Viruses May be the Precursors of All Life

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Tuesday February 28, 2006 @10:03AM 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. "

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Re:Uh by bani · 2006-02-28 23:03 · Score: 3, Insightful

problems.

1) we know life to be several billion years old, a few hundred million is a mere fraction of that.
2) a plausible explanation: the complex was merely a laboratory for extraterrestrial scientists who were visiting earth, studying the genomes of life on various planets in the universe.

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