11 Jun For each of these, tell whether it is a useful hypothesis that is based on evidence and that can be tested, or if it is not a scientifically useful one, because it either cannot be tested or it is not based on enough evidence
Good/Bad Hypotheses
1. Three people note that they all became ill last month on the night of the full moon.
They agree that the best hypothesis for why they became ill was the full moon.
2. A researcher working with tree frogs observes that the females tend to mate with
males who are larger than 3 cm long and live 0.14 cm from the base of the tree. He
hypothesizes that these males may be generating pi radiation that attracts mates.
3. A student studying a predator fish and prey fish observed that the predator had
injuries after the experiment where the prey were all eaten. The student hypothesized
that the prey fish fought back and injured the predator.
4. A researcher observed that the addition of soybean meal to the medium allowed
yeast to survive exposure to alcohol better than without the additive. She
hypothesized that, because it is known that the cytoplasmic membrane is especially
injured by alcohol, the soybean meal had some compound that protected against that
damaging effect.
5. People observed that malaria was most common in swampy areas where the air
smelled bad. They hypothesized that the cause of malaria is bad air, or miasma.
