Biology is the study of life but, what exactly is life? how are living things different from nonliving things eg. a human from a rock eg. a a human from a robot eg. a living human from a corpse also, how are all living organisms similar what do we have in common with eg. a bacterium eg. a fish eg. a frog eg. an armadillo So one of the most basic questions is: What is Life? What is life a highly organized interaction of matter and energy can’t define in one sentence must consider several properties of life or life functions: each property taken individually is NOT unique to living things many nonliving things do one or more of them eg. viruses don’t quite fit Properties of Life 1. maintaining boundaries: -internal versus external environment 2. movement 3. responsiveness -functions are regulated within and between cells 4. assimilation & digestion 5. metabolism -anabolism & catabolism 6. excretion 7. reproduction -survival of genetic information 8. growth