LIFE

Life is a characteristic distinguishing physical entities having biological processes, such

as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions
have ceased, or because they never had such functions and are classified as inanimate. Various
forms of life exist, such as plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria. The criteria can at
times be ambiguous and may or may not define viruses, viroids, or potential artificial life as
"living". Biology is the primary science concerned with the study of life, although many other
sciences are involved.
The definition of life is controversial. The current definition is that organisms maintain homeostasis,
are composed of cells, undergo metabolism, can grow, adapt to their environment, respond
to stimuli, and reproduce. However, many other biological definitions have been proposed, and there
are some borderline cases, such as viruses. Throughout history, there have been many attempts to
define what is meant by "life" and many theories on the properties and emergence of living things,
such as materialism, the belief that everything is made out of matter and that life is merely a complex
form of it; hylomorphism, the belief that all things are a combination of matter and form, and the form
of a living thing is its soul; spontaneous generation, the belief that life repeatedly emerges from nonlife; and vitalism, a now largely discredited hypothesis that living organisms possess a "life force" or
"vital spark". Modern definitions are more complex, with input from a diversity of scientific
disciplines. Biophysicists have proposed many definitions based on chemical systems; there are
also some living systems theories, such as the Gaia hypothesis, the idea that the Earth itself is alive.
Another theory is that life is the property of ecological systems, and yet another is elaborated
in complex systems biology, a branch or subfield of mathematical biology. Abiogenesis describes the
natural process of life arising from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. Properties
common to all organisms include the need for certain core chemical elements to
sustain biochemical functions.
Life on Earth probably arose between 3.8 and 4.1 billion years ago. It is widely accepted that all of
Earth's current life descended from an RNA world, but RNA-based life may not have been the first.
The mechanism by which life began on Earth is unknown, though many hypotheses have been
formulated and are often based on the MillerUrey experiment. In July 2016, scientists reported
identifying a set of 355 genes believed to be present in the last universal common ancestor (LUCA)
of all living organisms.[1]
Since its primordial beginnings, life on Earth has changed its environment on a geologic time scale.
To survive in most ecosystems, life must often adapt to a wide range of conditions.
Some microorganisms, called extremophiles, thrive in physically or geochemically extreme
environments that are detrimental to most other life on Earth. Aristotle was the first person
to classify organisms. Later, Carl Linnaeus introduced his system of binomial nomenclature for the
classification of species. Eventually new groups and categories of life were discovered, such
as cells and microorganisms, forcing dramatic revisions of the structure of relationships between
living organisms. Cells are sometimes considered the smallest units and "building blocks" of life.
There are two kinds of cells, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, both of which consist of cytoplasm enclosed
within a membrane and contain many biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. Cells
reproduce through a process of cell division, in which the parent cell divides into two or more
daughter cells.

Though currently only known on Earth, life need not be restricted to it, and many scientists believe in
the existence of extraterrestrial life. Artificial life is a computer simulation or man-made
reconstruction of any aspect of life, which is often used to examine systems related to natural
life. Death is the permanent termination of all biological functions which sustain an organism, and as
such, is the end of its life. Extinction is the process by which an entire group or taxon, normally
a species, dies out. Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of organisms.

Source: wikipedia