Science Quiz | The world’s oldest lifeforms
Name this micro-animal. It’s renowned for being able to survive harsh conditions, including outer space, and evolved around 500 million years ago. Credit: Kiosya Y., Vončina K., Gąsiorek P. (2021)
START THE QUIZ
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Scientists widely believe X are the first lifeforms on the earth that produced oxygen, and thus filled the atmosphere with this gas during the Great Oxidation Event around 2.4-2 billion years ago. Name X.
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This particular form of rock is created when X (from Q1) forms large colonies where each member is connected to the next in thin tendrils. X secretes some compounds that gum up the sand, soil, and other minerals and over time these layers, or ‘mats’, form the rock. There are 3.5-billion-year-old rocks of this type in Australia, among other places. Name it.
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_______ resemble bacteria but are much more. They are a type of prokaryote and eukaryotes evolved from them. Perhaps most notably, they get their energy from a wider range of sources than other lifeforms, including natural hydrogen gas and even metals. Fill in the blank.
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The Ginkgo biloba tree is considered a famous example of a ______ ______, a term that means the species has maintained its current form for an unusually long period of time. Fill in the blanks.
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The _____ fungus, a.k.a. the “humongous fungus”, is the world’s most massive living organism, weighing up to 35,000 tonnes, and is currently growing in Oregon, USA. It may also be 8,000 years old. Fill in the blank.
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The name of the micro-animal in the visual
Published – April 16, 2025 11:56 am IST