9781422283349

So if a virus isn’t alive how do we define what is? There is no easy answer to this question. The answer, like life itself, is complex. Living things can take the non-living materials around them and make them part of themselves. Living things can grow and reproduce and react to changes taking place around them. Living things have the capacity to change over long periods of time, adapting to changing conditions and giving rise to new forms of themselves. DNA

The master plan for all living things, which controls the way they will grow and develop, is held in a remarkable molecule— DNA . Using simple code, DNA gives rise to all the complex forms of life we see around us. Every living thing has its own unique DNA and yet in every living thing DNA follows the same code and is fundamentally the same. This book is largely about DNA, the molecule at the heart of life.

TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS

1. What word is used to mean the study of life? 2. What are three different groups of living things? 3. What molecule holds the master plan for all living things?

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