user: Problem: I read this background article the other day: Air pollution is harmful to human beings and other living things. About 22 million people die from air pollution each year. Breathing polluted air increases the risk of developing lung diseases such as asthma and lung cancer. Breathing bad air also increases the chances of dying from other diseases. Children are most likely to be affected by air pollution. That’s because their lungs are still developing and growing. Children also take in more air for their size than adults do. Some air pollutants damage the environment as well as the health of living things. The type of damage depends on the pollutant. Air pollution can also harm the environment.  I am facing a new situation today: Manny visited 2 countries. First he visited Australia, a country which respected the environment and produced zero air pollution, and New Zealand, a country which based its economy on burning fossil fuels and generated a lot of air pollution.  Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Which country had less environmental damage because of air pollution?

A: Australia


Problem: I read this background article the other day: Sometimes muscles and tendons get injured when a person starts doing an activity before they have warmed up properly. A warm up is a slow increase in the intensity of a physical activity that prepares muscles for an activity. Warming up increases the blood flow to the muscles and increases the heart rate. Warmed-up muscles and tendons are less likely to get injured. For example, before running or playing soccer, a person might jog slowly to warm muscles and increase their heart rate. Even elite athletes need to warm up ( Figure below ).  I am facing a new situation today: Two teams were competing in a 5 km race. White team warmed up before the race, but Blue team arrived with a bus late and didn't have time to warm up properly before the race.  Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Which team had more athletes with an increased heart rate before the race?

A: White


Problem: I read this background article the other day: Some mutations have a positive effect on the organism in which they occur. They are called beneficial mutations . They lead to new versions of proteins that help organisms adapt to changes in their environment. Beneficial mutations are essential for evolution to occur. They increase an organism’s changes of surviving or reproducing, so they are likely to become more common over time. There are several well-known examples of beneficial mutations. Here are just two:  I am facing a new situation today: A sudden climate change hits Alaska and it starts to become warmer. As a result many species of mammals have started to adapt to the warmer climate and now grow less fur.  Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Which mutation would be considered beneficial for an animal adapting to the environment becoming warmer, more fur or less fur.

A: less


Problem: I read this background article the other day: Another thing we can see in this animation is that particles are constantly colliding with one another. One assumption that we make when talking about collisions between gas particles is that they are completely elastic collisions. In an elastic collision , momentum is conserved, which means that none of the kinetic energy of the colliding particles is lost in some other form (such as the emission of light). This makes sense, because if energy were lost in collisions, the speeds of the particles would gradually decrease over time, and eventually everything would condense down into a solid form.  I am facing a new situation today: Dan is in his physics lab. He is experimenting with colliding particles. He has two samples of particles, sample A and sample B. Sample A contains gas particles, but sample B does not contain gas particles.  Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Would kinetic energy in sample A be lost or retained?

A:

assistant: retained