Science

JHan

(10,173 posts) Wed Nov 21, 2018, 08:09 PM Nov 2018

"We Need to Think More about Viruses"

You are a bustling, booming ecosystem that never sleeps. Right now—on the surface of your body, in pores, creases, and folds of skin, and even deep inside of you—live trillions of creatures. Some are just along for the rent-free ride, some help you in crucial ways, and a few may be harming you. Everywhere you go, a unique cloud surrounds you as you shed an organic fog of these beings. Much like the Earth, a planet saturated with abundant and diverse life, you are less of an individual than a conglomerate. Your personal existence, only vaguely outlined by your physical body, is a complex and interdependent coalition of human cells, bacteria, fungi, archaea, and eukaryotes. But even all this is far from a complete picture—for both the Earth and you. Something else is interacting with, influencing, and engineering your ecosystem and all others. It’s viruses—lots and lots of viruses. They profoundly shape your life and the living world around you.

"Viruses are such a powerful and regulating presence in the microbial world, especially in the ocean, that they are now known to be a major influence on global climate."

We all can stand to learn a little more about viruses. These “things” matter far too much to be omitted from anyone’s worldview and even demand inclusion when it comes to our self-perception. I suspect that most people probably imagine a few flu viruses lurking on a doorknob, maybe a couple of cold viruses drifting about the room on puffs of air, and that’s about it. But the reality is that we are constantly swimming within a thick, endless sea of viruses. They are everywhere, always. Though viruses do not qualify as living creatures, I included substantial attention to them in a chapter about life in my book, At Least Know This: Essential Science to Enhance Your Life, because they share such a long and tangled relationship with life. I am awestruck by them. They do so many things that most people are unaware of. For example, viruses are such a powerful and regulating presence in the microbial world, especially in the ocean, that they are now known to be a major influence on global climate.

Their relentless assault on and delicate coexistence with various lifeforms means that viruses direct many of the brooks, eddies, currents, and rivers of evolution. By infecting, changing, and killing life, they have been unintelligent and indifferent directors of natural history for billions of years. One can hardly overstate the significance of this. Without viruses, the natural world we know and depend on today would not—could not—exist in anything close to present form and function. It is even possible that there would never have even been any life here at all if not for viruses. Some 4 billion years ago they may have been precursors to the first cells and served as the critical bridge between nonlife and life.

Viruses are nature’s emotionless and tireless nanobots. Lifeless packets of chemicals they may be, but, like tiny Terminators, they keep coming and coming, hijacking and controlling lifeforms toward their own ends. Their ubiquitous presence, effectiveness, and incomprehensible numbers easily make them one of the most consequential natural forces on Earth. We live in their immense shadow every moment of our lives.