1. What is Life?
Ms. Levasseur
Biology

2. What Characteristics Do All Living Things Share?
Matter – the stuff everything is made of
What is the difference between living matter and nonliving matter?
No one characteristic is enough to describe a living thing

3. Living things are made of Cells
Cells are the basic unit of life
Each life form begins from one cell
The cell divides many times
Cells differentiate
Cells organize to form the final organism
Each cell type has a specific job
Eye cells, heart cells, lung cells, blood cells, bone cells, liver cells, etc.
Cells contain DNA – the universal genetic code

4. Living Things Obtain and Use Energy
The sum of the chemical energy they use is called metabolism
Autotrophs - use energy from the sun to make their own energy
Heterotrophs - must ingest food to make energy

5. Living Things Maintain Homeostasis
Homeostasis - stable internal conditions which must be maintained in order to remain alive
Some of these conditions include temperature, water content, and heartbeat
A certain level of energy must be kept within the body at all times which is why animals must ingest food on a regular basis
Energy flows through systems but nutrients cycle

6. Living Things Grow and Develop
Cells divide to form new, identical cells
More cells = bigger organism
Differentiation happens when cells mutate into other types of cells, making a more complex organism
When organisms grow, change, and become more complex it is called development
Single-celled organisms do grow as well, but they will only become slightly larger – this is nearly immeasurable

7. Living Things Reproduce
They must reproduce in order to continue the species
Two types of reproduction
Sexual - combining genetic information
Some characteristics from mother, some from father
Asexual - splitting into two organisms
The new organism is an exact copy of the first
Sometimes, not every member of a species is able to reproduce
as long as others are able to it will not threaten the species
Mules are a bizarre anomaly