Viruses

I personally would consider viruses living, because they have the ability to reproduce by themselves. They just attach themselves to a bacterium, "plants" hereditary material into the bacterium, then the viruses spread and eventually break through the bacterium, creating even more viruses. (I am pretty sure this is how viruses spread throughout the body.)

The Rush to Classify Organisms

The importance in rushing to find all of the species on Earth is because of two things;

1. There may be plants out there that have cures to many diseases.
   
2. Many species are going extinct each year, and if we do not get to classify them before they go extinct, then we will have no information on them and their importance/impact on the Earth, humans, and other forms of life.