“So powerful and ancient are viruses, that I would summarize their role in life as ‘Ex Virus Omnia’ (from virus everything).” We have met the enemy and he is u

“So powerful and ancient are viruses, that I would summarize their role in life as ‘Ex Virus Omnia’ (from virus everything).” We have met the enemy and he is us. Viruses may be both the gravest threat to our species and mothers and fathers of it. They are also, to a first approximation, the Red Queen, who must be obeyed. If we can disobey her, and distribute an effective vaccine in time to dent her latest royal tour, it will be an epic level up: the power to not consent to impregnation by horizontal gene transfer. It seems that we're not quite there yet.