Some characteristics of organisms that are considered "living" are:
the ability to reproduce/create viable subsequent generations
the ability to gain and use energy
the ability to undergo evolution in response to their surroundings
among other characteristics. With the case concerning viruses and proteins, it is debatable whether or not to call them alive or not. For sure, a living organisms has a set list of characteristics that labels it as being alive. However, with proteins and viruses, not all of the conditions may be met in order to label it as being one-hundred percent alive. For example, a certain type of virus might be composed of subunits that could be not defined as the traditional "cell". The similarities could or could not be convincing enough to consider them to be one in the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment