
Giant Phages: a discovery in the world of viruses - pseudolus
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/02/oh-look-ton-giant-viruses-inside-your-mouth/606763/
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kjaftaedi
I was not expecting it to attack other phages. Fascinating article.

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JoeAltmaier
Always intrigued by this argument about whether viruses are 'alive':

"Viruses...cannot reproduce on their own and are completely dependent on their
hosts. "

This is not a very strong argument? So many other creatures that lay eggs in a
host have exactly the same restriction. Do we thinks some wasps are 'not
alive' because of this?

Anyway, I'm a little startled and afraid of what these WhopperPhages are doing
with those hundreds of thousands of genes...that's a lot of code.

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trevyn
Maybe the word “alive” cannot be rigorously defined in a way that agrees with
our history and intuitions, and could be retired?

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monadic2
It’s certainly a silly word to gatekeep.

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Fellshard
Not so much gatekeeping as rigorously defined, when speaking about it in
scientific terms. Colloquial uses of words generally have a much lower
barrier.

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Fellshard
Kinda makes me wonder if gut phages etc. act as a sort of control plane for
the bacteria.

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maitredusoi
This article is really important for whom has any interest in the medical
research field !!!

