Can a Virus move at Light Speed?

Originally posted by GreatTech
Can a person who is blind or lacking part of his/her vision gain in vision with viral therapy?

Can viruses have a similar sensory set within a "different consciousness realm?"

In theory a retroviral therapy could be created to help repair the
damage to the eye(s).

As for the senses and consciousness, well like I said, since they
don't have a brain, they can't process that kind if information, and
would'nt have a consciousness, as that is created by electro-chemical
reactions in the brain.

Have all types of viruses been thoroughly and successfully dissected (like a human or frog) in a laboratory to definitively determine whether they have complete, partial, or no "different realm of consciousness?"

Well, I'm not sure if dissect would be the rightr word, as they
exist on the microscopic scale, so you can't cut them with a
knife, but I'm sure we've analyzed and figured out the parts
of every virus known to man.


We know they can't have consciousness though simply because
they are to smal to suppport a neural structure.

Can we effectively predict new viruses in the future? Which organizations and individuals are doing this? The Avian Virus hit with no effective predictive model.

Originally posted by GreatTech
Can we effectively predict new viruses in the future? Which organizations and individuals are doing this? The Avian Virus hit with no effective predictive model.

We can't predict exactly what they will be like, but we can
theorize about how they may be in general.

iori_komei, good comment. If more people theorized, the greater our chances of saving the human race from extinction. Currently we suffer from viral-partial-human-extinction.

In many degrees, how we treat the smallest of us is how we treat the whole of us.

Can a virus bond with a photon and vice versa? If they could bond, would it increase or decrease its speed? Would photons and viruses have to divide into smaller particles of themselves to at least partially bond together? Can a virus induce a photon to travel faster than the speed of light? Can a photon induce a virus to travel faster?

Choose from the following:
1) Does a photon require viruses to travel faster?
2) Does a photon require a single virus to travel faster?
3) Does a photon require no viruses to travel faster?
4) Does a virus require photons to travel faster?
5) Does a virus require a single photon to travel faster?
6) Does a virus require no photons to travel faster?

I choose all 6 as I believe there are Infinite varieties of photons and viruses.

Originally posted by GreatTech
Can a virus bond with a photon and vice versa? If they could bond, would it increase or decrease its speed? Would photons and viruses have to divide into smaller particles of themselves to at least partially bond together? Can a virus induce a photon to travel faster than the speed of light? Can a photon induce a virus to travel faster?

No, a virus can't bond with a photon, a photon is both a particle
and a wave, and since it has no mass, there's nothing for anything
to bond to.

Also, viruses exist on the microscopic scale, photons exist on the
quantum scale, viruses are far to large to bond to a single quantum
particle, If it did bond, it would slow the speed down.

Photons can't divide into smaller parts, as they are the smallest
component of light.


As to the second part of your post, well you sorta lost me,
that is I don't undersatand what you were asking with it.

Originally posted by GreatTech
It has been my learning for a long time that a biological virus is alive, that it is a microorganism.

Interesting. I have been under the impression that the older understanding was that they are not alive, because they don't meet the stringent defition of life, but that, more recently, people have been wanting to include them as 'alive', in keeping with a looser definition/qualification for what's alive.

Regardless, if a person says that a virus isn't alive, they are usually focusing on their inability to reproduce themselves; they need to be incorporated into the DNA replicating machinery of living cells.

So a virus is just an inanimate thing that floats around, it hits a cell, this causes a reaction that results in the DNA in the virus to be injected into a cell, that DNA becomes incorporated into the host's genome, and essentially hijacks it, the cell's DNA replication machinery will obsessively replicate the viral information, making many copies of hte orignal virus, to the point that the cells fills with them, eventually breaks apart, and is dead.

So, in a lose sense, a virus could perhaps be said to be "living, but inanimate".

