In 2003, Jean-Michel Claverie made a discovery in bacterial genomics that would change his career trajectory and begin a new era in microbiology. “One day, we found a very strange beast that nobody ...

This article was produced in collaboration with The Conversation, a nonprofit news organization. A new year might mean new viral threats. Old viruses are constantly evolving. A warming and ...

Using genomics, evolutionary biologists test several hypotheses on the origin of viruses. New evidence suggests they may have emerged more times than previously thought. Corroborating the virus-first ...

When people talk about the coronavirus, they sometimes describe this invisible entity as if it has a personality and even a conscience. If you ask a biology or medical student what a virus is, they ...

It's important to know the signs of a virus, so that you can act quickly to get rid of any malware and stay safe in future. A virus is a type of malicious software, or malware, that can replicate ...

In simple terms: a virus is a tiny package of genetic instructions with a delivery system. Outside a cell it is metabolically inert. Once inside a susceptible cell, it redirects the cell's machinery ...

Microbiologists Patrick Moreira and Purificación López-García, together with virologists Arturo Ludmir and Lynn Enquist, are at the center of a sharp debate over whether viruses count as living ...

Like Hendra virus, Nipah is in a category of viruses called henipaviruses. It is zoonotic, meaning it can spread from animals to humans. As I explained in a previous Conversation article, outbreaks ...