How A Clever Virus Kills A Very Hungry Caterpillar
74 replies, posted
[QUOTE=AngryChairR;32253834]Soon our dream of a zombie apocalypse will come true.[/QUOTE]
Nightmare*
[QUOTE=CakeMaster7;32255257]Yes, I remember watching some show about something like a parasite that infects a mouse and the mouse tries to get a cat to eat it.
It then spreads to the cat.[/QUOTE]
There's a parasite that does it to potato bugs as well, since the parasite mates in a bird, and lives in the potato bug or some shit like that. So when it's time to mate the potato bug just scurries out and does a little dance for all the watching birds.
[QUOTE=Wiggles;32253662]Don't let postal hear about this.[/QUOTE]
Luna moths are beautiful delicate creatures.
Gypsy moths are notorious, awful pests that need to die.
[QUOTE=Billiam;32257937]Luna moths are beautiful delicate creatures.
Gypsy moths are notorious, awful pests that need to die.[/QUOTE]
I agree, whenever I happen to see one on a tree I kill it, because I live near lots of woodlands and they're terrible for the ecosystem.
[QUOTE=Moby-;32253836]But caterpillars are cute.
[/QUOTE]
So are fetuses but we melt them down into yummy stemcells when we need to. Needs>cute
[img]http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/09/08/dead-caterpillar_custom.jpg?t=1315518304&s=2[/img]
No :(
Hey guys did you know viruses aren't technically living beings?
True story. They can't currently be classified as life because one of the primary requisites for life is the ability to independently procreate. Viruses have no internal method of procreation, they can only reproduce by hijacking the reproductive systems of other organisms.
I learnt that while i was gone
[editline]12th September 2011[/editline]
rate me tool because that shit was informative
[editline]12th September 2011[/editline]
i said tool you motherfuckers not i
They're zambies.
[QUOTE=Lankist;32259597]Hey guys did you know viruses aren't technically living beings?
True story. They can't currently be classified as life because one of the primary requisites for life is the ability to independently procreate. Viruses have no internal method of procreation, they can only reproduce by hijacking the reproductive systems of other organisms.[/QUOTE] Theres a little bit of a debate about that but currently not considered life. I personally would say they are alive because technically nothing can really reproduce independently unless they are producers. Also I would say there actions are sometimes so complex that its obvious they are life. I mean they even evolve pretty much the same way life does.
[QUOTE=imasillypiggy;32259901]Theres a little bit of a debate about that but currently not considered life. I personally would say they are alive because technically nothing can really reproduce independently unless they are producers. Also I would say there actions are sometimes so complex that its obvious they are life. I mean they even evolve pretty much the same way life does.[/QUOTE]
The actions of computers are pretty complex too.
[editline]12th September 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=RichyZ;32259949]cmon man i learned that in 8th grade science step your game up lawyerboy[/QUOTE]
I DIDNT PAY ATTENTION DURING SCIENCE CLASS i was too busy having sex with ladies
[QUOTE=Lankist;32259982]The actions of computers are pretty complex too.[/QUOTE] Yea but they currently don't reproduce, respond to change or evolve. When they do that i'm sure some people will consider them alive.
[QUOTE=Lankist;32259982]
I DIDNT PAY ATTENTION DURING SCIENCE CLASS i was too busy having sex with ladies[/QUOTE]
During science class. :rolleye:
[QUOTE=imasillypiggy;32259992]Yea but they currently don't reproduce, respond to change or evolve. When they do that i'm sure some people will consider them alive.[/QUOTE]
They can be programmed to. Those little experimental robots that change their behavior over generations are not all that dissimilar to viruses.
[QUOTE=Lankist;32259597]Hey guys did you know viruses aren't technically living beings?
True story. They can't currently be classified as life because one of the primary requisites for life is the ability to independently procreate. Viruses have no internal method of procreation, they can only reproduce by hijacking the reproductive systems of other organisms.
I learnt that while i was gone
[editline]12th September 2011[/editline]
rate me tool because that shit was informative
[editline]12th September 2011[/editline]
i said tool you motherfuckers not i[/QUOTE]
They are thinking of tweaking the definition of life because of that. Viruses are obviously living organisms except for that one little bit.
