viruses
Follow the breadcrumbs: Sponges show how some animals clean up viruses
These days, hunkered down in our homes (if we are lucky) and washing our hands till they’re raw, it can feel like the outside world is a virus soup. However animals in the ocean go swimming through viruses on a daily basis. A new study from the Netherlands shows us that in fact many animals […]
Lights, Camera, and the Action-Packed World of Giant Viruses
A newly discovered giant virus might even be capable of altering its hosts ability to derive energy. A virus that infects a small eukaryotic predator has the largest viral genome found in oceans to date and has several novel genes that aid in its infection of these eukaryotic organisms. Samantha SettaI’m a PhD student in […]
Riding the phage wave: Emerging role of viruses in the ocean
Viruses live in the ocean, where they infect bacteria who also live in the ocean. Ocean viruses are crucial to the ecosystem, but we don’t know very much about how they ‘survive’ in the ocean. Scientists used data from samples collected all over the world, and explored what types of viruses were in these samples. […]
The ocean’s tiny, mysterious majority
The earth has more viruses than the universe has stars – but we know far less about our tiny majority at home than we do about the glowing balls of gas in our night sky. Michael GrawI’m a 5th year PhD student at Oregon State University researching the microbial ecology of marine sediments – why […]
Germ Stowaways: How Plastic Waste Has Become an Environment for Harmful Bacteria
For over 100 years, plastic has been integrated into our everyday lives. It has been used to make life better for humans in many ways (medical research, food preservation, sterile laboratory devices, etc.). But, as we accumulate more, disposal has become a problem. While plastic waste is a problem in its own right, new research […]
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