids get a one-time chance at a better spawning spot?


Answer: clitellates

Context: Most mature clitellates (the group that includes earthworms and leeches) are full hermaphrodites, although in a few leech species younger adults function as males and become female at maturity. All have well-developed gonads, and all copulate. Earthworms store their partners' sperm in spermathecae ("sperm stores") and then the clitellum produces a cocoon that collects ova from the ovaries and then sperm from the spermathecae. Fertilization and development of earthworm eggs takes place in the cocoon. Leeches' eggs are fertilized in the ovaries, and then transferred to the cocoon. In all clitellates the cocoon also either produces yolk when the eggs are fertilized or nutrients while they are developing. All clitellates hatch as miniature adults rather than larvae.

Question: What annelid group includes leeches and earthworms?


Answer: hermaphrodites

Question: What type of sex are most earthworms?


Answer: in the ovaries

Question: Where are leeches' eggs fertilized?


Answer: the cocoon

Question: Where do leeches move their eggs to?


Answer: clitellates

Question: What type of annelids hatch as miniature adults?


Answer: Charles Darwin

Context: Charles Darwin's book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881) presented the first scientific analysis of earthworms' contributions to soil fertility. Some burrow while others live entirely on the surface, generally in moist leaf litter. The burrowers loosen the soil so that oxygen and water can penetrate it, and both surface and burrowing worms help to produce soil by mixing organic and mineral matter, by accelerating the decomposition of organic matter and thus making it more quickly available to other organisms, and by concentrating minerals and converting them to forms that plants can use more easily. Earthworms are also important prey for birds ranging in size from robins to storks, and for mammals ranging from shrews to badgers, and in some cases conserving earthworms may be essential for conserving endangered birds.

Question: Who published a book about worms in 1881?


Answer: The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms

Question: What was the first scientific study of how earthworms help soil?


Answer: generally in moist leaf litter

Question: Where do earthworms prefer to live on the surface?


Answer: oxygen and water can penetrate it

Question: How does burrowers' loosening help the soil?


Answer: storks

Question: What is the largest bird that eats earthworms?


Answer: glaciated areas of North America

Context: Terrestrial annelids can be invasive in some situations. In the glaciated areas of North America, for example, almost all native earthworms are thought to have been killed by the glaciers and the worms currently found in those areas are all introduced from other areas, primarily from Europe, and, more recently, from Asia. Northern hardwood forests are especially negatively impacted by invasive worms through the loss of leaf duff, soil fertility, changes in soil chemistry and the loss of ecological diversity. Especially of concern is Amynthas agrestis and at least one state (Wisconsin) has listed it as a prohibited species.

Question: Where were native earthworms killed by glaciers?


Answer: Europe

Question: Where did most of the current earthworms in glacial areas come from?


Answer: Northern hardwood forests

Question: What type of forests can be hurt by invasive worms?


Answer: Palolo worm

Context: Earthworms make a significant contribution to soil fertility. The rear end of the Palolo worm, a marine polychaete that tunnels through coral, detaches in order to spawn at the surface, and the people of Samoa regard these spawning modules as a delicacy. Anglers sometimes find that worms are more effective bait than artificial flies, and worms can be kept for several days in a tin lined with damp moss. Ragworms are commercially important as bait and as food sources for aquaculture, and there have been proposals to farm them in order to reduce over-fishing of their natural populations. Some marine polychaetes' predation on molluscs causes serious losses to fishery and aquaculture operations.

Question: What type of annelid tunnels through coral?


Answer: Palolo worm

Question: What annelid's rear end do Samoans like to eat?


Answer: spawning modules

Question: What type of bait do experienced anglers prefer?


Answer: molluscs

Question: What do some polychaetes eat that has been causing problems?


Answer: Ragworms

Question: What type of worm have there been proposals to farm?


Answer: 30 AD

Context: Accounts of the use of leeches for the medically dubious practise of blood-letting have come from China around 30 AD, India around 200 AD, ancient Rome around 50 AD and later throughout Europe. In the 19th century medical demand for leeches was so high that some areas' stocks were exhausted and other regions imposed restrictions or bans on exports, and Hirudo medicinalis is treated as an endangered species by both IUCN and CITES. More recently leeches have been used to assist in microsurgery, and their saliva has provided anti-inflammatory compounds and several important anticoagulants, one of which also prevents tumors from spreading.

