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Searching for Life

 

About this lesson
Science must have a working definition of life.  These activities encourage students to think about the characteristics of life and about the possibility of looking for life on Mars. The first three activities from Destination: Mars set up criteria for recognizing life. The other activities use the criteria for more advanced investigations.

  

 
Destination: Mars Activity Packet
 
Searching for Life: An Introduction

1. Imaginary Martians:  What Kind of Life Are We Really Looking for on Mars?

2. Looking For Life:  Develop Criteria for Recognizing Life

3. Mars Critters:  Design a Critter That Could Live in an Extreme Environment
 
Searching for Life: Advanced

4. Wolf Trap:  A Simple Test for Presumed Life
5. Stopped Dead in Its Tracks:  Test for Presence of Organic Material

6. Connecting the Dots (To be Developed):  Looking for Biomarkers with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Images
7. The Nose Knows:  Organic Detection Through the Sense of Smell

 

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Web Curator: Anita Dodson     Responsible NASA Official: Dr. Marilyn M. Lindstrom    Last Update: 30 January 2002