Contrary to prevailing belief, an evolutionary analysis finds no evidence that most viruses with epidemic or pandemic ...

There is no evolutionary signal suggesting that these viruses were being “pre-adapted” for humans prior to their outbreaks. Instead, measurable changes in selection typically appeared only after ...

The story of life’s beginnings gets stranger when you look closely at viruses. These tiny entities seem to sit at the edge of biology.

Some viruses, like the common cold, are a flash in the pan. They infect us, our bodies fight back — which is what makes us sick — and then they’re gone, until the next variant rolls along. Other ...

Ivan Erill receives funding from the US National Science Foundation After more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, you might picture a virus as a nasty spiked ball – a mindless killer that gets ...

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Distinguishing between self and non-self is a critical ability of the immune system. Some pathogens have evolved proteins that resemble those of their host, a mechanism called molecular mimicry, in an ...

In recent years, we’ve heard a lot about the health risks of viruses and how they may negatively impact the brain. This amplifies the existing theme of viruses being described as germs or ...

A new University of California San Diego study published in Cell challenges a long-standing assumption about how animal viruses become capable of sparking human epidemics and pandemics. Using a ...