the.com/life
a 3.8-billion-year unbroken relay race nobody remembers signing up for
means the condition that distinguishes living organisms from dead matter or inanimate objects, marked by growth, reproduction, and response to the world — and, by extension, the span of one's existence.
from From Old English līf, tracing back to Proto-Germanic *leiban and an older Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to stick, cling, remain' — the same stubborn root that gives us 'live' and is possibly a cousin of 'leave' (to remain behind). Fittingly, the word's deepest sense isn't 'to thrive' but simply 'to persist, to keep going' — a relay baton clung to and passed on.
- shared origin
- All living things trace back to one ancestor
- mostly invisible
- Bacteria outnumber human cells in your body
- old streak
- Your lineage has never once died, ever
- rare so far
- Known to exist on exactly one planet
- hand-me-down
- Most of your atoms were forged in stars