Question: When did leeches begin being used for blood-letting?


Answer: China

Question: Where did leeches begin being used for blood-letting?


Answer: 50 AD

Question: When did Rome begin using leeches?


Answer: 200 AD

Question: When did India begin using leeches?


Answer: IUCN and CITES

Question: Which organizations list Hirudo medicinalis as endangered?


Answer: 549 to 542 million years ago

Context: Since annelids are soft-bodied, their fossils are rare. Polychaetes' fossil record consists mainly of the jaws that some species had and the mineralized tubes that some secreted. Some Ediacaran fossils such as Dickinsonia in some ways resemble polychaetes, but the similarities are too vague for these fossils to be classified with confidence. The small shelly fossil Cloudina, from 549 to 542 million years ago, has been classified by some authors as an annelid, but by others as a cnidarian (i.e. in the phylum to which jellyfish and sea anemones belong). Until 2008 the earliest fossils widely accepted as annelids were the polychaetes Canadia and Burgessochaeta, both from Canada's Burgess Shale, formed about 505 million years ago in the early Cambrian. Myoscolex, found in Australia and a little older than the Burgess Shale, was possibly an annelid. However, it lacks some typical annelid features and has features which are not usually found in annelids and some of which are associated with other phyla. Then Simon Conway Morris and John Peel reported Phragmochaeta from Sirius Passet, about 518 million years old, and concluded that it was the oldest annelid known to date. There has been vigorous debate about whether the Burgess Shale fossil Wiwaxia was a mollusc or an annelid. Polychaetes diversified in the early Ordovician, about 488 to 474 million years ago. It is not until the early Ordovician that the first annelid jaws are found, thus the crown-group cannot have appeared before this date and probably appeared somewhat later. By the end of the Carboniferous, about 299 million years ago, fossils of most of the modern mobile polychaete groups had appeared. Many fossil tubes look like those made by modern sessile polychaetes , but the first tubes clearly produced by polychaetes date from the Jurassic, less than 199 million years ago.

Question: When did Cloudina exist?


Answer: cnidarian

Question: What do some people think Cloudina should be called instead of an annelid?


Answer: 505 million years

Question: How old were the fossils of Canadia and Burgessochaeta found in Canada?


Answer: early Cambrian

Question: What era was underway 505 million years ago?


Answer: Australia

Question: Where was Myoscolex found?


Answer: 65 million years ago

Context: The earliest good evidence for oligochaetes occurs in the Tertiary period, which began 65 million years ago, and it has been suggested that these animals evolved around the same time as flowering plants in the early Cretaceous, from 130 to 90 million years ago. A trace fossil consisting of a convoluted burrow partly filled with small fecal pellets may be evidence that earthworms were present in the early Triassic period from 251 to 245 million years ago. Body fossils going back to the mid Ordovician, from 472 to 461 million years ago, have been tentatively classified as oligochaetes, but these identifications are uncertain and some have been disputed.

Question: When did the Tertiary period begin?


Answer: early Cretaceous

Question: What era did oligochaetes evolve in?


Answer: oligochaetes

Question: What type of annelid fossils have been found from the mid Ordovician period?


Answer: 472 to 461 million years ago

Question: When were the earliest annelid fossils found?


Answer: polychaetes and clitellates

Context: Traditionally the annelids have been divided into two major groups, the polychaetes and clitellates. In turn the clitellates were divided into oligochaetes, which include earthworms, and hirudinomorphs, whose best-known members are leeches. For many years there was no clear arrangement of the approximately 80 polychaete families into higher-level groups. In 1997 Greg Rouse and Kristian Fauchald attempted a "first heuristic step in terms of bringing polychaete systematics to an acceptable level of rigour", based on anatomical structures, and divided polychaetes into:

Question: What two groups are annelids traditionally divided among?


Answer: oligochaetes

Question: What subtype of clitellates contains earthworms?


Answer: hirudinomorphs

Question: What subtype of clitellates contains leeches?


Answer: approximately 80

Question: How many polychaete families are there?


Answer: 1997

Question: When did Greg Rouse begin trying to categorize polychaetes?


