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Here's your first look at Antiviral, the directorial debut of David Cronenberg's son Brandon — with a totally mind-blowing and revolting premise. Twitch Film has this first image from the film, plus the first synopsis: More »
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Many of you probably read last week about a supervirus, engineered by dutch virologist Ron Fouchier, that has the potential to wipe out half of humanity. More »
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A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America's Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots' every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones. More »
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The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic was one of the worst disease outbreaks ever seen, leading to the death of some 50 million individuals across the globe. It was also the first H1N1 global outbreak — its followup in 2009 was decidedly less potent, at least in part because of advances in medical science since then. More »
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Scientists have known for some time that dogfish sharks, like the one pictured up top, naturally produce a broad-spectrum antibiotic called squalamine in their livers. Now, new research into the cellular function of squalamine reveals how it also confers a broad-spectrum antiviral benefit for the shark — one we humans could benefit from, as well. More »
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Get a good look at Steven Soderbergh's disgusting outbreak movie Contagion and be reminded, you're just a hand rail or public restroom visit away from dying a horrible viral death. More »
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UCSF researchers have confirmed that one of their own has been stricken with an adenovirus that has jumped from a population of New World Titi monkeys. What's more, scientists believe that the virus came from a third species before moving to the Titis. More »
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James Jaros' new novel Burn Down the Sky offers a disturbing take on the post-global-warming dystopian setting. Our civilization is no more, thanks to skyrocketing temperatures and a catstrophic water shortage — and then there's the deadly "Wicca" virus. More »
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Chances of a massive outbreak of Ebola that would either devastate the world or precipitate another Dustin Hoffman action movie just declined slightly. Researchers have found a way to block one of Ebola's entryways into the body. More »
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The stories about rabbits with horns circulated for centuries. Eventually they crystallized into the myth of the jackalope. If you go to Wyoming and twirl a rack of postcards, chances are you'll find a picture of a jackalope bounding across the prairie. It looks like a rabbit sprouting a pair of antlers. You may even see jackalopes in the flesh-or at least the head of one mounted on a diner wall. More »
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Three days ago our hopes were raised for a coming insect-based food supply for humans. Already, those hopes have been dashed. A cricket plague has hit North America, and it threatens to shut cricket farms down. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5733371&view=rss&microfeed=true The ancient origins of Hepatitis are coming to light, thanks to virus fragments locked in the genomes of modern songbirds. A "fossilized virus" isn't one embedded in rocks, but rather in the DNA of the host, and this is the first-ever hepatitis-family virus discovered. It was found in the same location in the genomes of five different species of songbird. These birds can be traced to a single ancestor species some 19 million years ago, which pushes back the known age of the virus family by orders of magnitude. The fossilized version is also remarkably similar to current Hepatitis B, implying that it has a slower rate of mutation than previously thought. More »
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One of the problems with decoding the human genome was discovering how little of the human genome was actually... well, human. Are we really made up by mostly virus DNA? More »
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You're looking a deadly virus right in the face, but it's not a new work of microscopy or nano-imaging. Instead, it's a giant model made by Minnesota artist Aliston Hiltner. To confront us with the strange beauty of pathogens in her latest show, "Pathology," she used 6,000 balloons. Her work also includes weirdly industrial looking replacement hearts and kidneys, and a whole range of supervillain gear, including hypno-goggles and a mask that encrypts your evil plans. Click through for a gallery. More »
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All viruses have an organic outer shell, but it turns out that with a little genetic tinkering they can be trained to produce an inorganic outer shell made of gold or cobalt oxide. Angela Belcher's lab at MIT has created an entire factory of trained viruses whose genes have been reprogrammed to grow battery ingredients. They're also growing ingredients for solar cells, as well as computer monitors and water-purification systems. More »
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The latest electron microscopes can create three-dimensional images of the smallest structures, turning an agricultural pest into a work of art. This is the cowpea mosaic virus, scourge of legume farmers everywhere, vitrified and subjected to a single particle reconstruction procedure by FEI Corp. You can easily make out the blue outer protein shell and the yellow viral genomic material inside. Maybe soon we'll be able to hack viruses as easily as we can image them. Image by FEI Corp. [FEI] More »
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