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eharnett's picture

Life: what is it?

As I looked at the picture of the desert before class and pondered about what life actually was, I came up with some criteria in my head.  Most importantly, I believed that to be alive the object must do some form of energy transfer, along the lines of photosynthesis or cellular respiration.  I believe that if we used this criteria, we could limit what is alive and what isn't.  When something stops transfering energy, then it dies (the opposite of life).  I also believe that being "alive" would mean something is made up of cells that are constantly interacting with each other. 

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