I’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of $1000 to communicate their work.
Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.
This zone is the Boron Zone. It has a range of scientists studying all different topics. Who gets the prize? YOU decide!
Bacteria are living cells, with most of the parts that we have in our cells. Viruses, however, are little bits of DNA with a cover that specialise in invading other cells, taking over, and using the cell machinery to replicate themselves.
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There are still many questions about viruses – at the most basic level even whether they are life forms or not? This is based around the fact that they don’t exhibit metabolism (growth, reproduction, etc.) except in the presence of a host cell.
They are similar to some self-replicating crystals except that they respond to selection pressures from their environment. They or similar are thought to be a possible origin of life on Earth.
Bacteria are more complex containing cell walls, but lack structural organisation like organelles, so differ from our own cells. They are capable of reproduction. A few cause disease, but many others are either benign or beneficial, even essential to other life forms (e.g. gut flora).
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And here’s another very important difference: Bacteria can be controlled with antibiotics, but viruses can’t. So if you go to the doctor with a cold, he shouldn’t give you antibiotics because you’ve got a virus, not a bacterial infection. Unless you have a “secondary infection”, like an ear or chest infection, which might be caused by the symptoms of the cold but not by the virus.
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as they said 🙂
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Some great answers here!
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