Viruses

Religion is very controversial subject to talk about, let alone to argue about. Richard Dawkins, author of Viruses of the Mind, does that exact thing he takes religion and in terms dissects it. While most people will be terribly offended by what Dawkins has written about, he is essentially laying out the facts about religion. Many “extremists” of a religion would say that Dawkins has malicious intentions since he is going against what their beliefs are. Religion has been a part of the human way for thousands of years. Humans have taken this concept of god creating everything and his ability to manipulate anything in the universe. While this concept may seem valid to people the reality is that none of the theories presented by a religion can not be proven or disproven. Therefore, enforcing that religion can never be said to be false, which is essential for the survival of religion. Religion itself is a mind virus. It fits all the symptoms of a virus. Its not only a successful virus but the…

The Zika virus is quickly becoming a major problem for today’s society with the main problem being that scientists do not know why the virus is beginning to transmit so quickly. This study consists of research gathered the internet and peer reviewed journals produced by scientists. It was hypothesized that the increase in transmission is because of tourists traveling to sporting events in South America. Information was collected and observed and the findings supported the fact that climate…

that belong to viruses, in which scientists are increasing our understanding of life. Zimmer is the author of one of the books I choose to read, The Planet of Viruses gives a brief summary of different viruses in a fascinating way. Zimmer introduces you to the history of virology by exploring some of the common viruses such as rhinovirus, influenza, human papillomavirus (HPV), marine bacteriophages and endogenous retroviruses. He even describes some of the ancient virus such as HIV, West Nile…

Are viruses alive or not? This is a very tricky concept. So far what I’ve learned from past classes and from this one. Is that virus are considered not living. However they do act almost like a living organism and for the longest time they were considered living microscopic life forms that causes disease and death. It wasn’t until 1935, when Wendell M. Stanley and his colleagues, at what is now the Rockefeller University in New York City, crystallized a virus— tobacco mosaic virus—for the first…

The influenza virus has become so deadly, due to its ability to mutate seasonally, through a process called reassortment. This involves the recombination of large genetic segments from several viral strains, which causes small genetic changes to be passed on to create a new type of daughter virus (4). Influenza viruses can do this by antigenic drift, which is when” dominant strains from the previous year have changed its surface structure enough to make the effectiveness of the flu vaccine…

There has been much discussion into whether or not viruses are alive. I personally feel that viruses are in fact not alive, and I will now explain why I feel this way. There are seven characteristics of life, and they include heredity, homeostasis, reproduction, cellular organization, response, metabolism, and growth and development. This list comprises what all living things must do in order to stay alive. While a virus may seem like they do some of these, all characteristics of life are…

Have you ever heard about the latest outbreak of the Measles viruses? It was first seen in the early 1900ś in the blood samples of children and pregnant women. When it first was discovered, doctors thought it was just another common cold or an allergic reaction patients were having; however, by 1912 there was a series epidemic of measles-related deaths recorded, and by the 1950ś over three to four million U.S citizens were infected. After a few more years scientist were able to create the very…

The title of this article, “Are Viruses Alive?” poses a very important question. There are very two important terms in the title, “virus” and “alive.” Viruses are parasites that replicate inside the cells of living hosts. The characteristics of life, which must all be met for an organism to be considered “alive” are as follow: cellular structure, ability to reproduce, ability to use energy, regulation of homeostasis, and organization. As stated earlier, the title of this article poses a very…

Article Summary This article, “Are Viruses Alive? New Evidence Says Yes” by Grennan Milliken states that scientists have discovered new evidence that is interpreted to suggest that viruses are indeed alive and might have been related to archaic cells. The article introduces the two sides on the ongoing debate on whether viruses are alive is outlined with a short description of what viruses are. Viruses are known to mutate fast. It changes its genes which affects the virus’ form and its identity.…

Viruses are nonliving, microscopic organisms that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Since they do not have the ability to replicate by themselves, viruses must rely on a host organism which allows the virus to multiple. This is why they are often referred to as cellular parasites. Since they are very small, and they can only be seen by looking through a microscope. There are approximately 5,000 different viruses that have the potential to infect plants, animals, and bacteria. Some are…