A group of students was designing an experiment to test the effect of smoking on grass frogs. They hypothesized that keeping the frogs in a smoke-filled environment for defined periods would result in the animals developing lung cancer. However, when they searched for previously published information to shore up their hypothesis, they discovered they were quite wrong in their original assessment. Even though they were never going to go ahead with their experiment (so as not to harm frogs needlessly), they knew that a more likely outcome of putting carcinogens in the air would be the development of
A) the amphibian equivalent of hypertension.
B) skin cancer.
C) gill abnormalities in the next generation of tadpoles.
D) tracheal tube abnormalities.
E) diminished absorption of oxygen.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

While smoking may have detrimental effects on the lungs of humans, the skin of frogs is likely to be affected first by carcinogens present in the air. Therefore, the most likely result of the experiment described would be the development of skin cancer in the frogs, rather than lung cancer.

A Group of Students Was Designing an Experiment to Test