Confusing little things no? Its sort of like asking 'are my proteins alive'? They are the product of living things, and they 'do stuff', they react like chemicals, and they also have a certain 'mechanical' aspect to them, similar ot how the virus 'attacks' a cell by latching onto it and injectingthemselves. But we wouldnt say that the protein intends to do this, we'd say its a machine or device that simply peforms a fucntion.
And, of course, a protein doesn't replicate on its own.
Except for prions. Most people don't consider prions to be alive either, but they do induce normal proteins to become 'malformed', in the same was as they are. Thats effectively replication.
So in the widest sense, I'd bet that a person could say that prions and viruses are alive.

or have I always been wrong?

Right, wrong, its all semantics at times.

Can viruses have a similar sensory set within a "different consciousness realm?"

A virus has no sense organs, so it can't sense anything.

This is where there are severe problems in thinking. I think, therefore, I am, as Voltaire said. BUt none of my 'parts', are actually able to 'sense' anything. MY eye is a device that focuses electromagnetic radio-waves onto chemical stacks called 'rods and cones'. When the energetic electro-magentic radiation strikes them, some of that energy causes bonds in the chemical stacks to break, there is no perception there, its a simple as sunlight causing water to evaporate, or an oven to cook food. Then those chemical stacks go through a cascade of chemical reaction, no different essentially that plopping alka-seltzer into a glass of water, no intent, no desire, mere chemical reaction resulting from interacting enegeries in the atomic and chemical bonds.
The chemical stacks eventually trigger another chemical reaction, the opening of ion floodgates along the lining of a device called a 'nerve cell'. Ions of one charge flow into the lining of the cell, because its literally a charged particle moving, its a change in electrical potentials, this causes a building cascade of more gates opening, and even more chemicals flowing in, and thus even more eletrical charges occuring.
That depolarization travels down the 'nerve cell', triggering, in the same way, electric activity at the other nerve cells that it touches, which are themselves also touching a large number of other nerve cells, any one of which might be reacting through a similar electrical cascade.
Somehow, some way, out of all that, there is 'sensation'. Whether its just a glob of light senstive pigment at the end of some nerve stalk in a primitive single celled organism, permiting it to 'move to light, move from light', or a human being looking at a painting by one of the masters, thats the level at which we understand and can 'explain' it.
Fascinating. From insensate electrical activity to everything else.

to definitively determine whether they have complete, partial, or no "different realm of consciousness?"

Viruses have been studied, and they can be imaged, they are made up of genetic material, which are insensate chemicals, and proteins, which are also insensate. There is no 'place' at which any sense data, if it had lines to come in through, would be processes.

So, for example, DNA has a charge, its slightly negative (because it has -OH groups on it). If I put some dna into a box (with some medium that it can be suspended in), and apply a current, the DNA will move torwards the positive anode of the apparatus.
Does the DNA 'sense' the postive current, does it experience it and opt to move torwards it? No more, at least, than, say, a compass senses the north and south poles and move to align with them, the movement is a consequence of physical laws, in the same way that, if I have to mechcanical gears connected to one another, we wouldnt' say, upon turning on gear, that the other 'senses' the movement and starts to move, it moves as a consquence of mechanical law.

[edit on 2-11-2006 by Nygdan]

Originally posted by GreatTech
Can a virus bond with a photon and vice versa?

No. But, a photon, upon striking some chemicals, can cause a reaction within them, such as what happens with the chlorophyll of plants, light strikes them, some of their electrons are 'excited', they pick up some of the lights energy, and they start reacting. Similar to what happens in the rods and cones of the eyes, or other 'photo-sensitive pigments'.

If they could bond, would it increase or decrease its speed?

In so far as they 'bond' by the photon giving up energy to the electrons, there is an increase in 'activity' of the electrons, but not necessarily their velocity; they are going from one pattern of activity to another one.

Its interesting that the question was brought up about a virus' association with light.
I found this comment in reference to its size here

library.thinkquest.org...

