So the big question is, why would anyone do something so seemingly crazy? Scientists don’t know much about how viruses evolve and understanding the structure of ancient viruses would increase knowledge of virus evolution. However, scientists have sequenced only a small number of ancient viruses.
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Researchers have uncovered a pair of 700 year old viral sequences trapped in frozen caribou dung. Then they infected living plants with the DNA virus, what could go wrong? This discovery gives rise to an alarming possibility that global warming can bring other dead infectious viruses back to life. Sounds like the makings of a zombie apocalypse.
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With this winter's epic flu invasion maxing out emergency room space and leaving pharmacies without enough flu vaccine, influenza research is a hot topic in the news. Inquiring minds want to know: when will we have the tools to put this mutating foe out of commission once and for all? One very interesting approach to the problem of outsmarting the flu virus involves disrupting its timing by altering a critical protein it needs to exit the cell. At Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, microbiologist and virologist Benjamin R. tenOever recently published an article on his lab research into the molecular basis of virus pathogenicity in the journal Cell Reports. He was also interviewed by NPR just last week for their shots health news program, where he described the carefully-orchestrated maneuvering of the flu virus both into and out of the host cell by likening it to a bank robbery. If one part of the plan doesn't go off like clockwork, the gig is up.
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