• Need pro­tec­tion? Hire a virus! – Part Deux

    by Jamie Henzy — Read­ers of STC are likely aware that se­quences from viruses in­fect­ing a host can some­times wind up in­serted into the host chro­mo­so­mal DNA, even be­ing passed on to off­spring if the in­ser­tion oc­curs in an egg or sperm cell. This hap­pens most fre­quently with retro­viruses, which in­sert into host DNA as part of...

  • Pa­le­ovi­rol­ogy

    by Welkin John­son — How does one even be­gin to in­ves­ti­gate the nat­ural his­tory of viruses? The di­nosaurs be­queathed a mot­ley as­sort­ment of bones, teeth, foot­prints strid­ing 'cross an­cient riverbeds, fos­silized eggs, the oc­ca­sional co­pro­lite. The tiny trilo­bite left last­ing and ubiq­ui­tous im­pres­sions, find­ing its way into...