At long last, we may be returning to the original two-sided sense of the word virus, which originally signified either a life-giving substance or a deadly venom. Viruses are indeed exquisitely deadly, but they have provided the world with some of its most important innovations. Creation and destruction join together once more.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the dual nature of viruses as both harmful and beneficial to innovation.
Carl Zimmer's quote emphasizes the complex nature of viruses, highlighting that while they can be deadly agents of disease, they have also played a significant role in driving scientific progress and innovation. This duality represents a fundamental aspect of many elements in nature, where creation and destruction coexist, leading to new discoveries and advancements. By pointing out this duality, Zimmer invites us to reconsider our understanding of viruses and their impact on life and science.
In practice
In a presentation about the role of viruses in biotechnology, one might use this quote to illustrate their positive contributions.
Researchers keep identifying new species, but they have no idea about the life cycle of a given species or its other hosts. They cut open an animal and find a new species. Where did it come from? What effect does it have on its host? What is its next host? They don't know and they don't have time to find out, because there are too many other species waiting to be discovered and described.
It's not going to be just humans colonizing space, it's going to be life moving out from the Earth, moving it into its kingdom. And the kingdom of life, of course, is going to be the universe.
In the Radiation Laboratory we count it a privilege to do everything we can to assist our medical colleagues in the application of these new tools to the problems of human suffering.
Evolution could so easily be disproved if just a single fossil turned up in the wrong date order. Evolution has passed this test with flying colours.
One theory which can no longer be taken very seriously is that UFOs are interstellar spaceships.
We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up until now, that they will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future.
From the growth of the Internet through to the mapping of the human genome and our understanding of the human brain, the more we understand, the more there seems to be for us to explore.
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