Genetics-Define Life

I sat in a class of sophomore students today trying to come up with the definition of life. Instead of a definition, we found a series of possible criteria to judge whether something was indeed living. I was quite surprised by the realization that there is a lot of controversy over what the definition of life is. I remember in my biology class we said something had life as long as it was actively undergoing cellular processes. However, in Dr. V's class at Tulane, she refers to a living thing as having the following qualities:

1.Cells and organization

2.Energy use and metabolism

3.Response to environmental changes

4.Regulation and homeostasis

5.Growth and development

6.Reproduction

7.Biological evolution

Food for thought.