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  • Walter Reed discovered the first human virus in 1901 But what is a virus?

  • Viruses are everywhere, from our surroundings to the very food we'd we ingest, inhale and taking millions of viruses every second.

  • Pretty much all life on Earth has some kind of virus designed specifically to effect it, including bacteria and even other viruses.

  • Viruses?

  • A tiny, very tiny you cannot visibly see them.

  • In fact, they are so small that if bacteria had eyes, even they wouldn't be out to see all of them.

  • Most scientists, except that viruses are not living but a complex collection of organic matter that is able to self replicate.

  • They mostly consists of a shell made of protein, which inside contains either DNA or in a with enzymes or replication and manipulation of their genetic materials.

  • Are you still with me?

  • Good.

  • Let's look more closely.

  • A virus is actually just a piece or strand of genetic information, usually DNA, or are in a which could be single or double stranded.

  • This is the virus's genome.

  • It uses this with the help of various molecular machines to replicate itself.

  • However, it cannot do this alone.

  • It must in fact, some kind of cell cells are the smallest unit of life.

  • They manufacture.

  • Proteins, replicate DNA and story sources.

  • This makes him perfect hosts for viruses.

  • Armed with its genetic material, viruses are able to infect healthy cells and convert them into mindless virus reducing robots.

  • The virus uses his outer protein coat, covered in small molecular receptors, to bind and joined to the membrane of a cell.

  • This is essential as it is, what determines which cells are viruses able to infect.

  • Once joined, the virus uses several complicated biological pathways in order to force the cell to either accept its genetic material or take in the entire virus itself.

  • Once in the cell, the virus will then begin to use its molecular arsenal to hijack the cell's protein manufacturing systems on DNA replication mechanism.

  • After the virus has integrated itself into the cell's own D N A.

  • The cell will then replicate its DNA and use it to manufacture proteins without the selling for knowing it produces viral protein shells, filling them with virus DNA, effectively making copies of the virus and assembling them.

  • The virus making machine begins to take over more and more of the cell's protein manufacturing Reiber zones, churning out thousands of new viruses which quickly fill the cell.

  • These viruses then cause tension within the cell and by several different means burst from the cell with the intention of infecting new hosts for the same purpose seems like relentless biological vandalism.

  • To me, viruses are not all bad, though some are being used to help strengthen disease resistance in crops, whilst others, such as eight ivy, are being used in curing certain types of cancers.

  • But what is the most remarkable of all is that many scientists believe some viruses that infected bacteria billions of years ago helped form the first cell nucleus.

  • If this is true, then all complex cellular life on Earth descended from a single virus on his rubbish attempt at trying to infect a bacterium.

  • Now that is remarkable.

Walter Reed discovered the first human virus in 1901 But what is a virus?

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