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Viruses May be the Precursors of All Life

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-alive dept.

steveha writes "The cover story for this month's Discover magazine tells of a recently discovered gigantic virus, Mimivirus, that has blurred the lines between viruses and bacteria, and spurred speculation that viruses could be the reason life evolved past single-celled organisms." From the article: "This is striking news, especially at a moment when the basic facts of origins and evolution seem to have fallen under a shroud. In the discussions of intelligent design, one hears a yearning for an old-fashioned creation story, in which some singular, inchoate entity stepped in to give rise to complex life-forms--humans in particular. "

2 of 488 comments (clear)

  1. beleive what you want... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    as long as it lets you deny the existance of a god right? since there is no evidence of evolution. but hey maybe agent smith was right humans are a virus.

    "the chance that higher life forms might have emerged by chance is comparible with the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junk yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein."

    Fred Doyle Nov. 12 1981

  2. How many evolutionists does it take... by benite · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    How may evolutionists does it take to change a lightbulb?

    None.
    Given enough time it will screw in itself!

    Here we go again with the weekly mandatory slashdot pro evolution story.