you have embarked on an ambitious research project: to create life in a test tube. you boil up a rich mixture of yeast extract and amino acids in a flask along with a sprinkling of the inorganic salts known to be essential for life. you seal the flask and allow it to cool. after several months, the liquid is as clear as ever, and there are no signs of life. a friend suggests that excluding the air was a mistake, since most life as we know it requires oxygen. you repeat the experiment, but this time you leave the flask open to the atmosphere. to your great delight, the liquid becomes cloudy after a few days and under the microscope you see beautiful small cells that are clearly growing and dividing. does this experiment prove that you managed to generate a novel life-form? how might you redesign your experiment to allow air into the flask, yet eliminate the possibility that contamination is the explanation for the results? (for a ready-made answer, look up the classic experiments of louis pasteur.)
you have embarked on an ambitious research project: to create life in a test tube. you boil up a rich mixture of yeast extract and amino acids in a flask along with a sprinkling of the inorganic salts known to be essential for life. you seal the flask and allow it to cool. after several months, the liquid is as clear as ever, and there are no signs of life. a friend suggests that excluding the air was a mistake, since most life as we know it requires oxygen. you repeat the experiment, but this time you leave the flask open to the atmosphere. to your great delight, the liquid becomes cloudy after a few days and under the microscope you see beautiful small cells that are clearly growing and dividing. does this experiment prove that you managed to generate a novel life-form? how might you redesign your experiment to allow air into the flask, yet eliminate the possibility that contamination is the explanation for the results? (for a ready-made answer, look up the classic experiments of louis pasteur.)
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