Microbiologist Radamés Cordero and team investigated surface temperatures of a variety of fungi, including Coprinellus mi-coccus and a species from the genus Russula, in a study ______ blank a previous observation: Cordero had taken thermal images of various wild mushrooms while hiking and found that the mushrooms all appeared to be colder than the surrounding environment, raising questions about thermoregulation in fungi. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

The ______ blank Hyewon Yum’s book Puddle has been very positive. Many reviewers have praised the book, and it won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

The following text is adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri's 2003 novel The Namesake. Ashima and her husband, Ashoke, are traveling from the United States to India. Ashoke puts his hand over hers as the plane begins to gather speed. And then Boston tilts away and they ascend effortlessly over a blackened Atlantic. As used in the text, what does the word "gather" most nearly mean?

Research on Champsocephalusgunnari and other icefishes of the Teleostei class has shown that their hearts are pale due to low levels of myoglobin expression; which was once thought to be related to their polar habitats. Recently, researchers have found that some tropical teleost species (such as Piaractus brachypomus) also have pale hearts, raising the possibility that myoglobin deficiency in teleosts could be blank habitat. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Editor Jared Shurin’s 2023 anthology The Big Book of Cyberpunk contains 108 stories, an enormous number when compared to the 1986 cyberpunk anthology Mirrorshades, which has only twelve. Encompassing both early (e.g., Samuel R. Delany’s 1968 story “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones”) and more recent (e.g., Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s 2020 story “Études”) contributions,the broad chronological scope of Shurin’s volume may make it seem more comprehensive than Mirrorshades, but Mirrorshades’ s focus is more carefully considered, rendering it the more authoritative anthology of this science fiction subgenre. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

Yingguang Frank Chan and colleagues have explored how convergent evolution—a phenomenon that occurs when the same trait evolves independently in two reproductively separate lineages—can result from a genetic mechanism shared by both lineages. Meanwhile, Patricia J. Wittkopp and colleagues have investigated how convergence occurs through different genetic mechanisms, but the relative prevalence of convergence through shared and different genetic processes is still poorly understood. This motivated biologists Debert A. Green II and Cassandra G. Extavour to evaluate both types of convergence in a single study for their 2012 paper. Which choice best states the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

In 2013 Bridle J.M. Allan and colleagues published a study concluding that ocean acidification has a strong effect on the behavior of Pomacentrus amboinensis, a species of fish.However, Allan and colleagues’ study relied on a mean sample size of only about 18 fish. In a 2022 review of various scientists’ conclusions about the impacts of ocean acidification on fish behavior, Josefin Sundin and colleagues caution that relying on such a relatively small sample size can increase the potential for biased analysis. Such analysis, in turn, can contribute to reports of exaggerated effects. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

Did you know that the USS Merrimac is just one of around three million known shipwrecks spread across the world’s oceans? Rachel Mugge and team wanted to find out how wooden shipwrecks affect the distribution of microbes on the seafloor. The researchers studied two wooden shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. They placed pieces of pine and oak between 0 and 200 meters away from each shipwreck to collect samples of microbes. They found that pine and oak pieces placed about 125 meters from the shipwrecks had the most species of microbes on them. According to the text, at what approximate distance from the studied shipwrecks did the researchers observe the most species of microbes on the pine and oak pieces?

In 1951, Ethel Payne, known as the First Lady of the Black Press, began writing for the esteemed Sengstacke newspapers, which included the Chicago Defender. Payne’s accomplishment is just one example of the rich history of Black journalism in the United States. That history is preserved by the National Association of Black Journalists, which was founded in Washington, DC, in 1975 to support Black media professionals and honor people like Payne. According to the text, where was the National Association of Black Journalists founded?

Baleen whales eat up to 30 percent of their total body mass in krill (tiny shrimplike creatures) per day. So in one day, a sell whale weighing 25,000 kg could eat 7,500 kg, while a northern right whale weighing 80,000 kg could ingest a whopping 24,000 kg. Over the last century, baleen whale populations have declined, and contrary to some scientists’ expectations, so have krill populations. Matthew S. Savoca and colleagues resolve this apparent discrepancy by pointing out that baleen whales cycle iron in the ocean, helping support phytoplankton populations, which, in turn, sustain krill populations. Based on the text, what is one likely effect of the change in baleen whale populations over the last century?