Subject: What is life? Are we organized chemicals or marked by something else?

When a cell is disected to the point where we are left with atoms, can a 
margine be drawn between chemical and lifeform? Are humans just organized 
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and a few other chemicals, or are we marked by 
something different. I have heard definitions of life as something which 
changes energy, but a black cloth held up to a lamp changes light into 
heat. I have heard life is something which can make a descision, but when 
we choose to do something, we base our choices on things we have learned, 
as does a computer. I know this is one of the most contrversial questions 
of science, but I would like to hear what the MadSci Network has to say 
about it.

Re: What is life? Are we organized chemicals or marked by something else?