Answer: Torsten Struck and colleagues

Context: In 2007 Torsten Struck and colleagues compared 3 genes in 81 taxa, of which 9 were outgroups, in other words not considered closely related to annelids but included to give an indication of where the organisms under study are placed on the larger tree of life. For a cross-check the study used an analysis of 11 genes (including the original 3) in 10 taxa. This analysis agreed that clitellates, pogonophorans and echiurans were on various branches of the polychaete family tree. It also concluded that the classification of polychaetes into Scolecida, Canalipalpata and Aciculata was useless, as the members of these alleged groups were scattered all over the family tree derived from comparing the 81 taxa. In addition, it also placed sipunculans, generally regarded at the time as a separate phylum, on another branch of the polychaete tree, and concluded that leeches were a sub-group of oligochaetes rather than their sister-group among the clitellates. Rouse accepted the analyses based on molecular phylogenetics, and their main conclusions are now the scientific consensus, although the details of the annelid family tree remain uncertain.

Question: Who compared annelid genes in 2007?


Answer: 3

Question: How many annelid genes did Torsten Struck first compare?


Answer: 11

Question: How many annelid genes did Torsten Struck compare for a cross-check?


Answer: Scolecida, Canalipalpata and Aciculata

Question: What subtypes of polychaetes were useless classifications, according to the 2007 study?


Answer: oligochaetes

Question: What did Rouse decide leeches were a subgroup of?


Answer: 3

Context: In addition to re-writing the classification of annelids and 3 previously independent phyla, the molecular phylogenetics analyses undermine the emphasis that decades of previous writings placed on the importance of segmentation in the classification of invertebrates. Polychaetes, which these analyses found to be the parent group, have completely segmented bodies, while polychaetes' echiurans and sipunculan offshoots are not segmented and pogonophores are segmented only in the rear parts of their bodies. It now seems that segmentation can appear and disappear much more easily in the course of evolution than was previously thought. The 2007 study also noted that the ladder-like nervous system, which is associated with segmentation, is less universal previously thought in both annelids and arthropods.[n 2]

Question: How many previously-separate phyla did the 2007 study reclassify?


Answer: Polychaetes

Question: What did the 2007 study decide was the parent group for annelids?


Answer: echiurans and sipunculan

Question: What offshoots of polychaetes are unsegmented?


Answer: pogonophores

Question: What offshoots of polychaetes are only segmented in the rear?


Answer: ladder-like

Question: What nervous system structure is less univeral among annelids than was thought before 2007?


Answer: protostomes

Context: Annelids are members of the protostomes, one of the two major superphyla of bilaterian animals – the other is the deuterostomes, which includes vertebrates. Within the protostomes, annelids used to be grouped with arthropods under the super-group Articulata ("jointed animals"), as segmentation is obvious in most members of both phyla. However, the genes that drive segmentation in arthropods do not appear to do the same in annelids. Arthropods and annelids both have close relatives that are unsegmented. It is at least as easy to assume that they evolved segmented bodies independently as it is to assume that the ancestral protostome or bilaterian was segmented and that segmentation disappeared in many descendant phyla. The current view is that annelids are grouped with molluscs, brachiopods and several other phyla that have lophophores (fan-like feeding structures) and/or trochophore larvae as members of Lophotrochozoa. Bryzoa may be the most basal phylum (the one that first became distinctive) within the Lophotrochozoa, and the relationships between the other members are not yet known. Arthropods are now regarded as members of the Ecdysozoa ("animals that molt"), along with some phyla that are unsegmented.

Question: What superphylum are annelids in?


Answer: deuterostomes

Question: What is the other superphylum besides protostomes?


Answer: deuterostomes

Question: What superphylum are vertebrates in?


Answer: jointed animals

Question: What does 'Articulata' mean?


Answer: fan-like feeding structures

Question: What are lophophores?


Answer: annelids, molluscs, nemerteans and flatworms

Context: The "Lophotrochozoa" hypothesis is also supported by the fact that many phyla within this group, including annelids, molluscs, nemerteans and flatworms, follow a similar pattern in the fertilized egg's development. When their cells divide after the 4-cell stage, descendants of these 4 cells form a spiral pattern. In these phyla the "fates" of the embryo's cells, in other words the roles their descendants will play in the adult animal, are the same and can be predicted from a very early stage. Hence this development pattern is often described as "spiral determinate cleavage".

