Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Ah, Viruses

We generally hate them, but they're a natural part of the ecosystem.

Most people are worried about the Wuhan coronavirus, now officially named Covid-19 by the WHO.

But scientists are more interested in Yaravirus, found in a lake in Brazil.

This virus is so exotic it literally has genes we haven't seen elsewhere, including at least one novel protein.

Don't worry. Yaravirus won't infect you; it actually prefers amoebae as a host. And studying it might teach us more about genetics or even help us come up with a treatment for something.

But you'd think we'd have found all the genes by now.

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