The microscopic world: tardigrades, mites, plankton and other tiny creatures

Tests: 3 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 8 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 259 of the biology course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · wrong ✗

In SpongeBob, Plankton is a tiny green character with one eye who plots all day. What are real plankton?

1. One small kind of one-eyed animal that swims in big shoals everywhere in the sea — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. Tiny fish that live in pineapples — score 4
3. Green rocks on the sea floor — no support
4. Many different tiny drifting living things, such as algae, krill and baby crabs — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 91, line 13: «The manta ray is the biggest ray, with fins up to about 7 metres across, and it eats tiny floating plankton by swimming with its mouth open; plankton is everyw…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+2); the same circumstance (+2); the same doer «plankton» (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · right ✓

Count them: under the microscope you see 3 tardigrades and 2 dust mites. How many legs in all?

1. 40 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. 30 — no support
3. 20 — no support
4. 34 — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

«tardigrades are immortal, they can't die, everyone knows» What is right?

1. Yes, nothing at all can ever kill them, not even fire, ice or empty space — no support
2. No, dried ones are very tough, but active ones are fragile and they do die — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. No, they die the moment they dry out — ← Mova's choice · score 6
4. Yes, but only in space — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 259, line 7: «A dried tardigrade curls into a «tun» and nearly stops all life processes, and in 2007 dried tardigrades survived 10 days in open space on a satellite.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «dry» (+4); the same doer «dried tardigrade» (+2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · wrong ✗

«my sis has bugs in her eyelashes?? gross, she's dirty» What is right?

1. They come from not brushing teeth — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Most adults have harmless eyelash mites; it is not about being dirty — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Nobody has them except animals — no support
4. Only dirty people who never wash their faces have them living there — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · wrong ✗

How can the biggest animal ever live on some of the smallest?

1. It gulps huge amounts of tiny krill, several tonnes a day — ✓ the right answer · score 8
2. It eats only one krill a week — ← Mova's choice · score 11
3. It eats the krill's eggs, which are huge, as big as footballs — score 7
4. It does not eat at all, it just drinks water — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 2 with score 11, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 171, line 2: «It looks empty and icy, but in spring tiny drifting plants turn the water green, tiny shrimp-like krill eat them, and the biggest animals that ever lived come…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «eat» (+5); the same doer «biggest animals» (+3); the same thing acted on «krill» (+3). The right option, 1, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · wrong ✗

What would happen to the sea if all the plankton vanished?

1. Whales would start eating land animals — score -1
2. The food web would collapse, from fish to whales — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The sea would get more crowded — score -1
4. Fish would eat more seaweed and be fine — ← Mova's choice · score 0

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 4 with score 0, against -1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 190, line 10: «The megamouth shark, which lives deep and eats plankton (tiny animals and plants drifting in the sea), was discovered in 1976 off Hawaii, and fewer than three…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «eat» (+1). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · right ✓

Why would eggs that survive drying be useful in a salty lake?

1. Birds cannot find the dry eggs, because they look just like grains of sand — score 2
2. When the lake dries up, the eggs wait and hatch when water returns — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. Dry eggs are too salty for birds — score 1
4. Dry eggs float better in salt — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 3, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 259, line 17: ««Sea monkeys» are brine shrimps whose dried eggs can wait for years and hatch in salt water, so when their salty lake dries up, the eggs wait until the water c…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «salty lake» (+2); the same action «dry up» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · right ✓

«a slime mould solved a maze? it doesn't even have a brain lol» What is right?

1. No, it had a tiny hidden brain inside it — no support
2. Yes, with no brain at all it still found the shortest way to food — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. No, the scientists drew the path on it themselves with a pen — no support
4. Yes, because it is really a clever worm — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 259, line 18: «A slime mould is a giant single cell with many nuclei; it can find the shortest way through a maze to food, and in a Japanese test it grew paths very like the…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «find» (+4); the same thing acted on «shortest way» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · wrong ✗

Count them: 4 water fleas each have 2 big antennae for jumping. How many antennae is that?

1. 6 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 16 — no support
3. 4 — no support
4. 8 — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · wrong ✗

Mum shakes out the duvet and washes the sheets hot. Why does it help with dust mites?

1. Mites hate the smell of soap only — no support
2. It does nothing, mites live only in walls — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. It makes all the mites move down to the carpet for good, where they stay — no support
4. It removes mites and their skin food and kills many of them — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 259, line 10: «Most adults have tiny Demodex mites living in the roots of their eyelashes and in face pores, eating skin oils, usually without any harm; it was long said they…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «live» (+3). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · wrong ✗

How could rotifers survive about 24,000 years in ice?

1. They kept warm by swimming — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. They ate the ice slowly, a little bit at a time, to stay alive — no support
3. Frozen, they stopped nearly all life processes until they thawed — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. They were born just before scientists found them — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the principal means by which a tardigrade survives the desiccation of its habitat.

1. The contraction into a dry form termed a «tun», wherein its life processes very nearly cease — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. The production of a waterproof shell of glass, within which it remains sealed until the rains return — no support
3. Migration to a more humid locality — no support
4. The excavation of a burrow beneath the moss — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the nourishment of the blue whale.

1. It consumes no food during its adult life — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It subsists principally upon large sharks — no support
3. It subsists upon seaweed alone — no support
4. It subsists principally upon krill, consuming up to several tonnes thereof daily — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises Demodex mites in respect of their human hosts?

1. They inhabit the stomach and cause illness — ← Mova's choice · score 9
2. They are found only upon domestic animals — no support
3. They are present solely upon persons of unclean habits who seldom wash their faces — score 3
4. They inhabit the roots of the eyelashes of most adults and are ordinarily harmless — ✓ the right answer · score 9

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 9, tied with another option at 9 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 259, line 10: «Most adults have tiny Demodex mites living in the roots of their eyelashes and in face pores, eating skin oils, usually without any harm; it was long said they…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «live» (+6); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «tiny demodex mites» (+1). The right option, 4, scored 9. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the classification of the organisms commonly sold under the name «sea monkeys».

1. Primates of marine habit — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Brine shrimps — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Juvenile fish — no support
4. Sea snails — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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