Quick verbal question, help please!!

[member232]

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Hey guys,

I know it's a bit tough to ask verbal questions on a forum like this, but I'm going to give it a shot just because this question makes me feel like I don't understand English.

Here is the excerpt of the passage that you need to know:

A group of microbes called hyperthermophiles breathe iron instead of oxygen and live in an enviornment that one would assume life could not surive in. These microbes have been shown to live at temperatures of more than 112 degrees centigrade, well above the boiling point of water. The idea that microbes can live at such high temperatures and breathe iron opens up a world of possibilities.

Question:
According to the author, all but one of the following makes the discovery of hyperthermophiles exciting:

Answer :
C. They live in an environment that was previously thought to be too hot for life to exist

I know answers can be too extreme/narrow/broad sometimes... but seriously, isn't the answer verbatim in the passage?? The explanation for this literally just quoted the excerpt of the passage I put above.

Is there something that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dechristine]

Wow, that's strange. What were the other answer choices?

The only thing I can think of is that the author didn't exactly say that hyperthermophiles live in a place previously thought to be too hot for life to exist... Technically, the author only says that they "live in environment that one would assume life could not survive in" and that they "have been shown to live at temperatures above 112 degrees centigrade".

 

[member232]

I was just a bit surprised that this was an AAMC question, they usually tend to be more fair...

The other answer choices were found dispersed throughout the passage, except one, which I chose... but the explanation did not cover the "wrong" answer choices...

I would have posted them/other excerpts from the passage, but I had a feeling that no one would want to read that much for one question 😛

Thank you for your help though!!

 

[shaboobly]

the other answer choices must contain something that the author isn't suggesting or isnt even in the passage. or the choices might have extrapolated too much from the passage and thus creates a wrong answer choice.

 

[sciencebooks]

Hey guys,

I know it's a bit tough to ask verbal questions on a forum like this, but I'm going to give it a shot just because this question makes me feel like I don't understand English.

Here is the excerpt of the passage that you need to know:

A group of microbes called hyperthermophiles breathe iron instead of oxygen and live in an enviornment that one would assume life could not surive in. These microbes have been shown to live at temperatures of more than 112 degrees centigrade, well above the boiling point of water. The idea that microbes can live at such high temperatures and breathe iron opens up a world of possibilities.

Question:
According to the author, all but one of the following makes the discovery of hyperthermophiles exciting:

Answer :
C. They live in an environment that was previously thought to be too hot for life to exist

I know answers can be too extreme/narrow/broad sometimes... but seriously, isn't the answer verbatim in the passage?? The explanation for this literally just quoted the excerpt of the passage I put above.

Is there something that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance!

I don't know if I would have got this, but here's why I think it's right. See the bolded above? It says they didn't think they could live in the environment... But it doesn't say WHY exactly, and particularly not that it was too hot. While it does go on to explain the temperature, it never suggests that this was so hot that they would have assumed live was not possible at such temperatures.