Question: Which Lophotrochozoa phyla have similar egg development?


Answer: after the 4-cell stage, descendants of these 4 cells form a spiral pattern

Question: How do the cells of Lophotrochozoa eggs arrange themselves?


Answer: spiral determinate cleavage

Question: What is the Lophotrochozoa spiral egg-cell pattern sometimes called?


Answer: unlimited power

Context: In monotheism and henotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by theologians commonly includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. God is also usually defined as a non-corporeal being without any human biological gender, but the concept of God actively (as opposed to receptively) creating the universe has caused some religions to give "Him" the metaphorical name of "Father". Because God is conceived as not being a corporeal being, God cannot(some say should not) be portrayed in a literal visual image; some religious groups use a man (sometimes old and bearded) to symbolize God because of His deed of creating man's mind in the image of His own.

Question: What does it mean to say that God is omnipotent?


Answer: omnipresence

Question: What is the feeling of God being everywhere?


Answer: infinite knowledge

Question: What is the extent of God's knowledge?


Answer: omniscience

Question: What is infinite knowledge classified as?


Answer: omnibenevolence

Question: What is the benevolence of God called?


Answer: without any human biological gender

Question: Does God have a gender?


Answer: a man (sometimes old and bearded)

Question: What type of human is God portrayed as in some religions?


Answer: Supreme Being and principal object of faith

Question: What is a God in monotheism?


Answer: theism

Context: In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God or in the oneness of God. In pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent". Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.

Question: In what belief is God the creator and sustainer of the universe?


Answer: the creator, but not the sustainer

Question: What does deism believe God's role in the universe is?


Answer: pantheism

Question: Which belief is that God is the universe?


Answer: atheism

Question: Which belief system definitively believes in no Higher Power or Supreme Being?


Answer: agnosticism

Question: Which belief system belives in some form of higher powwer, or something, but not organized religion?


Answer: creator and sustainer of the universe

Question: What is God in theism?


Answer: belief in the existence of one God

Question: What is monotheism?


Answer: God is the universe itself

Question: What is pantheism?


Answer: God is not believed to exist

Question: What is atheism?


Answer: the creator

Question: What is God in deism?


Answer: Yahweh and Jehovah

Context: There are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about God's identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one "true" Supreme Being and Creator of the Universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, "He Who Is", "I Am that I Am", and the tetragrammaton YHWH are used as names of God, while Yahweh and Jehovah are sometimes used in Christianity as vocalizations of YHWH. In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, the latter of which is believed by some scholars to descend from the Egyptian Aten. In Islam, the name Allah, "Al-El", or "Al-Elah" ("the God") is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a monistic deity. Other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Bahá'í Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.

Question: What are vocalizations of the name of God, YHWH?


Answer: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Question: What is the Holy Trinity?


Answer: Aten

Question: In the time of Atenism, what was God called?


Answer: Allah

Question: What is the Islamic name for God?


Answer: Baha

Question: What do members of the Bahá'í Faith call God?


Answer: Atenism

Question: What was the first monotheistic religion?


Answer: YHWH

Question: What is the God of the Hebrew Bible called?


Answer: Yahweh and Jehovah

Question: What is the Christian God called?


Answer: Elohim or Adonai

Question: What are the 2 titular names of God in the Jewish religion?


Answer: Aten

Question: Where do scholars believe the name Adonai came from?


Answer: the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan

Context: The earliest written form of the Germanic word God (always, in this usage, capitalized) comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "to call" or "to invoke". The Germanic words for God were originally neuter—applying to both genders—but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism, the words became a masculine syntactic form.

Question: Where is the English word God derived from?


Answer: neuter—applying to both genders

Question: Where the first Germanic words for God masculine or feminine?


Answer: Christianization of the Germanic peoples

Question: When did the Germanic words for God take on a masculine form?


Answer: Germanic paganism

Question: What was practiced by the Germanic people before their Christianization?


Answer: "to call" or "to invoke"

Question: What did the gaelic root of the word for God mean?


Answer: Codex Argenteus

Question: Where does the word God come from originally?


Answer: German

Question: What language does the English word God come from?


