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Life — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-10-06T18:29:29.625Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 2d83246d2063dc3cfd9d34eaaa9cf89a5088f3e6fa6cfc2974589e249f1a5e35
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_ea370bbee012

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Life — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_ea370bbee012 (Metraipolis archive dc_ea370bbee012, sha256 2d83246d2063dc3cfd9d34eaaa9cf89a5088f3e6fa6cfc2974589e249f1a5e35)

BibTeX

@misc{dcea370bbee012,
  title = {Life — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_ea370bbee012; sha256 2d83246d2063dc3cfd9d34eaaa9cf89a5088f3e6fa6cfc2974589e249f1a5e35},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

Life is the capacity in matter, formed of one or more units called cells, for processes such as cell signalling, homeostasis, metabolism, cell growth, adaptation, response to stimuli, and reproduction. All life eventually reaches a state of death. Many philosophical definitions of living systems have been proposed, such as self-organising systems. Defining life is further complicated by viruses, which replicate only in host cells, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, which could be very different from life on Earth. 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. The life in a particular ecosystem is called its biota. 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 macromolecules, 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 to be probable. Artificial life is being simulated and explored by scientists and engineers.

Tema degli esploratori: scienze della vita e salute (deposito sistematico; ricerca «cell biology»).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Life» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life
Wikidata Q3 (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1378282281, consultata il 2026-10-06T16:55:35.405Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: 16ddea82a0375ae017d071ee560148ae909dd18742144a110a4272fcf391c14c