Question: Why did you choose to look at viruses ?

Oliver Charity answered on 17 Nov 2016:

Hi There,

I chose to look at viruses as I am extremely interested in the boundry between what we think is ‘living’ and what is just a chemical. Some scientists think that viruses are ‘alive’ when they are inside a cell, as they are replicating, but they are not alive when outside a cell. Some infectious things are litterally just bits of DNA, but you wouldnt associate them with being ‘alive’, but because they are infectious you get the idea that they have a need to replicate and survive…. so what is ‘living’ and what is not? Viruses are incredibly interesting as they break the rules in both ways.

Oli