Answer: neuter

Question: What gender where the original Germanic words meaning God in?


Answer: the capitalized form of God

Context: In the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic "God" and "gods" in polytheism. The English word God and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and, in spite of significant differences between religions, the term remains an English translation common to all. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, the tetragrammaton YHWH, in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity, Yahweh. In many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton.

Question: What differentiates God from gods?


Answer: polytheism

Question: What belief has many gods?


Answer: signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton

Question: What does it mean to read the word LORD in all capitals in the Bible?


Answer: YHWH

Question: What is the tetragrammaton gor God?


Answer: God

Question: No matter which religion, what is usually used as the name for the Supreme Being?


Answer: gods

Question: What form of the word God refers to polytheistic gods?


Answer: YHWH

Question: What is the name of God in Judaism?


Answer: YHWH

Question: What does the all caps word LORD used in some bibles represent?


Answer: trinitarian

Context: There is no clear consensus on the nature or even the existence of God. The Abrahamic conceptions of God include the monotheistic definition of God in Judaism, the trinitarian view of Christians, and the Islamic concept of God. The dharmic religions differ in their view of the divine: views of God in Hinduism vary by region, sect, and caste, ranging from monotheistic to polytheistic to atheistic. Divinity was recognized by the historical Buddha, particularly Śakra and Brahma. However, other sentient beings, including gods, can at best only play a supportive role in one's personal path to salvation. Conceptions of God in the latter developments of the Mahayana tradition give a more prominent place to notions of the divine.[citation needed]

Question: What type of view do Christians take on God?


Answer: region, sect, and caste

Question: How much can belief in God vary in Hinduism?


Answer: ranging from monotheistic to polytheistic to atheistic

Question: Does hinduism only believe in a single god?


Answer: monotheistic

Question: What view does the Jewish community take on God?


Answer: dharmic

Question: What kind of religion is Hinduism considered?


Answer: monotheistic

Question: What type of religion is Judaism?


Answer: trinitarian

Question: What type of religion is Christianity?


Answer: monotheistic to polytheistic to atheistic.

Question: How many gods do the Hindu's have?


Answer: polytheism

Context: Monotheists hold that there is only one god, and may claim that the one true god is worshiped in different religions under different names. The view that all theists actually worship the same god, whether they know it or not, is especially emphasized in Hinduism and Sikhism. In Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in three persons. The Trinity comprises God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. Islam's most fundamental concept is tawhid (meaning "oneness" or "uniqueness"). God is described in the Quran as: "Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him." Muslims repudiate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism. In Islam, God is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not resemble any of his creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, and are not expected to visualize God.

Question: What do Muslims believe that Trinitism too closely resembles?


Answer: iconodules

Question: Which belief is expected to never try and visualize God?


Answer: tawhid

Question: What is the most basic belief of the Muslim religion?


Answer: Quran

Question: What religious text helps reinforce to Muslims that Christianity is more like polytheism?


Answer: "oneness" or "uniqueness"

Question: What is the meaning behind the Muslim concept of tawhid?


Answer: Hinduism and Sikhism

Question: What religion believes that all theist worship the same god?


Answer: one God in three persons

Question: What is the trinity in Christianity?


Answer: one god

Question: What do monotheists believe?


Answer: comparing it to polytheism

Question: What do Muslims think of Christianity?


Answer: God is infinitely simple and is not involuntarily subject to time

Context: Theism generally holds that God exists realistically, objectively, and independently of human thought; that God created and sustains everything; that God is omnipotent and eternal; and that God is personal and interacting with the universe through, for example, religious experience and the prayers of humans. Theism holds that God is both transcendent and immanent; thus, God is simultaneously infinite and in some way present in the affairs of the world. Not all theists subscribe to all of these propositions, but each usually subscribes to some of them (see, by way of comparison, family resemblance). Catholic theology holds that God is infinitely simple and is not involuntarily subject to time. Most theists hold that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, although this belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and suffering in the world. Some theists ascribe to God a self-conscious or purposeful limiting of omnipotence, omniscience, or benevolence. Open Theism, by contrast, asserts that, due to the nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future. Theism is sometimes used to refer in general to any belief in a god or gods, i.e., monotheism or polytheism.

Question: What is the basis behind Catholic theology?


