A so - called fossil fuel, petroleum is believed by most scientists to be the transformed remains of long dead organisms. (livescience.com)
Some students may have also neglected to include dead organisms in their model. (teacherstryscience.org)
Lab tests involving microbes and a mammoth bone have shown that bacteria can passively soak up the genetic remains of long - dead organisms from the environment and add them to their own genomes. (newscientist.com)