what is life?

Negative entropy.

Life is a concept pretty much controlled by the discipline of Biology. Now if you want a real mystery consider the question of CONSCIOUSNESS. Philosophy and psychology have yet to get a hold of that.

as a wise android once said, "Life! Don't talk to me about life."

Irie mon?

It never occured to me that this is a great philosophical question. Biologists might struggle with it, yes, but philosophers?

(Unless, of course, you're using the word in the very old sense of 'natural philosophy' = 'pure science.')

That and the thumbs up that follow got to be one of the more pretentious stupid answers I have seen around...plain simple.

Every word is just a name for what human mind is able to perceive and recognize as what is meant by this word for this particular human mind.

Life is a long test with no model answer.

life forms are the sensory apparatus of the earth

perhaps...

and historically, although most people would say that the meaning of life is the great philosophical question, most philosophers don't regard it as such, in fact most have steered well clear of it, because it's based on a false premise, that life has a meaning

Nothing HAS meaning that is not ascribed to it by humans. If all humans disappeared the world would JUST BE--meaninglessly.

..."meaning" is a relational algorithm established in between an observer and a phenomena in which a function a purpose is established regarding the observers needs, his symbolic conceptual frame of consciousness, and the operativeness it is possible to establish from there with such phenomena...so and such that there´s nothing without meaning much less Life as a concept...on the contrary given its large scope Life encompasses many meanings and multiple layers and levels of potential functions...

"God" forbid the day Philosophy becomes popular because in the first place its not suppose to be popular and easy...presently we measure the success of any institution in terms of popularity, in terms of heard...thankfully Philosophy keeps being continually misunderstood by the large majority of Society including many of the leading names in other areas of knowledge...to where I stand that is actually a sign of health...

I don't think that the existence of life gives any more meaning to the universe than an empty universe would have, i believe it is called nihilism. I believe that questions such as "what is life for?" are illogical, it is like asking "why does a rock return to the earth when i throw it in the air?" it is because of gravity, and "what is gravity for?" you may ask, it is not "for" anything, it just is. It exists due to the laws of nature, which have no meaning or intent behind them. However this does not mean that people should behave in an immoral manner, it is surely preferable to reduce suffering even if there is no meaning in life and no absolute moral authority

I see what you mean in there but that was not the point...meaning does n´t have to be about a transcendental meaning..in fact mostly meaning is about something very simple and down to earth...the problem is more about expectations concerning the deepness and not about meaning itself, it is a cultural problem and a competence problem...a problem about lack of imagination if you want or sheer incapacity to associate stuff...
(know what to expect and you shall not be disappointed)

i never said anything about anything transcendental, and i just think that the question is illogical

Is philosophy still concerned with "the meaning", or"nature", of life or have philosophers left such questions to scientific biology?
"The meaning/nature of existence" or "reality" is another matter, going beyond any of the concerns of Science.

That's an answer but is it useful to the questioner? If it’s true then why is it true? If it’s not false then why is it not false? Your answer reflects certainty without explaining why you are certain, why is that?