What would be a modern-day parallel to the underlying viewpoint expressed in the passage?
Show Hint
- The Internet existed long before it became popular among lay users
- Scientists were slow to realize the likely connection between smoking and cancer
- Medical research based on stem cells has been unfairly waylaid by non-scientific factors
- Genomic mapping has come about almost half a century after the discovery of DNA
- Experiments currently active in particle physics could revolutionize our idea of matter
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
The question asks for a modern-day parallel to the passage's main theme. The theme is the surprise and puzzlement over a significant delay in making a scientific discovery for which both the tools and the theoretical suspicion already existed.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let's analyze the options in light of this theme: a puzzling delay in connecting known dots.
\[\begin{array}{rl} \bullet & \text{(A) The Internet existed long before it became popular...: This deals with public adoption of a technology, not a delay in a fundamental scientific discovery. } \\ \bullet & \text{(B) Scientists were slow to realize the likely connection between smoking and cancer: This is an excellent parallel. For many years, tobacco was widely used, and statistical evidence of its harm was available. There was also a general suspicion of health risks, but the scientific community as a whole was slow to definitively establish and accept the causal link. This matches the theme of a delayed realization. } \\ \bullet & \text{(C) Medical research... has been unfairly waylaid by non-scientific factors: The delay described in the passage was internal to the scientific community (an oversight), not caused by external, non-scientific pressures like politics or ethics. } \\ \bullet & \text{(D) Genomic mapping has come about almost half a century after... DNA: This represents the natural, expected time lag for technology to develop based on a foundational discovery. The passage implies the technology for Oersted's discovery already existed. } \\ \bullet & \text{(E) Experiments currently active... could revolutionize our idea of matter: This is about potential future discoveries, not a look back at a past, puzzling delay. } \\ \end{array}\]
Step 3: Final Answer:
The slow scientific consensus on the link between smoking and cancer mirrors the situation described in the passage: a situation where the evidence and means of investigation were present for some time before the "decisive" connection was widely accepted.
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