"For intelligent life to form on another planet, does the planet have to be the same/similar to earth?"
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What domain and kingdom are viruses placed in?
Viruses don't fit within the usual classification system for life. Indeed there has long been a dispute whether a virus is really a form of life at all, since they require a living cell as host in order to metabolize and reproduce. However, most astrobiologists today do consider viruses to be alive, and the NASA Astrobiology Institute supports a Focus Group on Viruses. They are not included in the three taxonomic domains of Eukarya, Bacteria and Archaea, however, and we don't know whether the first viruses came before or after the first bacteria. You can find a discussion of this taxonomy at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01zm.html.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
February 23, 2009
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