Answer: religious experience and the prayers of humans

Question: What ways can God interact with the universe?


Answer: God's responsibility for evil and suffering in the world

Question: Why is it sometimes hard to think of God as benevolent?


Answer: used to refer in general to any belief in a god or gods

Question: What is the suffix theism used for?


Answer: monotheism or polytheism

Question: What are examples of different types of theism?


Answer: God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent,

Question: What three points do most theists agree on?


Answer: Catholic

Question: What religion believes that God is infinitely simple and not subject to time?


Answer: belief in a god or gods

Question: What does theism mean in general?


Answer: God exists, but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it

Context: Deism holds that God is wholly transcendent: God exists, but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it. In this view, God is not anthropomorphic, and neither answers prayers nor produces miracles. Common in Deism is a belief that God has no interest in humanity and may not even be aware of humanity. Pandeism and Panendeism, respectively, combine Deism with the Pantheistic or Panentheistic beliefs. Pandeism is proposed to explain as to Deism why God would create a universe and then abandon it, and as to Pantheism, the origin and purpose of the universe.

Question: What is a deistic view of God?


Answer: no interest in humanity and may not even be aware of humanity

Question: How does a deistic God feel about us?


Answer: why God would create a universe and then abandon it

Question: What is Pandeism?


Answer: neither answers prayers nor produces miracles

Question: What does a deistic God not do?


Answer: Deism

Question: What type of religion believes that God is transcendent?


Answer: God has no interest in humanity

Question: What is deism?


Answer: God is not anthropomorphic

Question: In deism is God represented in human form?


Answer: neither answers prayers

Question: In deism, does God answer prayers?


Answer: God is the universe and the universe is God

Context: Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God, whereas Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe. It is also the view of the Liberal Catholic Church; Theosophy; some views of Hinduism except Vaishnavism, which believes in panentheism; Sikhism; some divisions of Neopaganism and Taoism, along with many varying denominations and individuals within denominations. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, paints a pantheistic/panentheistic view of God—which has wide acceptance in Hasidic Judaism, particularly from their founder The Baal Shem Tov—but only as an addition to the Jewish view of a personal god, not in the original pantheistic sense that denies or limits persona to God.[citation needed]

Question: What is Pantheism?


Answer: God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe

Question: WHat is Panentheism?


Answer: Jewish mysticism

Question: WHat is Kabbalah?


Answer: The Baal Shem Tov

Question: Who is the founder of Hasidic Judaism?


Answer: God is the universe

Question: What is pantheism?


Answer: The Baal Shem Tov

Question: Who was the founder of Hasidic Judaism?


Answer: God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe

Question: What is Panentheism?


Answer: Vaishnavism

Question: What from of Hinduism does not believe in panentheism?


Answer: Kabbalah

Question: What is another name for Jewish mysticism?


Answer: God is the universe

Question: What is pantheism?


Answer: a symbol of human values and aspirations

Context: Even non-theist views about gods vary. Some non-theists avoid the concept of God, whilst accepting that it is significant to many; other non-theists understand God as a symbol of human values and aspirations. The nineteenth-century English atheist Charles Bradlaugh declared that he refused to say "There is no God", because "the word 'God' is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation"; he said more specifically that he disbelieved in the Christian god. Stephen Jay Gould proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called "non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA). In this view, questions of the supernatural, such as those relating to the existence and nature of God, are non-empirical and are the proper domain of theology. The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world.

Question: What do some non-theists view God as?


Answer: Charles Bradlaugh

Question: Although a proclaimed atheist, who was it that said "the word 'God' is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation"?


Answer: non-overlapping magisteria

Question: What is NOMA?


Answer: science

Question: In NOMA, what should be used to answer questions about the physical world?


Answer: theology

Question: What should be used to answer ultimate questions on morality and meaning?


Answer: Charles Bradlaugh

Question: Name the nineteenth century English atheist?


Answer: non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA)

Question: What does Stephen Jay Gould call philosophy that deals in the supernatural?


Answer: theology

Question: What category does NOMA fall under?


Answer: the discovery that the universe is infinitely old

Context: Another view, advanced by Richard Dawkins, is that the existence of God is an empirical question, on the grounds that "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference." Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old.

Question: What did Sagan argue was the only was to prove the existence of God?


