Talk:Life

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Life article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.

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Life has been listed as one of the Natural sciences good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones Date Process Result October 17, 2007 Peer review Not reviewed June 13, 2012 Peer review Reviewed December 30, 2015 Good article nominee Not listed April 4, 2016 Good article nominee Not listed May 6, 2016 Peer review Reviewed August 7, 2022 Peer review Reviewed September 27, 2023 Good article nominee Listed A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on November 5, 2023. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that life exists in every part of the biosphere, from the deepest parts of the ocean (bacterium pictured) to altitudes of up to 40 miles (64 km) in the atmosphere? Current status: Good article

This  level-1 vital article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects.

Science Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Science, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Science on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ScienceWikipedia:WikiProject ScienceTemplate:WikiProject Sciencescience Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Biology Top‑importance Life is part of the WikiProject Biology, an effort to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to biology on Wikipedia. Leave messages on the WikiProject talk page.BiologyWikipedia:WikiProject BiologyTemplate:WikiProject BiologyBiology Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Environment Top‑importance This environment-related article is part of the WikiProject Environment to improve Wikipedia's coverage of the environment. The aim is to write neutral and well-referenced articles on environment-related topics, as well as to ensure that environment articles are properly categorized. Read Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ and leave any messages at the project talk page.EnvironmentWikipedia:WikiProject EnvironmentTemplate:WikiProject EnvironmentEnvironment Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Culture Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Culture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of culture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CultureWikipedia:WikiProject CultureTemplate:WikiProject Cultureculture Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. 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If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PalaeontologyWikipedia:WikiProject PalaeontologyTemplate:WikiProject PalaeontologyPalaeontology Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Tree of Life Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Tree of Life, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of taxonomy and the phylogenetic tree of life on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Tree of LifeWikipedia:WikiProject Tree of LifeTemplate:WikiProject Tree of Lifetaxonomic Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Animals Top‑importance Life is within the scope of WikiProject Animals, an attempt to better organize information in articles related to animals and zoology. For more information, visit the project page.AnimalsWikipedia:WikiProject AnimalsTemplate:WikiProject Animalsanimal Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. WikiProject Animals To-do: edit history watch purge Here are some Open Tasks : Copyedit: Merge: GLAM/ARKive donated texts into articles about endangered species. Improve: Photoperiodism, Tool use by non-human animals, Omnivore, Animal suicide, Sphaerium beckmani (a species in family Sphaeriidae), Requests: Mammals: Invertebrates: Campocraspedon Fishes: Zaniolepis frenata Merge: GLAM/ARKive donated texts into articles about endangered species. Expand: Junqueira cow, Atka mackerel Nominate and vote: Science collaboration of the month, Article Improvement Drive, WikiProject Animals Collaboration Microbiology High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Microbiology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Microbiology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MicrobiologyWikipedia:WikiProject MicrobiologyTemplate:WikiProject MicrobiologyMicrobiology High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Plants High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Plants, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of plants and botany on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PlantsWikipedia:WikiProject PlantsTemplate:WikiProject Plantsplant High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Fungi High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Fungi, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Fungi on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.FungiWikipedia:WikiProject FungiTemplate:WikiProject FungiFungi High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Algae High‑importance This article is part of WikiProject Algae, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of the photosynthetic organisms commonly called algae and related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page.AlgaeWikipedia:WikiProject AlgaeTemplate:WikiProject AlgaeAlgae High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Marine life (inactive) This article is within the scope of WikiProject Marine life, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.Marine lifeWikipedia:WikiProject Marine lifeTemplate:WikiProject Marine lifeMarine life

There is a request, submitted by [[User:Sdkb|Sdkb]] ([[User talk:Sdkb|talk]]), for an audio version of this article to be created. For further information, see WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia. The rationale behind the request is: Level-1 vital article.

A while ago I got into a dispute with another editor about the inclusion of "non-cellular life" in the infobox. I suppose their reasons were good enough but the list had since expanded to include prions. Has anyone ever described prions as alive? I'm not trying to debate here; I would just like to know if there are any reliable sources that support this. I've found some sparse results on Google Scholar but these discussions are generally part of an abstract philosophical discussion about what the definition of life can extend to, often including computer viruses, which I can't imagine will ever be added to the infobox (although I suppose stranger things have happened). Anyway, I'm interested in getting some input on this. — Anonymous 01:37, 29 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

This is NOT A FORUM, and we cannot go on editors' opinions. I've bever seen a reliable source that says so, and reliable sources are all that matter here. Chiswick Chap (talk) 04:04, 29 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

In case I wasn't clear, I don't think prions should be listed; I'm asking if anyone can justify their inclusion (otherwise they should be removed). — Anonymous 04:22, 29 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

The same goes for the numerous other random "non-cellular" particles that have been added over the years. I didn't really want to get back into the previous dispute, but IIRC the justification for including most other particles besides viruses seemed to be leaning into OR (i.e. the sources were not explicitly calling them alive). However it's been a while and my memory's foggy. I could also use a short rest from Wikipedia after a long day of editing. — Anonymous 04:28, 29 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

You're asking for removal not addition, I see. I've removed a listicle from the infobox as off-topic and not discussed in the text. Thanks for drawing it to attention. Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:32, 29 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]