In hmolscience, life attribute and failing refers to a standard "criterion" of "life" and a counter-example of some "thing" that has that criterion but is patently not alive.

Discussion
Adjacent is a KhanAcademy.org generic “life criterion” checklist (Ѻ) employed to help students determine if viruses are alive or not.

Overview
In 1999, Paul Davies, in his The Fifth Miracle, as cited by Michael Brooks (2008), listed all of the various “attributes” or criterion said to delineate life, and their respective counter argument, disproof, or “failing”; a collection of these, among others, is listed below: [1]

	Attribute	Description	Failing \| Disproof

1.	Metabolism	● A property of a system involving "catalysts" and a "free energy" conversion "mechanism" (Blum, 1951; Morgulis, 1952).	● Perpetual motion of the living kind (Thims, 2009)
		● Process chemicals to gain itself energy; consumes fuel and excretes waste (Brooks, 2008).	● Jupiter's great red spot "metabolizes" (Brooks, 2008). ● Automobiles "consume fuel and excrete waste (Brooks, 2008).
		● Feed on "negative entropy" (Schrodinger, 1944)	● Incorrect; "free energy" is correct discussion (See: note to chapter 6) ● Disproved via ridicule (Pauling, 1989)
2.	Reproduction	Able to replicate itself. [3]	● Bush fires, viruses (Pauling, 1970), and crystals “reproduce”; mules don’t (Brooks, 2008). [3] ● Early universe reactions, e.g. H + H → H2 or hydrogen-to-helium reaction, are forms of "replication" or forms of reproduction of copies of itself, but not defined as alive. ● Computer programs reproduce.
3.	Growth	Increase in size and development.	● Rocks grow (Linnaeus, 1735); crystals grow (Lotka, 1925); rust grows and develops; fires grow (McFadden, 2000).
4.	Irritability	Excitation in response to stimulus; animate; reaction in response to environment.	● A "windmill" is a an "animate thing" that is not alive. ● Retinal molecule (C20H280) straightens in reaction to light stimulus (Thims, 2007)
5.	Motility	Has the property of motion; something that "moves around" (Brooks, 2008).	● Iron moves to the loadstone; straw attracts to amber (Thales, 580BC); sand grains blow in wind (McFadden, 2000). ● Synthetic carbon-based molecules, e.g. DTA (C14H10S2), "walk" (Thims, 2010) ● Robots can run and jump.
6.	Boundary	Contained within a boundary, e.g. cell or bacteria (Margulis, 1995)	● A steam engine has a boundary; a virus has a boundary; bucky ● The "cell-as-molecule" (Harrison, 1993) model discredits model.
7.	Genetical	Contains RNA and or DNA	● A plant virus, which is non-alive "crystal" or "molecule" (Pauling, 1970), contains RNA. ● RNA is not alive.
8.	Ordering	A system that moves disorder to order (Schrodinger, 1944).	● A candle flame creates order from disorder in its environment and is patently not alive (Brooks, 2008). ● Benard cells are an order-from-disorder phenomenon, but are not defined as alive.

(add discussion)

See also
● Defunct theory of life
● Life does not exist

References
1. (a) Davies, Paul. (1999). The 5th Miracle: the Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life (preface, pgs. 11-22; ch. 2: Against the Tide, pgs. 49-68; algorithmic entropy, pg. 276-77 and ch. 4). Orion Productions.
(b) Brooks, Michael. (2008). 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense: the Most Baffling Mysteries of Our Time (pdf) (ch. 5: “Life: Are You More Than Just a Bag of Chemicals”, pgs. 69-82). DoubleDay.
2. (a) Pauling, Linus. (1970). General Chemistry, (section: "The Nature of Life", pgs. 767-69). New York: Dover.
(b) Brooks, Michael. (2008). 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense: the Most Baffling Mysteries of Our Time (pdf) (ch. 5: “Life: Are You More Than Just a Bag of Chemicals”, pgs. 69-82). DoubleDay.
3. Rees, Martin. (2005). Universe: the Definitive Visual Guide (pg. 52). Dorling Kindersley.