One step closer to proving abiogenesis? Scientists create "Near-Living Crystal"

[Confused Ape]

It's an interesting philosophical exercise to try to pin down exactly what properties one means when one uses the shorthand of 'life'.

It's really down to what humans define as 'life'.

Are Viruses Alive?

There is no precise definition of what separates the living from the non-living. One definition might be the point at which an entity becomes self-aware. In this sense, someone who has had severe head trauma may be classified as brain dead. In this case, the body and brain are still functioning on a base level and there is definitely metabolic activity in all of the cells that make up the larger organism, but it is presumed that there is no self-awareness so the person is classified as brain dead. On the other end of the spectrum, a different criterion for defining life would be the ability to move a genetic blueprint into future generations, thereby regenerating your likeness. In the second, more simplistic definition, viruses are definitely alive. They are undeniably the most efficient entities on this planet at propagating their genetic information.