Get extended access to 1600+ episodes, binge watch your favorite shows, and stream anytime - online or in the PBS app.
Already a WUCF member?
You may have an unactivated WUCF Passport member benefit. Check to see.
Special | 3m 1s | Video has closed captioning.
How do viruses work? Sort of like aliens that invade cells and take them over. They do that enough times, and you’ve got a big ol’ problem on your hands. In this episode, learn how a virus invades and what it does to not only kill a cell but create a sort of infectious bomb that contaminates other cells.
Aired: 04/23/21
From:
(ominous music) - Doc, my husband is just, he's not, he's not my husband.
He's changed.
It started last week.
We had such a wonderful night cooking up some proteins and then, you know, we had mitosis and it was all so perfect.
But then the next day, he started acting really strange.
He had this funny look around his mitochondria.
He's just, oh, it's horrible.
- I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you, well, a sensitive question.
- Okay.
- Ah, how to put this.
Has he been opening his membranes to anyone strange or new?
- (startled gasp) What?
No, of course not!
We are always very careful.
- Oh, okay, well tell me.
Who had he opened his membrane to around the time, well, you noticed the change?
- [Wife] Well, just the normal mail couriers with packages of proteins, minerals, and sugars.
- [Doc] And nothing suspicious?
No unusual packages delivered?
- Well, come to think of it.
There was one strange package with a fairly explicit piece of genetic code.
But when I asked my husband, he said they mail those out to everyone, not to worry.
- Oh, all right.
Did it look like this?
- Yes, that's it.
- Hmm.
- [Wife] What?
- Well, that's a virus.
I'm afraid your husband has been invaded by what we call a virus.
(startled gasp) Once your husband opened up his membranes to accept that package, it spit out its own genes into him hijacking your husband's genetic instructions.
Clever creatures really.
- Are you say that my husband has become a virus?
- Oh no, not a virus, imagine, more a virus factory.
You see, these virus invaders don't bother to do any of the hard work that we cells do.
A virus hijacks a cell to make millions of copies of itself.
It's really amazing.
Well, of course, until the cell bursts and the virus spreads to more cells.
We need to check you to make sure you haven't been infected too.
Ma'am, are you okay?
- I'm fine.
All this is just a lot to take in.
(strained groan, explosion) (light, jazzy music)
The Gene.
Explore Free Resources
Animated Series
What the heck is a gene, anyway? This animated series won’t get you a PhD, but it does clear up a few mysteries about how genes work and what they might look like in the future. (Microscope not required.)
Watch Now
