The story of life’s beginnings gets stranger when you look closely at viruses. These tiny entities seem to sit at the edge of biology. They carry genetic material, but they cannot make proteins on ...

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 ...

Viruses rely on hosts to survive. But some viruses are more effective at reproducing than others. Now, new research has shown that the herpes virus, more specifically herpes simplex virus type 1 ...

Researchers at Aarhus University have developed a microscopic DNA needle that can deliver molecules directly into cells—and, crucially, help make sure they remain active once they get there. That ...

According to a recent international study, fragments of ancient viral DNA once considered "junk" may in fact play a role in regulating our genes. Using an innovative method to trace the evolutionary ...

DNA scaffolds that mirror influenza virus protein geometry boost antiviral binding and reduce infection more effectively than free molecules, enabling a modular antiviral design strategy. (Nanowerk ...

Genetics tools have advanced significantly in recent decades, and have allowed scientist to sequence all of the genetic material they find in any sample. That has enabled researchers to discover giant ...

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Using genomics, evolutionary biologists test several hypotheses on the origin of viruses. New evidence suggests they may have emerged more times than previously thought. Corroborating the virus-first ...