Answer: "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference."

Question: What is Richard Dawkins belief about the existence of God?


Answer: a scientific difference

Question: What kind of difference does Dawkins believe would come from the existence of God?


Answer: Richard Dawkins

Question: Who argued that the existence of God is an empirical question?


Answer: Carl Sagan

Question: Who stated that God was difficult both to prove or disprove?


Answer: the universe is infinitely old.

Question: How could science discover if there was not a creator?


Answer: who created God

Context: Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow state in their book, The Grand Design, that it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. Both authors claim however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science, and without invoking any divine beings. Neuroscientist Michael Nikoletseas has proposed that questions of the existence of God are no different from questions of natural sciences. Following a biological comparative approach, he concludes that it is highly probable that God exists, and, although not visible, it is possible that we know some of his attributes.

Question: What does Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow pose as a better question that "Is there a God"?


Answer: Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow

Question: Who wrote The Grand Design?


Answer: Neuroscientist

Question: What is Michael Nikoletseas profession?


Answer: purely within the realm of science

Question: How do Hawking and Mlodinow believe the question of God can be answered?


Answer: The Grand Design

Question: What is the name of Stephen Hawking's book?


Answer: Leonard Mlodinow

Question: Who was Hawking's co-author?


Answer: Michael Nikoletseas

Question: Who says the that whether there is or isn't a God are just like questions in natural science?


Answer: it makes those aspects more familiar

Context: Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural concepts found around the world, in general, supernatural beings tend to behave much like people. The construction of gods and spirits like persons is one of the best known traits of religion. He cites examples from Greek mythology, which is, in his opinion, more like a modern soap opera than other religious systems. Bertrand du Castel and Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer's explanatory model matches physics' epistemology in positing not directly observable entities as intermediaries. Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non-human aspects of the world because it makes those aspects more familiar. Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are projections of one's father.

Question: Why does Stewart Guthrie believe that people project their human features onto non human things?


Answer: The construction of gods and spirits like persons

Question: What is one of the most common traits of religion according to Boyer?


Answer: god concepts are projections of one's father

Question: What did Frued believe about the belief in God?


Answer: much like people

Question: How does Pascal Boyer believe that gods and other supernatural beings behave?


Answer: Pascal Boyer

Question: Who argues that there are lots of supernatural things in the world?


Answer: much like people

Question: How do supernatural entities act?


Answer: Greek mythology

Question: Which religion does Boyer equate with a modern soap opera?


Answer: Sigmund Freud

Question: Who believed that gods are just projections of a person's father?


Answer: gossip or reputation

Context: Likewise, Émile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings. In line with this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in larger groups, they may have created gods as a means of enforcing morality. In small groups, morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or reputation. However, it is much harder to enforce morality using social forces in much larger groups. Rossano indicates that by including ever-watchful gods and spirits, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups.

Question: What are ways that small social groups can force morality?


Answer: Matt Rossano

Question: Who suggested that by including the presence of an omniscient God, selfishness can be controlled and cooperation can be gained?


Answer: gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings

Question: What did Émile Durkheim suggest about the existence of God?


Answer: a means of enforcing morality

Question: Why would humans have begun to create gods?


Answer: Matt Rossano

Question: Who posited that humans created gods to create morality in social groups?


Answer: morality

Question: Omnipresent gods are a way to watch large groups and enforce what?


Answer: more cooperative groups

Question: Omniprestent gods helped build what?


Answer: "that than which nothing greater can be conceived"

Context: St. Anselm's approach was to define God as, "that than which nothing greater can be conceived". Famed pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza would later carry this idea to its extreme: "By God I understand a being absolutely infinite, i.e., a substance consisting of infinite attributes, of which each one expresses an eternal and infinite essence." For Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature. His proof for the existence of God was a variation of the Ontological argument.

Question: How did St. Anselm define the existence of God?


Answer: Baruch Spinoza

Question: Who said that God is "a substance consisting of infinite attributes"?


Answer: a variation of the Ontological argument

Question: What did Baruch Spinoza use as proof for the existence of God?


Answer: one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature

Question: What did Spinoza believe the world was made of?


Answer: St. Anselm

Question: Who defined god as "that than which nothing greater can be conceived"?


