It really is strange to try to define what life is.

I copied the following from a news report:

Electrically charged specks of interstellar dust organize into DNA-like double helixes and display properties normally attributed to living systems, such as evolving and reproducing, new computer simulations show. Scientists are hesitant to call the dancing dust particles "alive," and instead say they are just another example of how difficult it is to define life.

The new computer simulations suggest that in the gravity-free environment of space, the plasma particles will bead together to form string-like filaments that then twist into corkscrew shapes. The helical strands resemble DNA and are themselves electrically charged and attracted to one another. The computer-modeled plasma particles can also divide to form two copies of the original structure and even "evolve" into more stable structures that are better able to survive in the plasma. "These complex, self-organized plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as candidates for inorganic living matter," said study team member V.N. Tsytovich of the Russian Academy of Science. "I would hesitate to call it life. The reason why we published this paper is not because we wanted to suggest this could evolve into life, but because we wanted to start the discussion ... once more of what exactly do we mean by life."

Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, also was cautious in calling the particles alive. "The facts are, we still don't have a good definition of what 'life' is," Shostak told SPACE.com.
Shostak points out that while most high-school biology textbooks include as requirements for life the ability to metabolize and reproduce, it's easy to think of things that break these rules.
Fire, for example, reproduces and metabolizes, but most people would not say it is alive; and mules, which are clearly alive, can't reproduce.
"We still stumble on what it means to be alive, and that means that these complex molecules are in a never-never land between the living and the merely reacting," Shostak added.

There are something’s in science that really can make you scratch your head. Here’s another interesting idea about life: The Bible never calls plants living. Scripture never states that a plant dies. It states they can wither or fade away, but never describes them as dying. Biblically, plants are considered a self replicating non-living food source.

It really is strange to try to define what life is. Now step away from the computer and go get a life! If you can figure out what one is!
Laughing

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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:04 am Post subject:

well if dust is alive theres a lot of life in my house right now Shocked

j/k great topic man, makes your mind go waaaaaaaaaaaaa
great title for a new horror movie night of the living dust Very Happy

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:27 am Post subject:

My head hurts. Rolling Eyes

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Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage!

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:26 am Post subject:

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:25 pm Post subject:

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:45 pm Post subject:

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:27 pm Post subject:

well, certainly the possibilities of "life" are greatly beyond what we see here on Earth. with such a vastness surrounding us and an uncountable number of variables, who knows what else could be "alive" out there.

I mean, according to the current definitions, anyone who has had a vasectomy or tubal ligation (or spaying/neutering in animals) is not capable of reproduction... therefore they do not fit the definition of "life"

I think we have to keep certain things which we are unsure of in a more fluid state... something the younger generations are much more comfortable with.
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Humanism- Less Filling, Tastes Great.