This lesson supports concepts covered in the film The Birth and Death of Genes. After watching the film and reading a couple of scientific passages, students explain how understanding about icefish adaptations might help develop treatments for health conditions.

Students will read about two common human conditions: anemia and osteoporosis. Both share similarities with icefish adaptations. Students are then asked to explain how icefish adaptations affect different aspects of physiology and make inferences about how studying the genetics of these traits could help develop treatments to improve human health. In an extension activity, students complete a framework for a short essay about how icefish can serve as a model organism for studying human health.