Could This Be a Virus?

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In the microscopic realm, a scientist named Timothy Robotham overlooked the possibility that a peculiar object could be a virus. He didn't connect the dots and mistakenly assumed it was bacteria. However, viruses are typically small and this object was much larger, making it an unusual find. Interestingly, scientists originally discovered viruses by filtering fluid from sick plants or animals through porcelain filters.

The definition of life is in flux, complexity is overrated, and humans are shrinking.

Viruses are supposed to be sleek, pared-down, dead-eyed machines. But when one microbiologist stumbled upon a GIANT virus, hundreds of times bigger than any seen before, all that went out the window. The discovery opened the door not only to a new cast of microscopic characters with names like Mimivirus, Mamavirus, and Megavirus, but also to basic questions: How did we miss these until now? Have they been around since the beginning? What if evolution could go … backwards?

In this episode from 2015, join former co-hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich as they grill Radiolab regular Carl Zimmer on these paradoxical viruses – they’re so big that they can get their own viruses! - and what they can tell us about the nature of life.

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