For each of the following futuristic scenarios, decide whether it is plausible according to our present understanding of science or whether it is unlikely to be possible. Explain clearly.
A single great galactic civilization exists. It originated on a single planet long ago but is now made up of beings from many different planets, all assimilated into the galactic culture.

Read "Dinosnur Fossils, in Fine Feather, ShowLink to Birds* by Ann Gibbons (Science, June 26, 1998, vol. 281, p. 2051). Many palcontologists now think that feathers seem to have evolved for what purpose? What arguments do skeptics use to classify the new fossils as belonging to flightless descendants of birds that could fly?

After the Surgeon General's first warning in 1964, cigarette consumption began a steady decline as advertising was banned from television and radio, and public awareness of the dangers of cigarette smoking grew. The percentage of the U.S. adult population who considered themselves smokers is shown in the table for selected years.

(a) Draw a scatterplot of the data, then

(b) decide if the association is positive, negative, or cannot be determined.

$$\begin{array}{|c|c|} \hline x & y \\ \hline 1965 & 42.4 \\ \hline 1974 & 37.1 \\ \hline 1979 & 33.5 \\ \hline 1985 & 29.9 \\ \hline 1990 & 25.3 \\ \hline 1995 & 24.6 \\ \hline 2000 & 23.1 \\ \hline 2002 & 22.4 \\ \hline 2005 & 16.9 \\ \hline \end{array}$$

According to the efficient markets hypothesis, a. changes in stock prices are impossible to predict from public information. b. excessive diversification can reduce an investor’s expected portfolio returns. c. the stock market moves based on the changing animal spirits of investors. d. actively managed mutual funds should give higher returns than index funds.

As part of a science project, you study traffic patterns in your city at an intersection in the middle of downtown. You set up a device that counts the cars passing through this intersection for a 24-hour period during a weekday. The graph of hourly traffics was discussed earlier.? b. At what time(s) does the lowest number of cars pass through the intersection?

Match each food or animal from the left column with its appropriate color(s).

$$\begin{matrix} \text{Comidas y animates } & \text{Colores }\\ \text{\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ el tomate } & \text{A. negro y blanco}\\ \quad & \text{B. verde}\\ \quad & \text{C. gris}\\ \quad & \text{D. rojo}\\ \quad & \text{E. amarillo}\\ \end{matrix}$$

Refer to the previous exercise. Disney's Animal Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, with 1293 rooms, was the third spa selected in Group B. Suppose, instead, a different spa, with 540 rooms, had been selected. Replace the observation 1293 in Group B by 540 . Use the modified data to make a list of the ranks for Groups A and B combined. What changes?

Erica mows lawns during the first weekend of the month so that she can buy expensive lattes before school during the month. She earns 10 dollars for every lawn she mows; every latte costs exactly 4 dollars. In addition to buying the lattes, Erica wants to save exactly 6 dollars during the month. If x is the number of lawns she mows and y is the number of lattes she buys, Erica knows that 10 x-4 y=16.

(a) Explain why Erica's equation makes sense.

(b) Rewrite the equation in slope-intercept form. Explain, in terms of Erica's situation, why this form of the equation might be more useful.

(c) What is the slope of this equation? What does it mean in terms of lawns and lattes?

Is there enough evidence to conclude that victims of a home burglary [LAW3: Was your home burglarized or broken into in the last year? 1 = Yes, 2 = No] are less likely to favor requiring a police permit to buy a gun (GUNLAW: 1 = Favor, 2 = Oppose)?

Advances in medical science and healthier lifestyles have resulted in longer life expectancies. The life expectancy of a female whose current age is x years old is $f(x)=0.0069502 x^{2}-1.6357 x+93.76 \ (60 \leq x \leq 75)$ years. What is the life expectancy of a female whose current age is 65? Whose current age is 75?

Marissa is competing in the Egg Drop Competition at her school's Science Fair. Competitors in the Egg Drop Competition are required to create a container in which they place a raw egg, and then drop the container from various heights to see if the egg breaks. The winner of the contest is the person whose container is dropped from the greatest height without the egg breaking. Marissa is testing a container she built for the competition. She placed an egg in her container and dropped it from the roof of the science building that is 60 feet high. The height of the egg can be modeled by the function $f(x)=-16 x^2+64$, where $x$ represents the time in seconds.

After how many seconds is the egg at a height of 55 feet? Explain which function you used and how you determined your answer.

According to the efficient markets hypothesis,

a. excessive diversification can reduce an investor's expected portfolio returns.

b. changes in stock prices are impossible to predict from public information.

c. actively managed mutual funds should generate higher returns than index funds.

d. the stock market moves based on the changing animal spirits of investors.

Match each food or animal from the left column with its appropriate color(s).

$$\begin{matrix} \text{Comidas y animates } & \text{Colores }\\ \text{\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ el elefante} & \text{A. negro y blanco}\\ \quad & \text{B. verde}\\ \quad & \text{C. gris}\\ \quad & \text{D. rojo}\\ \quad & \text{E. amarillo}\\ \end{matrix}$$

During oogenesis in an animal species with a haploid number of 6, one dyad undergoes nondisjunction during meiosis II. Following the second meiotic division, this dyad ends up intact in the ovum. How many chromosomes are present in
(a) the mature ovum
(b) the second polar body?
(c) the Following fertilization by a normal sperm, what chromosome condition is created?