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Cells Talk in a Language That Looks Like Viruses
Disease-causing viruses and message-carrying vesicles sit at the ends of a spectrum of membranous particles that cells release.
New Giant Viruses Further Blur the Definition of Life
A newfound pair of giant viruses have massive genomes and the most complete resources for building proteins ever seen in the viral world. They have refreshed the debate about the origins of these cellular parasites.
The Unforgiving Math That Stops Epidemics
If you didn’t get a flu shot, you are endangering more than just your own health. Calculations of herd immunity against common diseases don’t make exceptions.
Viruses Would Rather Jump to New Hosts Than Evolve With Them
The discovery that viruses move between species unexpectedly often is rewriting ideas about their evolutionary history — and may have troubling implications for the threat from emerging diseases.
The Illuminating Geometry of Viruses
Mathematical insights into how RNA helps viruses pull together their protein shells could guide future studies of viral behavior and function.
Evolution Runs Faster on Short Timescales
Examine evolution over the course of years or centuries, and you’ll find that it progresses much more quickly than it does over geologic time.
How Viruses May Have Led to Complex Life
Without viruses, we might never have evolved.
Viruses Find a New Way to Hijack Cells
A virus that causes crippling birth defects has been shown to do something else: It changes thousands of messages coming from DNA that control normal cellular activities.
Hope That an Old Drug Might Treat Zika
Scientists are having a difficult time finding a treatment for the Zika virus in part because so few drugs are safe for pregnant women. But one antibiotic has shown promise.