Darwins_Dog t1_jbr1h9v wrote
Reply to comment by Binsky89 in Ancient dormant viruses found in permafrost, once revived, can infect amoeba. Findings hint at a much bigger problem—as the planet warms and the permafrost melts, there is a chance of viruses emerging that are capable of infecting humans by Wagamaga
The only intervention was they had to isolate the viruses in order to be sure that they were the cause of infections in the amoeba cultures. That's what they mean by reviving. They isolated it, infected cells, which then infected other cells.
Most viruses don't have to be isolated to become infectious, and some are pretty good at crossing species.
Binsky89 t1_jbrbxt2 wrote
That definitely changes things then.
I still have to wonder why the author chose to use the term revive in the context of a thing that wasn't alive in the first place (unless things have changed since my biology course in 08). I feel like thawing would be a much more accurate descriptor of the process.
Morlik t1_jbt85u0 wrote
Revive doesn't necessarily refer to life or being alive. From Webster:
1 : to restore to consciousness or life
2 : to restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state : bring back
3 : to renew in the mind or memory
FallCheetah7373 t1_jbsxtpu wrote
yeah viruses are neither alive nor dead since the last time I dug deeper into the rabbit hole like 6 months ago it was a spiralling into the same answer over and over as per the top google posts and other html pages
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