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Scientists are not sure whether viruses are living or non-living. In general, scientists use a list of criteria to determine if something is alive. Let's look at some traits of living things and see if viruses also have those traits.

Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), denizens of Arctic seas, are known to live more than 200 years, yet they show few signs of the age-related ailments that plague other animals, including humans. Even the bowhead's closest cetacean relative, the much smaller minke whale, lives only 50 years. That suggests the larger whales (which have more than 1000 times as many cells as humans) have evolved some special natural mechanisms that protect them against cancer and aging.

But did they actually live longer? The answer is yes! The average lifespan of monkeys on a regular diet is approximately 26 years, but the CR monkeys lived on average 3 years longer, a whopping 10 percent increase. The statistics suggest at any point in time, the control monkeys had 2.9 times the rate of death from age-related causes compared to those on a CR diet.

Flinn Scientific has launched a website with an extensive amount of resources specifically developed to help teachers, students and parents continue their science education journey - even if that learning is taking place outside the classroom or laboratory environment. Examples of some of the resources we have developed: Free video labs with related teacher and student guides to help students at home continue making progress on key science topics More than 40 free, easy and fun-to-do activities that use commonly available materials to encourage science investigation in the home Flinn's unique digital learning solutions to facilitate seamless science learning. These online solutions are the perfect way to efficiently scale curriculum in an at-home setting - also free of charge On call scientists: over the coming days, we will be releasing video based lab experiments conducted by our scientific staff and broadcast from our studio with live events. As part of each live event, we will have our full team of scientists available to answer questions from teachers and students participating online - also free of charge and highly interactive and engaging. Be sure to check out our online calendar indicating the live schedule

"Online biology games for school aged kids. Play FREE, fun and interactive online biology games to help you study for biology exams, tests, quizzes. There are over 10 types of play offered as classroom biology games. Use these as fun review games for tests or to just to increase your general biology / living environment knowledge. These science games make learning fun! These also make great living environment games as the curriculum is very similar to biology."

The parasitic and apparently tasty honey fungus not only divides opinions; it is also widely seen as the largest living organism on Earth. More precisely, a specific honey fungus measuring 2.4 miles (3.8 km) across in the Blue Mountains in Oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on Earth.

But then on Dec. 22, 1938, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer came across a strange blue fin poking out of a pile of fish that struck her as extraordinary. With its fleshy, lobed fins and its tough armored scales, the specimen looked very unlike fish we see in our oceans today. That is because the coelacanth has managed to survive in roughly its current form for hundreds of millions of years. In the course of researching this film, we learned all kinds of amazing facts about the coelacanth. For instance, unlike most fish, they give birth to live young. They produce eggs the size of grapefruits, which then hatch internally. From video footage taken by the explorer Hans Fricke - which we used as inspiration for our sets and puppets - we know coelacanths are prone to some odd behavior. They've been spotted doing headstands underwater.

2 minute animation, (includes full body animation rendition of Australopithicus) A recent study of fossil shoulder bones from a human ancestor reveals that this ancient relative was still well adapted to living in trees, even after the evolution of bipedalism. Studying features like these helps scientists to better understand when modern humans moved away from a partly arboreal lifestyle and transitioned to living exclusively on the ground.

5 minute video: The evolution of whales has been a mystery. How did a large, big-brained mammal -- air-breathing, warm-blooded, giving birth to live young -- come to live entirely in water, when mammals evolved on land?

Loss of species richness is often due to anthropogenic activity. The global decline of amphibians is one such example. This case study examines the impact of road deicing agents on amphibians living near bridges and roads treated heavily with salt during the winter months. Concepts explored in this case include changes to the aquatic environment as a result of road deicing applications, bioaccumulation, osmoregulation in amphibians living in clean freshwater, and the impact of increased aquatic salinity levels on the ability of amphibians to adequately osmoregulate in an environment for which they are not adapted. Three short videos created by the author can be shown in class or assigned for viewing in advance for a "flipped" classroom approach. Originally developed for a general education/introductory biology course, the case could also be used with introductory level animal anatomy and physiology courses as part of a deeper exploration of the renal system.

