RNA virus

When delivering formal presentations on the pandemic, I often ask, “������ was the bigger threat to society: the RNA virus that was the causative agent for disease, or the broken communication that undermined efforts to deliver responsible messaging to the citizen-science public?”

An international team led by researchers at the University of Toronto has found a new RNA virus that they believe is hitching a ride with a common human parasite.

First, she found that an RNA virus that caused encephalitis in mice lingered in their neurons.

"Finally discovering that there was one, and that it was a DNA virus rather than an RNA virus settled the score and also opened up a broad field of research to our team, as DNA viruses are understudied in fungi."

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 thawing Arctic soil.