The following question is based on an article in Scientific American:

A team of researchers from the Massa­chusetts Institute of Technology studied the effects of yogurt on mating. The researchers took a group of 40 male mice and 40 female mice and either fed the animals a high-fat, low-fiber, low-nutrient diet meant to mimic junk food or fed them standard mouse meals. They then supple­mented half of each diet group with vanilla-flavored yogurt.In mating experiments, yogurt-eating males inseminated their partners faster and produced more offspring than control mice. Conversely, females that ate the yogurt diets gave birth to larger litters and weaned those pups with greater success. The researchers concluded that the probiotic microbes in the yogurt help to make the animals leaner and healthier, which indirectly improves sexual machismo.

Which of the following if true, would most weaken the conclusion reached by the researchers?

A.Many of the mice in the control group died soon after the experiment
B.In another study, probiotic microbes were not found to produce any significant health benefits
C.Yogurt is not the only food which contains a high concentration of probiotic microbes
D.Mating advantage of the yogurt eating mice reduced in a few days after they stopped taking yogurt
E.The female yogurt eating mice were healthier than their male counterparts
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Srinivasan Vaidyaraman
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Sravna Test Prep
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I marked (B)
Can anyone explain why the correct answer is not B ?

"In another study, probiotic microbes were not found to produce any significant health benefits"

This option weakens the chance that the mice became leaner and healthier because of the yogart, but may be for something else.
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Didn't give up !!! Still Trying!!

Hai,

Could you clarify my doubt??

''In mating experiments, yogurt-eating males inseminated their partners faster and produced more offspring than control mice.''

From the previous quote, I understood that the ''control mice'' are the ones that were not fed with yogurt. As stated in option A, How yogurt had a negative effect on them, ?? Pl clarify.

Thanks.

in the stimulus it is stated that "yogurt-eating males inseminated their partners faster and produced more offspring than control mice" so it is clear that control group didn't eat yogurt. so it is completely irrelevant if they die as stated in A. The answer is B.

Hi,

Can you clarify for me?

Researchers concluded that the probiotic microbes in the yogurt help to make the animals leaner and healthier, which indirectly improves sexual machismo. In other words, probiotic microbes are the cause of leaner and healthier animals, correct? Statement (B) proves that probiotic microbes do not cause any health benefits. Since it is states "if this is true," it seems like (B) weakens the conclusion of that probiotic microbes lead health benefits. In another study in (B), however, could not be reliable, but if we start doubting this, we have to doubt so many other things. For example, the terms "many" and "soon" in statement (A) are so vague that since they are not compared to other factors, we are not sure how many exactly and how soon they died.

Statement (A) tells us about the control mice, which are not our interest. Imagine you tell a person that yogurt-eating mice are healthier, and that person argues "but, mice not eating yogurt die very quickly." This sounds very illogical to me. Conclusion is, again, probiotic microbes in yogurt lead leaner and healthier mice. But (A) tells us about how unhealthy the mice which do not eat yogurt.

(C) out of scope
(D) this will strengthen the conclusion
(E) kind of out of scope, but it might strengthen the conclusion

Therefore, I think the answer needs to be (B). Please do feel free to correct me if I don't make sense.

Poor question. It cannot be A as it nowhere mentions that the "control group" mice ate yogurt in the first place. So, when they don't eat yogurt, how can consumption of yogurt and their deaths be linked?