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[-] danc4498@lemmy.world 45 points 3 days ago

How does one discover a virus in the ocean? Are there just viruses living in the ocean and scientists out there getting beakers of ocean water to microscope?

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 67 points 3 days ago

Pretty much.

The ocean is a war zone, an endless battle between bacteria and viruses. Trillions of dead every day; weapons developed and discarded as the tide of battle ebbs and flows.

[-] klemptor@startrek.website 14 points 3 days ago

Yeah but viruses are obligate intracellular parasites - they can't survive for long outside of a host cell and have to reproduce using the machinery of a host cell. I'm curious what this virus is parasitizing.

[-] onslaught545@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 days ago

Depends on the virus. Some of the hepatitis viruses can live for months outside of a host.

[-] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 days ago

And many bacteria can live for years in hard vacuum. That doesn't tell us anything about the environment they need to live though.

[-] 8uurg@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

The differences between surviving, living and thriving can be pretty big.

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Especially seeing we haven't even made up our minds on whether they're ever alive to begin with.

[-] BigDiction@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Probably your mom, the whale.

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this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2025
382 points (99.2% liked)

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