- Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:41 am
#102905
Hi Mike,
You're right that this is a great example of a hidden reference, in which the word cited "cohere" actually appears in paragraph one as well and that is the more helpful reference in understanding how the word is being used in the passage. These hidden references are common enough that you should be on the lookout for them.
You are also correct that doing a word search on "cohere" would have been really helpful. One word of caution regarding word searches is that sometimes the passage will use a synonym for the word in question that won't appear in the word search, so if your word search turns up nothing, you may have to rely on your notes/diagramming.
It's also helpful for this question (and all the questions for that matter) to have a good understanding of the structure of the passage. Paragraph 2 is about dark matter and how it may be made of neutrinos. Why does the author care about dark matter though?
To understand this, we need to examine paragraph 1. Paragraph one sets out the problem. (This is a common pattern in science passages.) Gravity is believed to shape the structure of the universe, but there doesn't seem to be enough visible matter to explain the shape of the universe, which is why the cosmologists hypothesize dark matter to explain the missing matter that would correspond to the shape of the universe.
Going back to paragraph 2, the initial "problem" with neutrinos being the dark matter is that they were thought to have no mass, meaning that they would exert no gravitational force and therefore not help shape the universe. Fortunately, as we learn in paragraph 3, new evidence suggests that neutrinos do have mass. (This is also a common theme in science passages, where new evidence refutes/modifies/updates an older scientific theory or assumption.)
Understanding these ideas makes understanding the word "cohere" in this context much easier.
