NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Ask an Astrobiologist
"Will pluto and neptune ever collide since thier orbits seems to cross, if so when? and if so what would that collision be like? "
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  1. Question

    How could you tell if a cell is living or dead?

    This deceptively simple question is not easy to answer. If the cell is part of a multicelled organism (like animals), the difference between living and dead is defined for the whole organism, not just a single cell. If the cell is an independent organism such as bacteria and archaea, the issue of life and death is also hard to focus on, since many of these single cells can be dehydrated and survive for hundreds of thousands of years in a state that appears dead, only to revive when conditions improve. I am sorry I can not provide a satisfactory answer. David Morrison
    NAI Senior Scientist

    May 22, 2006