Something is considered “Living” when they exhibit two main biological functions
Two Main Functions of Life
- metabolism: “do chemistry to change internal consistence”
- replication: “copying cell information”
theories of origin of life
- Manfred Eigen ("RNA-World" theory): genes form, constructing enzymes, forming cells
- Alexander Oparin: cells form, creating enzymes as needed, forming the genes to encode them
- Freeman Dyson: Dyson’s Model of Life—basically the Oparin model, but with more specifics about how genes evolve