The big difference between viruses and all else, is that fact that viruses are so small they can not be viewed without the help of an electron microscope. This is because viruses are, on average, smaller than a regular wavelength of visible light. In effect, the viruses can hide between light waves, thus making them colorless. They can not be seen by the naked eye or a regular microscope. Viruses are so small in fact, that the largest virus is equal in size to the smallest bacteria. The smallest virus measures only 20 nanometers in length. Because of their incredibly small size, viruses are extremely hard to study and understand.

There is a lot of good information here about virus'. I've alwast been facinated by their quasi living state of existence.

en.wikipedia.org...

Uh...
isn't a vaccine a "killed" or weakened virus?

how can you kill something that isn't alive?

If a virus isn't alive, but actually just a conglomeration of molecules that alter a human cell
isn't that the same thing as a Prion?

How fast does a virus go, how fast can a human travel= the speed of the virus.

Nygdan, you are brilliant. Your scientific knowledge is very impressive.

I would be very interested in your answer (and others' answers) to the following questions: if each person assumes that everything we experience with our senses on a macroscopic and microscopic scale (including the couch) was alive, would medical and scientific progress be greater than current rates? If so, by how much? Will this assumption ever in the future be naturally adopted in to the human mind?

Originally posted by iori_komei
No, physical viruses can't move at lightspeed, though digital
ones do.

Not quite...There's still the natural resistance of the wiring to account for & there's also the "imbedded wait states" within CPU electronics to slow down the electricity a bit.
Even if you're dealing with fiber optics for signal transmission, any electronic logic device still has to deal with its imbedded wait states.

Originally posted by Musky
A strong sneeze or cough can get certain types of viruses moving at a pretty good clip.

Originally posted by magicmushroom
How fast does a virus go, how fast can a human travel= the speed of the virus.

From what I understand, a sneeze generates a breeze that moves at the same speed as a hurricane...About 300 mph, if I'm not mistaken. Not nearly the same volume of air is moved though. A virus can only travel as fast as the medium that supports it & only through the circumstances that cause that medium to start traveling in the first place; In the case just noted, a sneeze causes the medium (mucus fluids from the sinuses) to travel at about hurricane-speed.

Originally posted by GreatTech
DJMessiah, are viruses always present in the blood?

I'm not sure about viruses, but I know that your intenstines carry a symbiotic bacteria that allow you to digest your food. You couldn't live without them!

Originally posted by iori_komei
Just to note, viruses, apart from being used to cure some diseases,
may in the future be used for large scale biological cosmetic reforming, particularly in genetic engineering treatments.

This involves using genetic engineering to transform the virus into what is called a "retro-virus". What the gengineers do is "scoop out" the harmful genetics but allow the virus to maintain its ability to infect & alter the host's cells. The scooped out part is replaced with the modified genetic structure that could correct a specific genetic problem in a patient. This has already been done (at least since 1995) with some success on some people who have hereditary blood-related defects.
I don't have any specific links to offer, but using "genetic engineering" & "gene therapy" as your keywords, you may find something...

Originally posted by GreatTech
Can a person who is blind or lacking part of his/her vision gain in vision with viral therapy?

The only possible ways that I'm aware of would involve either:
If the original defect is hereditary & corrective DNA can be introduced into the structure of a virus; Beyond our technology, at this point.
If the defect is due to injury, it would take more gengineering a retrovirus to actually regenerate lost or damaged tissues; Far beyond our technology level at this point.

Originally posted by Nygdan
So, in a lose sense, a virus could perhaps be said to be "living, but inanimate".

As an anology, Viruses are similar to "gametes" (look it up), the sperm or egg cells within "fully-functional" bio-organisms. Gametes only have half a genetic code, therefore they must bond together to make a complete, functioning cell. This is how certain genetic traits are passed from generation to generation.
In a way, viruses are similar (not exactly alike), in that they cannot survive on their own unless they "infect & alter" another organism.
What makes a bacterium different from gametes & viruses is that bacteria can temporarily merge & alter each other's genetic codes. This was proven when bacteria that was resistant to penecillin was combined with non-resitant bacteria; They paired off & in time, all the bacteria became resistant.

