Post viruses, giant viruses, and acellular life here!
behold, new biggest virus
crazy how the giant alien robots from that one movie look just like phages
>>4934016Phages are really cool and weird, I keep having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that these viruses, microscopic chemical machines that can barely be considered life, have these intricate little legs and tails. Then they stick it in a bacteria like a tiny syringe.
>>4934016Viruses duplicate, alter, and dump genes extremely fast. They’re subject to natural selection on steroids. It’s like how bizarre traits evolve in arthropods but meanwhile vertebrates are still all essentially funny looking fish.
>>4934050Also why covid mutates scarily fast. How many strains are there now? Definitely more than a dozen.
Can't beat the classics.
>>4934016i used to be really into phages as a kid. they look so cool.
A virus wont lie to you like online people. Freaks.
Archaeal viruses are weird
Wait, i thought virus weren't alive? Did high school biology lie to me?
>>4934379Who said they were? Does nature discussion have to be about the biotic factors only?
>>4934408I guess not
>>4934379Viruses are the border between life and non-life. If viruses are alive, then so is RNA. If viruses aren't alive, then neither are bacteria, protozoans, etc. It's like... pseudo-life.
Is it true that some viruses can "self-assemble" if you just "shake around" their component proteins enough?And could this be how life appeared on Earth?
>>4934642Yeah, they can. I think it works best with the capsid proteins, though.
>>4934016love these dudes
>>4934853I love dudes