Can Viruses Travel Between Planets?

↓ More info below ↓ With the global pandemic of Covid 19 still encompassing the world, we are generally not big fans of viruses right now. But we sure are thinking about them a lot. That’s right, even astrophysicists are pondering these bizarre little critters. In fact, astrovirology, although very new, is actually an emerging subfield of astrobiology. And that’s because it turns out viruses don’t just influence organisms - they’re incredibly important on a planetary scale. Perhaps an interplanetary scale. Virology Links: Dr. Vincent Racaniello's Columbia University virology course: PBS Eons Where do Viruses Come From? Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Katie McCormick & Matt O'Dowd Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, & Pedro Osinski Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber Camera Operator: Bahaar Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: Big Bang Supporters Alexander Tamas David Nicklas Fabrice Eap Juan Benet Morgan Hough Radu Negulescu Quasar Supporters Christina Oegren Mark Heising Vinnie Falco Hypernova william bryan chuck zegar Danton Spivey Donal Botkin Edmund Fokschaner Hank S John Hofmann John Pollock John R. Slavik Jordan Young Joseph Salomone Julian Tyacke Mathew Matthew O'Connor Syed Ansar Timothy McCulloch Gamma Ray Burst A G Adrian Hatch AlecZero Andreas Nautsch Andrew Richmond Bradley Jenkins Brandon labonte Brandon Lattin Brian Blanchard Cass Costello Craig Stonaha Dan Warren Daniel Lyons David Bethala David Hughes DFaulk Eric Kiebler Frederic Simon Geoffrey Short Graydon Goss Greg Smith Jennifer Crosley John Funai John Griffith John Robinson Josh Thomas Justin Waters Kevin Lee Kevin Warne Kyle Hofer Malte Ubl Mark Daniel Cohen Michael Conroy Mirik Gogri Nick Virtue Nick Wright Nickolas Andrew Freeman Patrick Sutton Paul Rose Protius Protius Robert Ilardi Scott Gossett Sean Warniaha Shane Calimlim Simon Oliphant Steve Bradshaw Tatiana Vorovchenko Tim Stephani Tonyface Tybie Fitzhugh Yannick Weyns Yurii Konovaliuk