Essay On Why Are Viruses Alive

There is a continuous debate about whether viruses are alive or not. Viruses are what makes you sick such as Influenza, Ebola, HIV, Mumps, and the common cold. Some scientists argue that viruses are not alive. Yet, there have been some new studies that show that viruses may in fact be alive. After finding out the facts, you can decide if viruses are living. Many scientists are more willing to accept the theory that viruses are not alive. The main piece of evidence that supports this theory is that viruses can not reproduce without a host cell. In order to reproduce by themselves, viruses need translational machinery. According to Popular Science, translational machinery is the proteins needed to read DNA or RNA in order to create new viruses. In other words, they don’t have what they need to make new viruses. Another fact that some scientists think proves viruses are not alive is that they do not form fossils.
A living thing has to be able to respond to a stimulus. Viruses do not respond on their own. They have to have a host cell. The cell responds when the body tells it what to do.Viruses don’t need food or water to get energy either. Living things have cells and the number of cells increases. Viruses don’t have cells but they do infect cells. If they don’t have cells then the number of them can’t increase. Viruses do reproduce but only with a host cell. Yet, there are exceptions for some viruses such as Ebola. I can conclude that since viruses do not have all the characteristics of a living thing, they are not alive. So, are viruses alive? There is evidence for both sides. The most logical answer seems to be that viruses are just simply not alive. Some people think that viruses are just one of those things that are in between. Some things can’t be classified as living or nonliving. There are people that support each of these theories. It is an ongoing debate about whether viruses are alive or