I want to start out with a really simple question watch this see these guys I'm pulling out of here I want to ask you one simple question why are these alive now you think I'm dropping these on purpose don't you they're really kind of like moving a lot why are these alive now look you guys are biologists or biologist wannabes or budding biologists or whatever it is we're going to call it in fact we're all biologists wannabes and so the very first question we need to ask is why are these alive and the second question is do I have paper towels to wipe my hands with because I can tell you another thing is they're pretty slimy too but you know the key to this whole story of life is and and biology is what makes something alive what makes something that that a biologist sees and says cool that's alive what gives it life and and the other question we need to ask ourselves is if we know something is alive so what what are we as biologists going to do about that thing and what we are going to do about that thing because we have an intellectual curiosity is we're going to describe it because in describing what makes something alive we can we can literally take a look at the big picture these things are alive well do they contain the same life and and and and livingness that I contain that a bacterium contains what makes something alive and it turns out that that as we learn more and more about biology and and and and the environment around us that the key to life is organization let me show you what I mean you know I've often said to my students that taking chemistry in physics is very very important and the reason it's important is so you can become a biologist because to really understand life you have to understand the way things work at the subatomic and the atomic level you see look you're made out of molecules you know that you're made out of molecules those things that we're just squirming around they're made out of molecules what are molecules made out of atoms what are atoms made out of subatomic particles protons neutrons electrons and physicist will take even deeper than that they'll talk about neutrinos and anti neutrinos you know you know how that goes but the key is that when we get to this level and we start to organize these things we start to get close to life but then I can ask you all right is this made out of subatomic particles you betcha is it made out of atoms you betcha is it made out of molecules you bet you so is it alive come on it's got the whole things and the answer is no because somewhere in between molecules organel and cells we come to that secret called life and I'll tell you over over the next series of lectures way over 300 you're going to learn the true secret to life because molecules do organize themselves into subcellular parts and called organel and organel organize themselves or are organized into structures called cells and cells as you probably know organized into tissues and and here is the secret to life right in that box right there now we know that tissues are organized into organs you hear the word organized coming over and over again what did I say to life is orderly organization is that a redundancy I don't know organs into organ systems systems into a multicellular organism even that word is kind of goofy you know I I sometimes struggle with the word organism why well if it's an organ ISM all right because it's multicellular we often you'll hear you'll hear biologists say this all the time oh a an amoeba is an organism why do we say that because it's alive but it's only one cell so sometimes the words get a little bit bizarre here but you're can to have fun and of course then we get to the ecological level the interaction level okay and so we'll have populations communities ecosystems environments and eventually the world where so far is the only place we have found life life but you know who knows I mean and and you know what it's kind of interesting if if you were to take a look at the world life is pretty much limited to a very thin layer around the the the the world you know I don't think you're going to we're ever going to find life in the center of the earth although you know you never know so so the point here is that in order to be alive we notice what I just did I described something I described what it is to be alive and something like this which isn't alive as far as I know all right lacks that that ability it has organization but it lacks that ability to do certain other things