What exactly is Life?

Answer 1

All living things are composed of cells.
All living need to acquire and use energy.
Reproduction is a characteristic of life.
All living things are composed of DNA.
Living things respond to the environment: escape predators, move to cooler areas.

Answer 2

LIFE:

Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education
Living in Faith Everyday
Literacy Is for Everyone
Laboratory for International Fuzzy Engineering
Lingnan Institute of Further Education (Hong Kong)
Lasallian Institute for the Environment
Leaders in Fitness Education (Australia)
Long Island Funders Exchange (New York)

just to name a few

Answer 3

Philosophers wrestling with the big questions of life are no longer alone. Now scientists are struggling to define life as they manipulate it, look for it on other planets, and even create it in test tubes.

In June, researchers replaced the genetic identity of one bacterium with that of a second microbe. Other scientists are trying to build life from scratch. NASA scientists are searching for life in space but aren’t sure what it will look like. And some futurists are pondering the prospect of robots becoming so human they might be considered a form of life.

So as scientists push the bounds of biology, astronomy and robotics, a big question looms: What exactly is life?

Philosophers:
This (Person) is, at first, the germ in a man. That which is the semen is here called the germ. This semen is the vigour (tejas) drawn from all the limbs. The man bears the self (i.e. the semen) in the self (i.e. the body). When he pours the semen into a woman, he gives it a birth. This indeed, is the first birth of the embodied soul.

[Note: "This Person": Refers to the individual self who is about to assume a human body "Semen": Which is the essence of food and is extracted from all parts of the body.]

The semen becomes one with the woman - just like a limb of her own. That is why it does not hurt her. She nourishes this self of his that has come into her.

She being the nourisher, should be nourished (by her husband).The woman nourishes the embryo. Immediately after its birth he (the father) nourishes (with natal ceremonies) the child, which in the beginning was already born (as the embryo). Nourishing the child from birth onward, he thus nourishes himself for the continuation of these worlds. For thus alone are these worlds perpetuated. This is one's second birth.

[Note: "should be nourished by her husband": With proper food, drink, clothes etc. No good relation in this world between two persons is possible without reciprocity of benefits.]

He (the son) who is the one self (body) of his (father's) is made his father's substitute for (performing) virtuous deeds. Then the other self (body) of his (father's), having accomplished his duties and reached his age departs (from this world). So departing hence, he is born again. This is his third birth.

[Note:"Substitute": Because the father cannot actively worship in old age. "Virtuous deeds": As enjoined by the scriptures. "Duties": They consist mainly of the debts one owes to the gods, the Rishis (seers of truth), and the Manes. The first debt is discharged through the performance of sacrifices, the second through the study of the scripturesand the third through the procreation of offspring. In this way the solidarity and the complete well-being of society are maintained. "Third birth": The first birth takes place when the father injects the semen, which is the essence of his body, into his wife. The second birth takes place when the child, who is the father in another form, is born from the mother's womb. The third birth is his reincarnation in a new body. Father and son are regarded as identical.]

Answer 4

Life is a beer on one hand, and a pizza on the other, and all the bills are paid, and there's a full tank of gas in your car.

Answer 5

Life is full of ups and down.

Answer 6

exchange of gases with the environment. Seriously. That's it. That's why sponges are considered alive.

Answer 7

When you're breathing and your not in a coffin six feet under.

Answer 8

It's a long journey, a school where we learn and perfect ourselves.

Answer 9

It begins at conception and ends in a heartbeat.

Answer 10

life is the existence of anything...