Explanation
A. The passage isn’t just describing a puzzle; it's presenting a hypothesis and supporting it with evidence.
B. The passage is not focused on identifying a misconception but is instead arguing in favor of the significance of cooking in human evolution.
C. While the passage does explain the effects of cooking, it goes beyond merely elucidating a hypothesis; it supports the hypothesis with empirical evidence.
D. (Correct Response) The passage outlines the hypothesis that cooking has played a critical role in human evolution, particularly by enabling the consumption of higher-calorie diets, which could not be supported by raw food alone, and it discusses evidence that supports this hypothesis.
E. Rather than undermining a scientific principle, the passage provides evidence in support of the hypothesis that cooking had evolutionary consequences for humans.
The passage proposes a scientific hypothesis that the advent of cooking had significant implications for human biological evolution and supports this hypothesis with evidence from archaeological findings and considerations about dietary energy requirements.