Talk:Virus

Living?

I'm unhappy that "Virus is not a living thing" it is because, It reproduces! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.54.54.114 (talk • contribs)

In biology, living things are those that can reproduce on their own. (In the case of sexual reproduction, usually, there is more than one needed, and other things may also apply). Viruses, however cannot do that (They need a host cell to do it). Therefore they are not living things. --Eptalon 14:05, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

There are several errors on this page...especially on the list; it states that

1. They do have cells
2. They are totally independent of other organisms.

which is completely inaccurate. It seems as if five different people who knew nearly nothing about viruses decided to insert their own little sentence or phrase...thus the fifteen sentences beginning with "Viruses..." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.155.19.33 (talk • contribs)

You are welcome to imporve the article...--Eptalon (talk) 23:31, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Viruses are not living. They are not in between living and nonliving. They are simply, by the standards of biology, nonliving. Please do not edit this page and say that they are living, and call them microorganisms when the microorganism page itself says that viruses are not microorganisms. Viruses are parasites, but parasites are not always viruses. Years of biology education made me cry out when I first saw this page. Let's not confuse the new generation of biologists. 98.151.26.217 (talk) 09:17, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

A virus is a living thing (a parasite), even though it should not be. It violates one of the 3-4 rules of living cells, and there is debate on whether they are to be considered living (alive) or not and it is in part due to their dependence on another living thing (the host). Catcus DeMeowwy{{ Catcus DeMeowwy (talk) 9189 86 83 80 77 747 1 6866 63 60 57 54 51 48 45 42 39 36 33 30 27 24 21 18 151{{SUBST:big} 03:38, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Definitions of life

It's best not to get hung up on a verbal definition which is rather over-simple. Most forms of life cannot reproduce for some part of their life-cycle. There are many seeds which cannot develop without the most unusual circumstances. There are many parasites whose eggs or cysts cannot develop except inside another living thing. What viruses have is the two most distinctive molecules of life: nucleic acids and proteins (prions only have proteins!). They also have a huge capacity for reproduction and evolution, once they are seen in perspective. Macdonald-ross (talk) 15:22, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

Editing Protocol

(I'm the woman who usually has the signature "Pittsburgh Poet": I'm writing from work.)

Would it be kosher to "translate" portions of the Wikipedia Virus page for this one? If so, would I have to copy the footnotes? I still don't know how to put in footnotes. 128.147.28.1 14:10, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Use <ref>...</ref> for a footnote, and at the end put {{reflist}}--Eptalon (talk) 23:30, 5 January 2009 (UTC)