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Why should viresus be alive?

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Anonymous

12y ago
Updated: 8/20/2019

It's a good question. Some people argue that viruses AREN'T really alive in the usual sense but occupy a zone between life and nonlife. The tobacco mosaic virus, for instance, can sort of "dry up" into a crystal which shows no signs of life but these crystals, injected into a tobacco plant, can produce more viruses, and reproduction is a sign of living things.

It might interest you to know that "virus" is from the Latin word for "slime," so people didn't think of them so much as "things" but more as "stuff."

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Wiki User

12y ago

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