Life defined - Addressing Abiogenesis & Common Misconceptions

According to a scientific definition, life is defined as any system capable of performing functions such as eating, metabolizing, excreting, breathing, moving, growing, reproducing, and responding to external stimuli. (4)

"Life is that which is responsive to the environment, has growth and change, ability to reproduce, have a metabolism and breath, maintain homeostasis, being made of cells, and passing traits onto offspring." Dr. James Tour. (3)

Life is a term that refers to the condition that distinguishes living organisms from inanimate objects. According to the Oxford Dictionary (2), life is “the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death” 1. Merriam-Webster (1) defines life as “the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body” 2. Wikipedia (5) describes life as “a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from matter that does not”.

Note: Words, phrases or items which are underlined are links to the source information, a photo/graphic, or a YouTube video.

References

1. Merriam-Webster. Life, the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body - Search (bing.com)
2. Oxford Dictionary. Life, oxford dictionary the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death - Search (bing.com)
3. Tour, James. The Mystery of the Origin of Life - YouTube; Dr. James Tour is a renowned synthetic organic chemist and nanotechnologist. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry, Computer Science, Materials Science, and NanoEngineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Dr. Tour's work focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of molecular and nanoscale machines.
4. Wikipedia. Life
5. Wikipedia. Life, Life - Wikipedia