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China Scientists Discover Giant Viruses in the Deepest Place on Earth

posted by mrpg on Saturday July 31 2021, @07:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the china...viruses... dept.

upstart writes:

China scientists discover giant viruses in the deepest place on Earth:

The first known batch of viruses retrieved from the deepest point in the Mariana Trench includes giant species bigger than some bacterium, according to a research team in Shanghai.

The many legends of giant sea creatures have been largely debunked because of the challenges to large, complex life forms at the greatest ocean depths.

But the researchers discovered several giant viral species, including mimiviruses – which typically use amoeba as their hosts – in sediments taken from a seabed nearly 11,000 metres (36,000 feet) below sea level at Challenger Deep.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by weilawei on Saturday July 31 2021, @09:25PM (7 children)

    by weilawei (109) on Saturday July 31 2021, @09:25PM (#1161788)
    Let's do the time warp again! Fuuck me. Please, stop retrieving novel viruses and bringing them to human population centers.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @09:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @09:48PM (#1161792)

    Please, stop retrieving novel viruses and bringing them to human population centers.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14 [youtube.com]

  • (Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Sunday August 01 2021, @12:06AM (4 children)

    by Beryllium Sphere (r) (5062) on Sunday August 01 2021, @12:06AM (#1161809)

    Why do you believe there's a risk of an amoeba-targeting virus infecting humans, and of it causing illness?

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday August 01 2021, @01:10AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 01 2021, @01:10AM (#1161820) Journal

      Are you able to offer an argument towards the impossibility of such a scenario?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

    • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday August 01 2021, @03:21AM

      by Reziac (2489) on Sunday August 01 2021, @03:21AM (#1161858) Homepage

      Certain amoeba can infect the human brain, tho that's not where they'd normally live.

      https://www.livescience.com/22626-brain-eating-amoeba-neti-pots.html [livescience.com]

      Occurs to me to wonder if such a virus could alter the amoeba's behavior, perhaps like... this.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.

    • (Score: 2) by pe1rxq on Sunday August 01 2021, @08:51AM

      by pe1rxq (844) on Sunday August 01 2021, @08:51AM (#1161915) Homepage

      Humans might be safe. Trump voters probably not....

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @12:12AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @12:12AM (#1162511)

      Because the Chinese eat anything they can get their hands on?

      ...Sorry couldn't resist, bad taste joke or is it a joke in bad taste?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01 2021, @01:06AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01 2021, @01:06AM (#1161818)

    Why not? This is how you make the humanity evolve resistant to more viruses.