Life
hideLife on Earth:
Life (cf. biota) is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have self-sustaining biological processes ("alive," "living"), from those which do not —either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as "inanimate."
In biology, the science that studies living organisms, "life" is the condition which distinguishes active organisms from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, functional activity and the continual change preceding death. A diverse array of living organisms (life forms) can be found in the biosphere on Earth, and properties common to these organisms—plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria — are a carbon- and water-based cellular form with complex organization and heritable genetic information. Living organisms undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. More complex living organisms can communicate through various means.
In philosophy and religion, the conception and nature of life varies, and offer interpretations in the frameworks of existence and consciousness, and touch on many other related issues, such as, ontology, value, life stance, purpose, conceptions of God, the soul and the afterlife.
For more information about Life, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with living organism
New on-off 'switch' triggers and reverses paralysis in animals with a beam of light (w/ Video)
Nov 18, 2009 |
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In an advance with overtones of Star Trek phasers and other sci-fi ray guns, scientists in Canada are reporting development of an internal on-off "switch" that paralyzes animals when exposed to a beam of ultraviolet ...
Identifying Molecules in Infrared Could Lead to New Medicines
Oct 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An interdisciplinary team of researchers has created a new, ultra-sensitive technique to analyze life-sustaining protein molecules. The technique may profoundly change the methodology of biomolecular ...
Seeing Previously Invisible Molecules for the First Time
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Oct 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Harvard chemists led by X. Sunney Xie has developed a new microscopic technique for seeing, in color, molecules with undetectable fluorescence. The room-temperature technique allows ...
Standards for a New Genomic Era
Oct 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of geneticists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, together with a consortium of international researchers, has recently proposed a set of standards designed to elucidate the quality of publicly available ...
Designer molecule detects tiny amounts of cyanide, then glows
Oct 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A small molecule designed to detect cyanide in water samples works quickly, is easy to use, and glows under ultraviolet or "black" light. Although the fluorescent molecule is not yet ready ...
Shedding light on cancer cells
Sep 24, 2009 |
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Scientists label cells with coloured or glowing chemicals to observe how basic cellular activities differ between healthy and cancerous cells. Existing techniques for labelling cells are either too slow or too toxic to perform ...
Molecular Decay of Enamel-Specific Gene in Toothless Mammals Supports Theory of Evolution
Sep 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Biologists at the University of California, Riverside report new evidence for evolutionary change recorded in both the fossil record and the genomes (or genetic blueprints) of living organisms, ...
New method for gene expression experiments a kin to watercolor painting in water
Aug 18, 2009 |
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Like oil and water, two water-based liquids can mingle without mixing in a new University of Michigan technology developed for biological experiments.
Douglas-fir, geoducks make strange bedfellows in studying climate change
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2009 |
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Scientists are comparing annual growth rings of the Pacific Northwest's largest bivalve and its most iconic tree for clues to how living organisms may have responded to changes in climate.
New computer simulation helps explain folding in important cellular protein
Jul 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Most parts of living organisms come packaged with ribbons. The ribbons are proteins—chains of amino acids that must fold into three-dimensional structures to work properly. But when for any reason the ribbons ...
Rampant helper syndrome: Methane-producing molecule can also repair DNA
Jul 02, 2009 |
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The Archaea are single-celled organisms and a domain unto themselves, quite apart from the so called eukaryotes, being bacteria and higher organisms. Many species live under extreme conditions, and carry out unique biochemical ...
Alzheimer cell death in Zebrafish: Demise of neurons observed live for the first time
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Apr 14, 2009 |
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Extensive death of nerve cells leads to severe dementia in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Until now, it has only been possible to investigate the neuronal devastation in post mortem animal models, and by using complicated ...
Jurassic Park from a Swiss lake?
Mar 12, 2009 |
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Ecological changes caused by humans affect natural biodiversity. For example, the eutrophication of Greifensee and Lake Constance in the 1970s and 1980s led to genetic changes in a species of water flea which ...
Micro-RNAs Are Life’s Genetic Sculptors
Feb 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Yale scientists have found a way to study within a living organism the wonders of micro-RNAs - tiny bits of RNA that act like a sculptor and shape the activity of hundreds of genes. The work ...
