Deep-Sea Life Without Sunlight
Contrast photosynthesis (energy from sunlight) with chemosynthesis (energy from oxidising chemicals like hydrogen sulphide); describe hydrothermal vent communities: chemoautotrophic bacteria form the base of a food web supporting tube worms, giant clams, and vent crabs with no sunlight; explore what deep-sea life tells us about the origin of life on Earth; explain why NASA studies ocean vents as analogues for potential life around hydrothermal activity on Europa and Enceladus
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1858 concepts · 9 subjects
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Explain chemical-energy food webs without claiming alien life has been found.
Explain chemical-energy food webs without claiming alien life has been found.
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NASA Climate Kids · Practice link — not the full lesson
Ocean
Before you open · source notes
Ocean supports Deep-Sea Life Without Sunlight. An adult previews and guides; this is a learning page, not a scored quiz.
Free educational page, no sign-in required for the tested path.
Before you openAsk the learner one fact they learned and one question they still have.
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Public NASA Climate Kids page. An anonymous GET on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt for this URL. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. An adult should preview and guide the learner.
NASA Climate Kids. “Ocean.” External page; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute materials.
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“Can your child describe a community of animals living at the bottom of the ocean that gets its energy from volcanic chemicals rather than sunlight — and explain why scientists are excited about what this might mean for life on other planets?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Conceptual
- Subject
- Science
- Domain
- Ocean Life
- Age range
- Ages 11–13