A giant virus discovered in Japan is adding fuel to the provocative idea that viruses helped create complex life. Named ushikuvirus, it infects amoebae and shows unique traits that connect different ...

For much of modern biology, scientists argued that viruses are not alive, pointing to a basic limitation: they cannot make proteins on their own and must depend entirely on the cells they infect for ...

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 ...

High-throughput neutralisation tests could lead to a better understanding of the evolution of human influenza.

The story of how life began on Earth grows even more intriguing when viruses enter the picture. These microscopic particles are thought to have ...

In the murky waters of Ushiku-numa, a freshwater pond just northeast of Tokyo, a microscopic drama has been playing out for eons, entirely unseen. Here, single-celled amoebae drift through the silt, ...

In 1990, I finished my PhD on primate evolution and went to my postdoc in Davis, California, USA. It was meant to be on fruit fly ...

Over the last century, a once-deadly mosquito-borne virus has evolved so that it no longer sickens humans. New research shows that changes in the virus’s ability to target human cells paralleled the ...