In order for something to be classified as alive, through out its life, it must have/have done all of these once.
Cellular organization
Homeostasis
Metabolism
Responsiveness
Reproduction*
Heredity
Growth
If that's the case, does that mean that no one on b.ne bis truly alive?
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3 RepliesIncorrect. The being doesn't need to have/do all of these things, rather they need to be capable of it. Aside from that, reproduction can also refer to mitosis, or meiosis which is essentially the reproduction of cells through multi-segmented processes, forming a diploid (mitosis) and haploid (meiosis). Similarly, plants themselves are capable of both of these systems, as well as the aforementioned "reproduction" which yields the same results (that is the formation of a new generation of progeny) as in animals. Oddly, in all land plants, they have a reverse version of what follows in animals, such that their reproductive cells are formed during mitosis, in a cycle known as alteration of generation. These are separated into Sporophyte (multicellular diploid) and Gametophyte (multicellular haploid). The primary cause for this, is that one cycle produces haploid cells prior to the reproductive stage, and haploids containing only one of each necessary chromosome, cannot be further split. This said, plants themselves cannot technically reproduce as they themselves are subject to many critical events which may prevent them from effectively reproducing, such as self pollination. Yet they retain the potential for reproduction. Simply in a way that you may find mildly confounding to understand. To be classified to be alive: -Possess DNA -Made of at least one cell -Consume energy -Develop/grow/change over time -Capability for reproduction -Homeostasis Hope this helped.