For much of modern biology, scientists argued that viruses are not alive, pointing to a basic limitation: they cannot make ...

Viruses rely on the machinery of their host cells to produce proteins, but some giant viruses encode a key part of this toolkit in their genome, enabling them to direct the host cell to produce more ...

The story of life’s beginnings gets stranger when you look closely at viruses. These tiny entities seem to sit at the edge of biology. They carry genetic material, but they cannot make proteins on ...

In the vast and often unseen world of microscopic life, a recent discovery may force scientists to rethink what it means to be alive. Nestled inside a tiny plankton cell, researchers found a ...

Heshmat Borhani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

How did viruses evolve? Are they a streamlined form of something that existed long ago, or an ultimate culmination of smaller genetic elements joined together? Aa Aa Aa The evolutionary history of ...

Scientists revived a 48,500-year-old "zombie" virus from permafrost and found it to be infectious. The virus was tested on amoebas but could indicate more dangerous viruses are lurking in permafrost.

Maybe the first life on Earth was part of an 'RNA world.' Artur Plawgo/Science Photo Library via Getty Images How life on Earth started has puzzled scientists for a long time. And it still does.