Living things

I am the fuzzy caterpillar inching along a leaf and the tall, silent redwood tree stretching to the sky. I am the lion roaring on the savanna and the quiet mushroom popping up after a rain. I am in the cool, dark depths of the ocean and in the little bird that sings outside your window. Have you ever wondered what you have in common with a bumblebee or a giant whale? It's me. You are part of me, too. I am in the beat of your heart, the breath in your lungs, and the thoughts in your head. I grow, I change, I eat, and I rest. Can you guess who I am? I am Life itself—all the living things that share this wonderful planet.

For thousands of years, people have looked at me with wonder. They saw me in the changing seasons, in the birth of a baby animal, and in the sprouting of a tiny seed. They wanted to understand how all my different parts fit together. Long ago, a wise man in Greece named Aristotle spent his days watching me. Around the year 350 BCE, he tried to sort me into groups, like animals with blood and animals without. It was a fantastic start. Can you imagine trying to organize every plant and animal in the world? Hundreds of years later, in the 1700s, a man named Carl Linnaeus gave me a family tree. He came up with a clever system for giving every part of me a special two-part name in Latin, a system scientists still use today to make sure they are all talking about the same thing. At about the same time, in the 1670s, a curious shopkeeper from Holland named Antonie van Leeuwenhoek built some of the most amazing microscopes in the world. When he looked at a single drop of pond water, he discovered a secret, tiny world of me wiggling around. He called them 'animalcules,' and he was the very first person to see bacteria. But my biggest secret was yet to be discovered. It wasn't until April 25th, 1953, that brilliant scientists, including Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, and Francis Crick, finally figured out my secret code. They discovered the shape of DNA, the amazing spiral ladder inside every one of my cells that holds the instructions for whether I become a daisy, a dolphin, or a person like you.

From the smallest germ to the biggest blue whale, I connect everything. The plants that are part of me make the oxygen you breathe. The bees that are part of me fly from flower to flower, helping to create the fruits you eat. You are part of me, and I am part of you. We are one giant, beautiful, complicated family living together on our shared home, Earth. Every time you learn about a new animal, plant a seed, or help keep our oceans and forests clean, you are taking care of me. And by taking care of me, you are taking care of yourself and everyone else. So stay curious, keep exploring, and remember the wonderful, living world you are a part of every single day.