ACT Science 1.10 Research Summary Passage

Looks like we’re being asked to take into account the results of the study and see what

we can predict with that information. Classic science move.

Knowing what we know about the waggle dance—

namely, that it produces a smelly chemical to communicate information about food—

which of the potential answers is a good prediction?

Let’s start at the bottom, a very good place to start…

Option D predicts that the chemicals produced by the waggle dance should cause the bees to mate.

Hope not. With all that dancing and making out, nobody would ever get anything done.

More to the point, this prediction isn’t based on anything we’ve learned

about the waggle dance. So long, D.

Option C predicts that the waggle dance should cause the bees to mate.

Again, the passage says the purpose of the waggle dance has to do with

communicating information about food.

It’s not C.

C’mon guys, let’s keep it classy.

Option B predicts that all bees should produce the waggle dance chemicals.

Nope. Whether or not all bees are capable

of producing the chemicals isn’t a prediction based on what we’ve learned.

Option A predicts that if air with the chemical is introduced into the hive,

it should be the same as getting the signal from the waggle dance.

This one certainly takes into account what we learned from the experiment,

which is more than we can say for the other options. A it is!

Interesting thing about bees—if a beekeeper ever shows you a hive,

there’ll probably be a small dot of paint on the queen’s back to help keep track of her.

Beekeepers didn’t invent that; it was originally invented to keep tabs on Queen Victoria.