Viruses are acellular infectious agents that depend entirely on host cellular machinery for replication and are therefore studied as a central topic in microbiology, virology, and infectious disease research. They consist minimally of a nucleic acid genome (DNA or RNA, single- or double-stranded, linear or circular) enclosed in a protein capsid, and in many cases a host-derived lipid envelope containing viral glycoproteins. Viral classification and research focus on genome organization, replication strategies, host range, tropism, mechanisms of cell entry and egress, immune evasion, and evolutionary dynamics, as well as their roles in pathogenesis, horizontal gene transfer, and biotechnology applications such as vectors and phage therapy.
People and animals create lots of waste that is usually sent to landfills, incinerated, or stored in engineered ponds such as manure lagoons. Now, researchers report a potential removal method using insects, specifically ...
Biotechnology
Mar 4, 2026
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Viruses such as human norovirus can travel in vesicles, small fluid-filled sacs that are like shipping containers for cells. Viruses hidden in these containers are often harder to detect and may be more infectious than free-floating ...
Environment
Mar 2, 2026
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More than four out of every five dead black vultures examined by University of Georgia researchers tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports. The actual ...
Ecology
Mar 2, 2026
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A study reveals how two proteins cooperate in a key early step of antiviral detection, as reported by researchers at Science Tokyo. Using cryo-electron microscopy and high-speed atomic force microscopy, they found that LGP2 ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 27, 2026
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Biochemists at Caltech have identified how viruses have converged on a method for killing bacteria. The researchers have homed in on an underexplored small transporter called MurJ that is a vital part of the pathway bacteria ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 25, 2026
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Drugs made of mRNA have the potential to transform medicine—if only they could get into cells in one piece. Now, University of Connecticut researchers have shown that packaging mRNA like a virus could smuggle it into cells ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 23, 2026
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Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection dramatically remodels the host cell's nuclear structures. Infection leads to the formation of viral replication compartments and to chromatin marginalization to the nuclear periphery. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 22, 2026
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The tiny shell protecting the HIV virus resembles a slightly rounded ice cream cone, but there is nothing sweet about it. More than 40 million people worldwide live with AIDS because of this virus, and treatments must continually ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 18, 2026
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In a new study, published in Cell, researchers describe a newfound mechanism for creating proteins in a giant DNA virus, comparable to a mechanism in eukaryotic cells. The finding challenges the dogma that viruses lack protein ...
Survival of the fittest. Nature red in tooth and claw. The common view of natural selection is based solely on the individual: A trait allows an organism to out-compete its rivals and is thus passed down to its offspring. ...
Evolution
Feb 17, 2026
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