I read this background article the other day: Hypertension , which is also called "high blood pressure," occurs when a person's blood pressure is always high. Hypertension is said to be present when a person's systolic blood pressure is always 140 or higher, and/or if the person's diastolic blood pressure is always 90 or higher. Having hypertension increases a person's chance for developing heart disease, having a stroke, or suffering from other serious cardiovascular diseases. Hypertension often does not have any symptoms, so a person may not know that he or she has high blood pressure. For this reason, hypertension is often called the "silent killer." Treatments for hypertension include diet changes, exercise, and medication. Foods thought to lower blood pressure include skim milk, spinach, beans, bananas and dark chocolate. I am facing a new situation today: Jeremy went to the doctor for his yearly physical along with his wife Brenda. The doctor told Jeremy that his blood pressure was consistently high. Brenda, on the other hand, was told that her blood pressure was in the normal range. Aside from this difference, the overall health of Jeremy and Brenda was similar. Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Who has a lower risk of having a stroke?
Ans: Brenda

I read this background article the other day: If a zone undergoes dramatic changes in temperature with depth, it contains a thermocline. The tropical thermocline is typically deeper than the thermocline at higher latitudes. Polar waters, which receive relatively little solar energy, are not stratified by temperature and generally lack a thermocline because surface water at polar latitudes are nearly as cold as water at greater depths. Below the thermocline, water is very cold, ranging from 1 C to 3 C. Because this deep and cold layer contains the bulk of ocean water, the average temperature of the world ocean is 3.9 C. I am facing a new situation today: Keith was measuring the attributes of thermoclines. He selected two locations. One is near Miami, which is in the tropic. The other is near New York, which is in higher latitude. In total, he took four samples, sample A, sample B, sample C, and sample D. From Miami thermocline he took sample A. Then from below Miami thermocline he took sample B. From New York thermocline he took sample C. Finally, from below New York thermocline he took sample D. Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Which thermocline would be shallower, sample A or sample C?
Ans: sample C

I read this background article the other day: Serpentine soils (media with low concentrations of nutrients and high concentrations of heavy metals) can be a source of abiotic stress. Initially, the absorption of toxic metal ions is limited by cell membrane exclusion. Ions that are absorbed into tissues are sequestered in cell vacuoles. This sequestration mechanism is facilitated by proteins on the vacuole membrane.Chemical priming has been proposed to increase tolerance to abiotic stresses in crop plants. In this method, which is analogous to vaccination, stress-inducing chemical agents are introduced to the plant in brief doses so that the plant begins preparing defense mechanisms. Thus, when the abiotic stress occurs, the plant has already prepared defense mechanisms that can be activated faster and increase tolerance. I am facing a new situation today: In a greenhouse, a botanist has just finished planting two of the same kind of plant. Plant A was placed in a pot of standard soil, and plant B was planted in some serpentine soil. The botanist is planning on taking care of both plants equally so he can see which type of soil is better for growing a plant. Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Will plant B be more or less healthy than plant A in the future?
Ans: less

I read this background article the other day: Curds are a dairy product obtained by coagulating milk in a process called curdling. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet or any edible acidic substance such as lemon juice or vinegar, and then allowing it to coagulate. The increased acidity causes the milk proteins (casein) to tangle into solid masses, or curds. Milk that has been left to sour (raw milk alone or pasteurized milk with added lactic acid bacteria) will also naturally produce curds, and sour milk cheeses are produced this way. Producing cheese curds is one of the first steps in cheesemaking; the curds are pressed and drained to varying amounts for different styles of cheese and different secondary agents (molds for blue cheeses, etc.) are introduced before the desired aging finishes the cheese. The remaining liquid, which contains only whey proteins, is the whey. In cow's milk, 90 percent of the proteins are caseins. I am facing a new situation today: Dan likes to experiment with different food items. Today, he wants to make curds out of milk and see how it differs from plain milk. For his experiment he collected three bottles of milk, bottle A, bottle B, and bottle C. Bottle A and bottle B milk are pasteurized, but bottle C milk is just raw milk. He kept the bottle A milk intact, but made curd out of bottle B and bottle C milk. Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Would bottle A milk be coagulated or not coagulated?
Ans: not coagulated