Life is often defined as a property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/life)However, there are "organisms" that do not seem to fit our general perception of what is living and what is not. Yet, at the same time these "organisms" display characteristics of living things. Examples of such entities are viruses and prions. As I understand it, viruses are considered living things and for that reason I believe that prions may also be considered living things in some aspect of the idea (even though viruses are nothing more than genetic material with a protein coat that infects a host cell's DNA to reproduce prions are nothing more than a free-agent protein that incorporates itself into the DNA of a host). On the other hand, I can also view prions as non-living things and more of a chemically composed agent that affects the DNA of a host cell. They may happen to be proteins that just act like other chemical compounds affecting the body. I do, however, view viruses as strictly living things; infectious organisms that use the host as a medium for reproduction. The definition of life comes in many forms and isn't definitive in any of them. So, even with all we know, the questions still arise, "What processes are required for something to be considered living? What is defined as living and non-living? What is life?"
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