This animated video takes students on a journey through a microbial mat. The assigned mission is to probe a microbial mat by following an imaginary 0.10 mm stromatolite explorer as it descends through the layers. On its route, the vehicle takes chemical readings and images of each layer. It addresses the history of microbial mats, their interest to NASA and astrobiology, and the different metabolic activities occurring at each level. The video is seven minutes in length. If you experience difficulty opening the video from the website, right-click and select "save target as." This will allow you to save it to your computer and it should easily open.
