Beware Poetic License All too often, the names and descriptions we use for nonliving objects seem to give them human qualities. Anthropomorphism—assigning human attributes to nonhuman creatures or even to nonliving objects, like stars—is descriptive but not scientific. In fact, scientists avoid this practice where possible because it creates unjustified expectations. Nevertheless, anthropomorphism does creep into astronomy. For lack of better terms, astronomers describe stellar change with words related to living things, such as life, life cycle, evolution, birth, aging, maturing, growing old, and dying. This is poetic license of a sort: It piques our interest but muddles our science. As you study stellar evolution, always be mindful of that.