[QUOTE=Lankist;32260035]They can be programmed to. Those little experimental robots that change their behavior over generations are not all that dissimilar to viruses.[/QUOTE] Well if they can do all 5 things that make a living thing living then I guess they would be life. I also know there are many people who are trying to put certain machines under the category of alive.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;32260038]They are thinking of tweaking the definition of life because of that. Viruses are obviously living organisms except for that one little bit.[/QUOTE]
those academic motherfuckers
Awesome, sometimes I love viruses
[QUOTE=Lankist;32259982]The actions of computers are pretty complex too.[/QUOTE]
Complexity isn't the only thing. They don't fit many of the characteristics of life. Viruses pretty much fit every one.
[QUOTE=Lankist;32260035]They can be programmed to. Those little experimental robots that change their behavior over generations are not all that dissimilar to viruses.[/QUOTE]
Here are the 7 characteristics of life as I learned them:
1. Cells
2. Organization/complexity
3. Energy/Metabolism
4. Response to Environment
5. Grow
6. Reproduce
7. Adaptation to their environment.
The most sophisticated robots only fit 3, 4, and 7. They don't have cellular organization and don't develop cellular complexity, they don't have self contained cells, they don't grow, they don't reproduce.
Viruses fit every single characteristic except reproduction in a strictly conservative, classical sense.
[QUOTE=Ghostwork;32253980]it reminds me of the lancet fluke that changes the behavior of ants.
[url]http://www.molluscs.at/gastropoda/parasites/dicrocoelium.html[/url]
cordyceps i think[/QUOTE]
See Also: Polymorphus minutus and it's effect on the freshwater shrimp.
Nature can be quite scary sometimes.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;32260156]
1. Cells
2. Organization/complexity[/QUOTE]
Actually cells aren't needed to be considered life. Thats why some life classifications can still put viruses under life even though they don't have cells.
[QUOTE=imasillypiggy;32260239]Actually cells aren't needed to be considered life. Thats why some life classifications can still put viruses under life even though they don't have cells.[/QUOTE]
What organisms, besides apparently viruses, don't have cells?
[QUOTE=yawmwen;32260255]What organisms, besides apparently viruses, don't have cells?[/QUOTE] Well doesn't saying viruses are alive and then saying they need cells hypocritical. Its true that every living thing besides viruses have cells but they aren't needed to fit the definition of life. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life#Classification_of_life[/url]
I just had this image where I'm walking through a forest and a caterpillar drips onto me.
[SUB][SUB][SUB][SUB]NOPE[/SUB]NOPE[/SUB]NOPE[/SUB]NOPE[SUP]NOPE[SUP]NOPE[SUP]NOPE[/SUP][/SUP][/SUP][/SUB]
[QUOTE=imasillypiggy;32260239]Actually cells aren't needed to be considered life. Thats why some life classifications can still put viruses under life even though they don't have cells.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I was about to say, viruses aren't technically cells, right? I thought they were just mobile RNA delivery platforms.
to keep the robot metaphor rolling
And I meant apparently as in no that's not true at all, because a virus has a self contained structure that is used to regulate it's functions and carry on hereditary material(it just doesn't contain [i]all[/i] the hereditary material it needs to reproduce).
[editline]13th September 2011[/editline]
Also these are the characteristics as I learned them(then re found them at [url]http://infohost.nmt.edu/~klathrop/7characterisitcs_of_life.htm[/url]), so if they tweaked something I don't know about it.
Imagine if shit like this was contagious to humans.
Just imagine some guy climbing up onto a tree and melting, and then other people eating him.
[QUOTE=SamsUncle;32261837]Imagine if shit like this was contagious to humans.
Just imagine some guy climbing up onto a tree and melting, and then other people eating him.[/QUOTE]
i want you to stop saying things like that
dont do this to me
[QUOTE=Sumap;32253645]baculovirus that can infect these caterpillars and cause them to engage in [B]reckless, even suicidal behavior[/B], scientists say. The virus is so effective that the government actually sprays it on trees to help control gypsy moth outbreaks.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3779442/Screenshots/limbo_maggots.jpg[/img]
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