• Question: What is life

    Asked by to Vicky, Claire, Ian, Sergey, Zena on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by , , , , .
    • Photo: Vicky Schneider

      Vicky Schneider answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      ohhh this is a tough question cause we could end up talking about philosophy, but from a biological point of view is what has organic matter and process like respiration (at cellular level)…think of the unicellular algae and organisms like cyanobacteria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria

    • Photo: Sergey Lamzin

      Sergey Lamzin answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      This is up to every one to decide for themselves.

      The current technical definition is very vague and as far as I can tell has recently been altered in order to exclude computer viruses.

      Generally people tend to say it needs to
      – be capable of reproduction
      – strive to survive
      – be composed of material objects
      – able to react to it’s environment
      – able to metabolise material of energy
      – able to grow itself
      – able to heal itself

      Basically: anything that is fast enough to run away before you squish it with your boot is alive!

Comments

  • Photo: Shaylon

    Shaylon commented on :

    Usually, when biologists talk about ‘life’ we say that something is alive if the answer to all the following questions is YES:
    1) Can it maintain it’s own internal environment? (for example, cooling off if it gets too hot)
    2) Does it have individual specialised parts? (even bacteria have organised parts within their cells to get rid of waste, make proteins, etc)
    3)Does it turn nutrients into energy?
    4)Does it grow?
    5)Does it adapt to its environment? This can mean evolving over many generations as well as adapting right away.
    6) Does it respond to stimulus in it’s environment, such as sights, sounds, and smells?
    7)Can it reproduce (make more of its own kind)?

    This is a pretty good definition, but scientists admit it’s not perfect! We are always looking for ways to make this definition better.