The first author Thu Vu Phuc Nguyen, left, and Ido Golding investigated how coinfecting phages can impede each other’s entry into a cell. Credit: Fred Zwicky The process by which phages—viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria—enter cells has been studied for over 50 years. In a new study, researchers from the University of Illinois
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Armed with a catalog of hundreds of thousands of DNA and RNA virus species in the world’s oceans, scientists are now zeroing in on the viruses most likely to combat climate change by helping trap carbon dioxide in seawater or, using similar techniques, different viruses that may prevent methane’s escape from
Marine carbon cycle. Credit: Wikipedia While the world has been heavily focused on the usual players of global climate change, like fossil fuels and deforestation, a group of unlikely contenders has emerged from the depths of the ocean—marine viruses. These minuscule but mighty entities are now stealing the limelight as scientists unravel their profound influence