Are viruses alive, not alive or something in between? And why does it matter

 

Scarlett Kane 

11/1/21

Current event 7

Are Viruses alive?

 Scudellari, M., 2021. Are viruses alive, not alive or something in between? And why does it matter?. [online] 

Science News. Available at: 

<https://www.sciencenews.org/article/viruses-alive-coronavirus-definition> [Accessed 3 

November 2021].

 

There are 7 main requirements for an organism to be considered alive; responsiveness to the environment, growth and change, ability to reproduce, have a metabolism and breathe, maintain homeostasis, being made of cells, and passing traits onto offspring. This now brings on the question with the current state of our world where we wear masks all day to avoid a virus, are viruses alive. The simple answer is no, viruses are not alive as they can not reproduce without a host. However, this is still occasionally debated among members of the scientific community. This is important to discuss as viruses are often personified in the media to be seen as microscopic blood thirsty monsters, when in reality they are just particles. 

 

This was a good article as it simply explained a complex topic in a way that is understandable to someone with little to no prior knowledge on the subject of viruses. However one weakness of this article was that it didn't explain much of the opposing argument on viruses being alive. However the author could have fixed this by being more specific and gathering more information. 

 

             This article has so much relevance now as everywhere you look you see a virus like covid-19 being personified as some cinematic villain, when it's just science and if we all work together we can beat it. This once again reminded me that this virase isn't a monster, it's science and we can beat it with science. I believe it is an important article to read as a reminder that if we work together this versace won't last forever.