
Viruses can catch colds, says study that redefines life itself - soundsop
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/06/scivirus106.xml
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netcan
The 'is it alive' was always the sort of semantic bickering that biologists
have always been prone to. Like all that arguing about classification (going
back centuries). I don't mean when it's arguing about facts or their
interpretation. As often as not it's just about naming conventions.

Anyway, 'is it alive' is not an interesting question. That's just about
defining 'organism.' Like defining, human or mammal, there has to be some grey
area.

'Is it life' might be a better one. Because then you are talking about
something that has consequences. In the absence of 'true organisms' can
viruses themselves start an evolutionary chain? This discovery might mean that
they can.

