GRE Reading Comprehension
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Source: BOOST
An experiment conducted aboard Space Lab in 1983 was the first attempt to grow protein crystals in the low-gravity environment of space. That experiment is still cited as evidence that growing crystals in microgravity can increase crystal size: the authors reported that they grew lysozyme protein crystals 1,000 times larger than crystals grown in the same device on Earth. Unfortunately, the authors did not point out that their crystals were no large- than the average crystal grown using other, more standard tcchniques in an Earth laboratory.
No research has yet produced results that could justify the enormous costs of producing crystals on a large-scale in space. To get an unbiased view of the usefulness of microgravity crystal growth, crystals grown in space must be compared with the best crystals that have been grown with standard techniques on Earth. Given the great expense of conducting such experiments with proper controls, and the limited promise of experiments performed thus far, it is questionable whether further experiments in this area should even be conducted.
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the device used to grow crystals in the Space Lab experiment?
- A The device is more expensive to manufacture than are the devices used in standard techniques in an Earth laboratory.
- B The device used in the experiment produced larger crystals on Earth than Lab experiment of 1983
- C Crystals grown in the device on Earth tend to be much smaller than crystals grown in it in space.
- D Crystals grown in the device in space have been exceeded in size by crystals grown in subsequent experiments in space using other devices.
- E The experiments in which the device was used were conducted with proper controls.