Evolution+in+the+Air+-+Virus+Article+-+Rachel

__Evolution is in the Air__ article. Answer the following questions (include question) on a unique wiki page.

//1. "if we are unlucky..." the author writes we will see evolution in action. What does she mean? Why would it by unlucky to see the avian virus evolve.// She means "if we are unlucky" the avain flu virus will evolve causing humans to contract the virus much much more easily.

//2. Define parasite.// "an organism living in, with, or on another organism in [|parasitism]" (webster.com)

//3. Define gene.// "a specific sequence of nucleotides in DNA or RNA that is located usually on a chromosome and that is the functional unit of inheritance controlling the transmission and expression of one or more traits by specifying the structure of a particular polypeptide and especially a protein or controlling the function of other genetic material" (webster.com)

//4. She compares viruses to tiny parcels. Why? How are these parcels mailed?// A parcel is a package, viruses are transferred from one organism to another just as simply as a package is mailed from one person to another. Virus parasites are "mailed" both directly and indirectly, meaning anything from sneezing to carrier insects.

//5. 20 million people died of the Spanish Flu during World War II. Yet the author claims to know that this flu virus was particularly deadly not that it was a normal virus but because of the war and wartime "deprivation" people were more likely to get sick and die. What two pieces of evidence indicate this was a very deadly virus unlike the normal flu virus.// The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 or World War I was a very deadly virus unlike the normal flu virus because:
 * 1) It is thought to have stemmed from mutations to an avian flu virus.
 * 2) It killed more than 20 million people.

//6. What is H5N1?// H5N1 is the 8 gene virus that causes the avian flu.

//7. Since H5N1 has killed mostly birds, why are we worried about it?// Because it has also killed people, about half the people that have contracted the virus. Those kind of figures are extremely high; a hybrid of the virus is very probable of being created.

//8. Two processes could change the H5N1 in a deadly way: sex and mutation. What is viral sex and how could it change the virus? What is viral mutation and how could this change the virus?// Viral sex could happen if a person already infected with the human flu were to catch the avian flu and the two viruses were to have sex. If this happened a new virus would form with a combination of the two different sets of genes. Viral mutation would occur if genetic material of the virus were to alter accidental. Both could cause the virus to travel between people or worse, without a vaccine the results could mean fatality in the million.

//9. How can mutation lead to evolution (origin of new species)?// Mutation can create new genes which can "cause populations to diverge and tehn split into new species."

//10. How can sex lead to evolution (origin of new species)?// Just as mutations can lead to the creation of new genes sex can cause new genes to create thus creating new species.