Epic journey of life

Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from matter that does not. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli, and reproduction. All life over time eventually reaches a state of death and none is immortal. Many philosophical definitions of living systems have been proposed, such as self-organizing systems. Viruses in particular make definition difficult as they replicate only in host cells. Life exists all over the Earth in air, water, and soil, with many ecosystems forming the biosphere. Some of these are harsh environments occupied only by extremophiles.

Life
Temporal range: 3770–0 Ma
Pha.ProterozoicArcheanHad.
Archean – present (possible Hadean origin)

Diverse forms of life on a coral reef
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domains and Supergroups
Life on Earth:

Cellular life
Domain Bacteria
Domain Archaea
Domain Eukaryota
Diaphoretickes
Archaeplastida (includes plants)
Haptista
Cryptista
TSAR
"Excavata"
Provora
Ancyromonadida
CRuMs
Hemimastigophora
Amorphea (includes animals and fungi)
Parakaryon myojinensis (incertae sedis)
Non-cellular life
Viruses[a]
Virusoids
Viroids
Life has been studied since ancient times, with theories such as Empedocles's materialism asserting that it was composed of four eternal elements, and Aristotle's hylomorphism asserting that living things have souls and embody both form and matter. Life originated at least 3.5 billion years ago, resulting in a universal common ancestor. This evolved into all the species that exist now, by way of many extinct species, some of which have left traces as fossils. Attempts to classify living things, too, began with Aristotle. Modern classification began with Carl Linnaeus's system of binomial nomenclature in the 1740s.

Living things are composed of biochemical molecules, formed mainly from a few core chemical elements. All living things contain two types of large molecule, proteins and nucleic acids, the latter usually both DNA and RNA: these carry the information needed by each species, including the instructions to make each type of protein. The proteins, in turn, serve as the machinery which carries out the many chemical processes of life. The cell is the structural and functional unit of life. Smaller organisms, including prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), consist of small single cells. Larger organisms, mainly eukaryotes, can consist of single cells or may be multicellular with more complex structure. Life is only known to exist on Earth but extraterrestrial life is thought probable. Artificial life is being simulated and explored by scientists and engineers.

Definitions
History of study
Development
Environmental conditions
Classification
Composition
In the universe
Artificial
See also
Notes
References
External links
Last edited 10 days ago by VolatileChemical
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