- "I just love scanning for lifeforms. Lifeforms... you tiny little lifeforms... you precious little lifeforms... where are you?"
- "Our mission as Starfleet officers is to seek out new lifeforms so we can learn about one another."
- - Miles O'Brien (DS9: "Captive Pursuit")
DNA, the genetic programming of a lifeform
A lifeform was simply any living entity or organism. The study of lifeforms was known as biology, and, when dealing with alien lifeforms, could be further sub-categorized into xenobiology and xenology.
Starship sensors and tricorders were primary instruments used in detecting or locating lifeforms, as they could identify or localize blood type, heart rate or metabolic setup.
A lifeform was not necessarily organic — which was to say carbon-based. Nevertheless, Federation scans for lifeforms often looked only for organic life. In at least one known cast, this limited view of what constituted a lifeform had disastrous consequences for a Federation terraforming project. (TNG: "Home Soil")
There are incredible similarities between the lifeforms on different worlds in the Star Trek universe. A probable explanation for this may be the existence of the ancient humanoids DNA during evolution.
Starfleet lifeform classes and types
- Classification R-3 lifeforms (Sheliak)
- Class-5 lifeforms (Vhnori)
The class-5 type lifeform may refer to humanoids.
- Order 480-G anthropoids (Taurus II natives)
Kingdoms
Other types of life
- Artificial
- Biomimetic lifeform
- Cybernetic
- Silicon-based
- Solanogen-based
- Spaceborne
- Viral
- Xenon-based
- Sporocystian
See also
- Anatomy
- Non-sentient lifeforms
- Species and cultures