Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Cells, Microbes & Viruses => Topic started by: @Juillesim on 06/11/2010 00:30:02
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@Juillesim asked the Naked Scientists:
Are viruses intelligent life forms?
What do you think?
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We discussed this question on our show
We put this question to Dr Stacey Efstathiou:
Stacey - Well as a virologist, I’d say yes, very intelligent. I mean, they're elegant life entities that can reproduce themselves, that can cause persistent infections, reactivate. A different type of intelligence, no brain cells involved.
Chris - Indeed, but it depends whether you believe a virus is alive or not. I mean, my own belief is a virus is not alive, it’s just an infectious bag of genes.
Stacey - It is an infectious bag of genes and it undergoes evolution, so in some ways, you could say it is a life form.
Chris - But not intelligently designed, I hasten to add...
Click to visit the show page for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/2010.11.07/) Alternatively, [chapter podcast=2824 track=10.11.07/Naked_Scientists_Show_10.11.07_7468.mp3](https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenakedscientists.com%2FHTML%2Ftypo3conf%2Fext%2Fnaksci_podcast%2Fgnome-settings-sound.gif&hash=f2b0d108dc173aeaa367f8db2e2171bd) listen to the answer now[/chapter] or [download as MP3] (http://nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/split_individual/10.11.07/Naked_Scientists_Show_10.11.07_7468.mp3)