Answer: Baruch Spinoza

Question: Name a famous pantheist?


Answer: infinite

Question: What was Spinoza's concept of God?


Answer: God

Question: Spinoza believed that the universe was made up of one substance which is?


Answer: a lack of evidence for the material existence

Context: Some findings in the fields of cosmology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience are interpreted by atheists (including Lawrence M. Krauss and Sam Harris) as evidence that God is an imaginary entity only, with no basis in reality. A single, omniscient God who is imagined to have created the universe and is particularly attentive to the lives of humans has been imagined, embellished and promulgated in a trans-generational manner. Richard Dawkins interprets various findings not only as a lack of evidence for the material existence of such a God but extensive evidence to the contrary.

Question: How does Dawkins interpret evidence for or against the existence of God?


Answer: an imaginary entity only

Question: What do atheists believe of God?


Answer: trans-generational

Question: How long has the thought of the existence of God been carried on?


Answer: a lack of evidence for the material existence of such a God

Question: How does Dawkins interpret his findings on the existence, or not, of God.


Answer: Lawrence M. Krauss and Sam Harris

Question: Who believes God isn't real?


Answer: can God create a stone so heavy that he cannot lift it

Context: According to the Omnipotence paradox or 'Paradox of the Stone', can God create a stone so heavy that he cannot lift it? Either he can or he can’t. If he can’t, the argument goes, then there is something that he cannot do, namely create the stone, and therefore he is not omnipotent. If he can, it continues, then there is also something that he cannot do, namely lift the stone, and therefore he is not omnipotent. Either way, then, God is not omnipotent. A being that is not omnipotent, though, is not God, according to many theological models. Such a God, therefore, does not exist. Several answers to this paradox have been proposed.

Question: What is the Omnipotence paradox?


Answer: Paradox of the Stone

Question: What is another term for the Omnipotence paradox?


Answer: God is not omnipotent. A being that is not omnipotent, though, is not God

Question: Does either outcome of the Paradox of the Stone prove the existence of God?


Answer: there is something that he cannot do

Question: What shows God is not omnipotent if he creates a stone that he cannot lift?


Answer: omnipotent

Question: What must God be, in order to be a Supreme Being?


Answer: Paradox of the Stone

Question: What paradox states that if a god can't create a stone so heavy he can't lift it?


Answer: he is not omnipotent

Question: What does the Paradox of the Stone posit?


Answer: is not God

Question: What does it mean if a God is not omnipotent?


Answer: Several

Question: Are there any answers to the Pradox of the Stone?


Answer: similarities arising from their common roots

Context: Different religious traditions assign differing (though often similar) attributes and characteristics to God, including expansive powers and abilities, psychological characteristics, gender characteristics, and preferred nomenclature. The assignment of these attributes often differs according to the conceptions of God in the culture from which they arise. For example, attributes of God in Christianity, attributes of God in Islam, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Judaism share certain similarities arising from their common roots.

Question: What do religions share across their belief structures?


Answer: expansive powers and abilities, psychological characteristics, gender characteristics, and preferred nomenclature

Question: What are some religious traditions that are found within differing religions?


Answer: attributes of God in Islam, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Judaism

Question: Who does Christianity share roots with?


Answer: Thirteen

Question: How many Attributes of Mercy are in Judaism?


Answer: God in Christianity, attributes of God in Islam, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Judaism

Question: What three religions share similar parts?


Answer: Christianity, attributes of God in Islam, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Judaism

Question: What three religions share similar beginnings?


Answer: expansive powers and abilities, psychological characteristics, gender characteristics, and preferred nomenclature

Question: What attributes do religions all roughly share?


Answer: God has no counterpart with which to relate sexually

Context: The gender of God may be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity who, in classical western philosophy, transcends bodily form. Polytheistic religions commonly attribute to each of the gods a gender, allowing each to interact with any of the others, and perhaps with humans, sexually. In most monotheistic religions, God has no counterpart with which to relate sexually. Thus, in classical western philosophy the gender of this one-and-only deity is most likely to be an analogical statement of how humans and God address, and relate to, each other. Namely, God is seen as begetter of the world and revelation which corresponds to the active (as opposed to the receptive) role in sexual intercourse.

Question: How is sex by God handled in a monotheistic religion?