Chapter 3C: The Kingdoms of Archaea and Bacteria

Bonus: Let’s Play - Are You Alive? Virus Edition

You might be wondering about another part of creation – viruses. I’m sure you have heard of these little buggers that cause the flu and coronavirus (among many other diseases). Viruses are extremely small parts of creation (even smaller than bacteria) that can infect any type of living thing. But are they themselves alive? As you might recall, living things all do seven things – get energy, excrete, respire (breathe), grow, reproduce, react to their environment, and move; additionally, living things have cells. Let’s consider if viruses do what creatures do.

A virus is a piece of DNA wrapped in a protein shell rather than being cells like bacteria. When they enter your body, they can move around and find the kind of cells that they are looking to infect. They enter the cell and cause the machinery in the cell to make more viruses. The viruses then go on to infect more cells until, of course, your immune system comes to the rescue (more on that later).

So, how did viruses do? They do have sensitivity and movement and they do grow and reproduce (although not on their own), but they do not get energy, excrete, or have respiration, nor are they made of cells. For these reasons, scientists generally do not think that viruses are living things, but we will see them again in the Commons of Creation.

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