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
Uh...
isn't a vaccine a "killed" or weakened virus?

No, it's not "killed"...Not really "weakened" either; It's "genetically altered." The harmful genetics are removed from the virus & replaced with another genetic code that helps the body to "recongize" the virus.
The way that the human immune system is pretty complex; Certain cells in the bloodstream can "recognize" harmful pathogens. They do this because the body produces cells that manifest in a certain shape. When this "shaped" cell contacts with a pathogen in the bloodstream, it bonds to the pathogen, like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, because the pathogen has its own shape. Your bloodstream will produce "shaped" cells that will correspond to whatever pathogen-shapes that you're body has encountered.
When the body's shaped cells bind with matching pathogens, white cells in the bloodstream attack anything that's bound with its other "shaped" cells, killing them both.
When you sneeze, for example, you're actually sneezing out both live virus (suspended in the mucus fluid, but it hasn't been bound to any "shaped cells" yet) as well as killed "shaped cells" that had bound together with some of the virus.

Originally posted by GreatTech
Can a virus cause the increase and/or decrease in sight, hearing, sound, touch, taste, and/or smell of its Host.

Yes, by damaging part of its host.

Can a virus see, hear, make sound, touch, taste, or smell on its own and/or with the aid of a Host?

No. It's basically just a chain of proteins.

Originally posted by GreatTech
Have all types of viruses been thoroughly and successfully dissected (like a human or frog) in a laboratory to definitively determine whether they have complete, partial, or no "different realm of consciousness?"

There are far too many of them to say we've got them all. And they do mutate (some mutate rapidly.)

However, consciousness requires some sort of nervous system or system to process signals from the environment and deliver a voluntary response. Viruses (a chain of proteins) react only in the form of "this particular site fits this structure on me" and have no way of moving to make any voluntary response.

Originally posted by GreatTech
Can a virus bond with a photon and vice versa?

No. A photon is a unit of energy (a "particle" of electromagnetic energy (like light.)) It has no ability to bond with anything. It's smaller than an electron:
www.answers.com...

A virus is a collection of chemicals. It could be heated by bombarding it with enough photons, but since photons aren't charged particles they can't bond with or interact with the virus.

If an atom was the size of a football field, the nucleus (core of the atom) would be about the size of a mosquito buzzing around that field. A photon at that scale would be about the size of a particle of dust (the actual answer is a bit more complicated than that, but that would give you the basics.)

If an atom was the size of a football field, then the whole collection of atoms and molecules that would make up a virus would be about the size of the Earth. And the photon would still be the size of a particle of dust.

You might like to read the Physics for Future Presidents chapters here:
muller.lbl.gov...

He goes into photons in great detail here... but you'll want to look at (or listen to) the preceeding lectures to get the background for this:
muller.lbl.gov...

Hmmm. Viruses moving at lightspeed? Probably not.

But other disease agents may. From my "prions and evolution" files:

www.physics.helsinki.fi...

"Wormhole magnetic fields provide a quantum mechanism for a control at distance, say of the control of the behaviour of cell organelles by cell nucleus as well as a model for the memory of biosystem in terms of integer valued winding numbers identifiable as quantized momenta of the wormhole supra currents.

***

www.helsinki.fi...

Wormhole super conductivity leads to a quantum model of EEG and nerve pulse. In the model the lipid layers of the cell membrane are identified as coupled wormhole super conductors. Join along boundaries bonds connecting the lipid layers serve as Josephson junctions [Josephson]. The model [eeg] is described in more detail in a separate abstract.

b) Wormholes could be important also in DNA and molecular length scales and perhaps provide even DNA with a rudimentary nervous system. This idea gets support from the successful model of the so called Comorosan effect [Comorosan1,Comorosan2,worm].

Interesting stuff.