Teacher’s Questions for Old Germs
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SCIENCE
Before reading:
- What is the longest-lived organism you can think of, and how old can it grow to be?
- Describe a few ways in which living things differ from dead things.
During reading:
- How old is the deep clay that the bacteria live in?
- Do scientists know the age of the single-celled bacteria that live in the muck? What are some of the age estimates?
- Where do the microbes get their food?
- Over 1,000 years, how much new sediment will settle onto the seafloor?
- How deep down in the muck did Roy’s team search for microbes?
- What pattern did Roy’s team discover between the bacteria and the oxygen content of the muck they live in?
- What two things are the deep-down bacteria not doing, which makes them different from any other known organism?
- How do these deep-down bacteria avoid growing in size and growing in number?
- How did the scientists determine that the bacteria were eating nutrients in the sediments?
- How common do scientists think long-lived, slow-growing bacteria are on Earth?
- Name two kinds of harsh environments on Earth where scientists have found single-celled bacteria living. Name two places beyond Earth where scientists believe similar organisms could be found.
After reading:
1. How will scientists study new kinds of life or alien life if they don’t know much — or anything — about it?
SOCIAL STUDIES:
1. Should we redefine what it means for something to be alive based on the bacteria Roy’s team has been studying? Explain your answer.