Viruses

For decades, scientists have been intrigued by tiny viruses whose genetic material can be read both forward and backward. New research begins to explain this puzzling property.

In evolution, context is everything: Bacteria with neighbors evolve to rebuff viruses in a different way.

Smallpox was eradicated relatively quickly, but other diseases have proved harder to eliminate. The reasons are a mix of biology and psychology.

Some viruses can replicate without infecting any one cell with all their genes.

New work raises the estimated diversity of viruses in the seas more than twelvefold and lays the groundwork for a better understanding of their impact on global nutrient cycles.

Researchers are beginning to understand the ways in which viruses strategically manipulate and cooperate with one another.

Jennifer Doudna, one of CRISPR’s primary innovators, stays optimistic about how the gene-editing tool will continue to empower basic biological understanding.

A newly discovered mechanism may enable viruses to shuttle genes between bacteria 1,000 times as often as was thought — making them a major force in those cells’ evolution.

Disease-causing viruses and message-carrying vesicles sit at the ends of a spectrum of membranous particles that cells release.