Scientists use a memory trick — MRS GREN. Every living thing does all seven of these. Tap each card to flip it and read what it means.
Three groups: Living (alive right now), Dead (was alive, but isn't now), and Never alive (it was never a living thing at all). Look at the thing and tap the right button.
1. A candle flame moves, grows and gives off gas — so is it alive? No! It fails the other tests — it can't sense, can't reproduce on its own, and isn't made of living cells. Doing some signs isn't enough.
2. Why is a wooden chair called dead, not "never alive"? Because wood came from a tree, and a tree was alive. So the wood was once part of a living thing — that makes it dead, not never alive.
3. Name 2 things ALL living things do. Any two of: grow, eat (nutrition), breathe (respiration), sense things, move, make babies, get rid of waste.
4. Is a chicken's egg alive? A fertilised egg is alive — it will grow into a chick. It's living, just resting and growing inside the shell.
To be truly alive, a thing must do all seven signs of life — Move, Respire, Sense, Grow, Reproduce, Excrete, Eat (MRS GREN).
If something only does some of them — like a flame, or a car — it is not alive. And if it was alive before but stopped, it's dead, not "never alive".