The following questions can be used to open a discussion about what it means to be alive and why it may be important to distinguish live things from nonliving things. Students' answers will vary.

• What are the characteristics that make something alive? What functions or processes must an object be able to carry out in order to be considered alive?
• Given these characteristics of life, are viruses alive? Consider which characteristics a virus has, which it potentially has, and which it does not and cannot have.
• Can something considered inanimate become alive as it changes (e.g. a seed, resurrection plant, or virus)? Essentially, can something’s potential for life make it inherently alive? Explain your response.
• Thus far in the activity, the words “living” and “alive” have been used interchangeably. Are they truly synonymous, or is there a distinction that can be made between the two terms?
• Why is this topic of what constitutes life and, specifically, whether or not viruses are alive, important? How might answers to these questions potentially have significance within the scientific community and even in the public sphere?