Searching for alien life? Beware of viruses!
Alien
Search for alien life has a bit of excitement and glamour associated with it. Movies and other forms of popular media have fuelled the frenzy. So much so that in an event of an alien attack on Earth, many of us would go "Cool!" instead of "Aargh!!"
But like all things, alien life stuff is also complex. An Astrobiologist at Arizona State University (ASU) says that search for extraterrestrial life may also result in discovery of new viruses.
Yes!
Considering we are still in the middle of a pandemic caused by a virus, this may a hard thing to hear. But Paul Davis of the ASU asserts that to sustain life, a number of microscopic agents are required. And viruses are? Yep, microscopic!
“Viruses actually form part of the web of life,” Davis told The Guardian.
He thinks there will be whole ecosystem of microbes where alien life is found. He considers viruses to be part of web of life.
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It is indeed terrifying to imagine a whole different planet filled with alien microbes. (One single Earth has already has us coughing and whatnot!). However, there is silver lining to this.
Microbes on Earth are able to affect us as they are able to adapt us as hosts. If a virus is truly alien, it may be that it will not have a way to infect us.