The short film opens with two questions: "So what determines how many species live in a given place? Or how many individuals of the species can live somewhere?" The research that provided answers to these questions was set in motion by key experiments by ecologists Robert Paine and James Estes. Robert Paine's starfish exclusion experiments on the coast of Washington state showed that removing starfish from this marine ecosystem has a big impact on the population sizes of other species, establishing the starfish as a keystone species. James Estes and colleague John Palmisano discovered that the kelp forest ecosystems of the North Pacific are regulated by the presence or absence of sea otters, which feed on sea urchins that consume kelp. These direct and indirect effects of sea otters on other species describe a trophic cascade. These early studies were the inspiration for hundreds of investigations on other keystone species and trophic cascades, as well as ongoing studies into the regulation of population sizes and species numbers.

23min video Cells are everywhere. They are the basic structural, functional and biological units of all known living organisms. Cells are the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and are often called the "building blocks of life". But, there's more...

Meet five fellow Pompe patients as they recount their own experiences with the diagnostic journey. You are sure to find bits of your own story in theirs. The road to diagnosis can be riddled with uncertainty, an array of specialists all looking for an answer, and even misdiagnosis. That is undoubtedly why many people living with Pompe welcome the moment a physician delivers the correct diagnosis. Finally, an answer; a name for what has been happening all these years.

Life sciences focus on all things living, exploring the patterns, processes and relationships of organisms. The goal of life sciences is to demonstrate how unifying principles can help us to make sense of the natural world and solve problems in the world we live in. High school life sciences extend student knowledge of topics such as organisms, ecosystems, heredity and evolution, integrating a long history of scientific research from multiple fields. In high school, students will build on their conceptual understanding of life sciences by investigating and witnessing the relationships among structure and function, matter and energy, ecosystems and natural selection. Students should be able to effectively communicate facts and findings, as supported in the science literacy skills covered in the Common Core State Standards.

Biologists estimate that there are about 5 to 100 million species of organisms living on Earth today. Evidence from morphological, biochemical, and gene sequence data suggests that all organisms on Earth are genetically related, and the genealogical relationships of living things can be represented by a vast evolutionary tree, the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life then represents the phylogeny of organisms, i. e., the history of organismal lineages as they change through time. It implies that different species arise from previous forms via descent, and that all organisms, from the smallest microbe to the largest plants and vertebrates, are connected by the passage of genes along the branches of the phylogenetic tree that links all of Life (Figure 1).

Sub-Saharan Africa is the most genetically diverse region in the world." The rates of susceptibility and not only whether or not someone becomes ill, but also whether or not they live or die, or even display symptoms, varies widely. The genetics of both this deadly strain of Ebola itself, and of the populations living in the affected areas, are at the forefront of the efforts by Dr. Moses as she works with Dr.Pardis Sabeti at Harvard to provide samples for genome sequencing.

Yep, you have mites living on your face. And in this episode of Gross Science, Anna Rothschild explains how they're eating, laying eggs, dying, and leaking feces. On your face. But don't worry because we've known this since 1841 and it appears to be completely normal?

In most animals, the drive to breed and produce offspring is strong. However, most males live their whole lives without having the chance to breed. The events leading up to mating can be very dangerous and also very costly to an individual. Some males have evolved elaborate structures, or weapons, as a result. The structures do help males in both combative situations and with attracting females, but ironically, the structures themselves come with certain costs. This flipped case study provides students with the opportunity to not only see how animal structures and functions are linked, but also to see how certain animal structures are needed and costly. There are videos that students are expected to view before the case. The case was initially designed for a second semester college general biology class for majors. However, it can also be used in non-major biology classes. Students should have some background knowledge of natural selection, specifically sexual selection as well as energetic demands of certain structures.

Men shed more bacteria into their surroundings than women do, studies have shown. Now scientists have found that men and women have different effects on the variety of bacteria inside a home, too. The variation comes down to skin biology and "perhaps to body size and hygiene practices," note researchers who sequenced the genes in dust that had settled on the tops of doors in 1,200 homes across the U.S. Dogs apparently alter indoor bacteria more extensively than humans or cats. The bacterial signatures of each of these living beings are unique enough that by simply testing dust in a home, investigators can accurately predict if more women or men live there and if dogs or cats do as well.

Viruses have a huge impact on our lives, and we're making great strides into understanding how to protect ourselves from the flu and HIV. But one thing that scientists have struggled to agree on is whether or not viruses are alive.