NN+Virus+Article+Questions


 * 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. **if the avian flu was able to evolve, it might be able to pass from human to human easier, and with its high death rate, that would be very bad.** **an organism that lives off of a host organism, taking away nutrients from the other organism.**
 * 2. Define parasite. **A parasite is an organism that lives off of another organism, taking away essential nutrients from the host organism.**
 * 3. Define gene. **something that codes for a certain characteristic in an organism A SEGMENT OF DNA**
 * 4. She compares viruses to tiny parcels. Why? How are these parcels mailed? **Viruses are like parcels because they simply carry the genes that make the virus harmful around. These "parcels" are mailed by carriers, such as insects, or by direct contact with bodily fluids.**
 * 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 first piece of evidence is that it killed 20 million people, and normal flu viruses don't kill that many people. The second piece of advice was that it was also deadly to the young, while the normal flu virus is usually only deadly to the elderly.**
 * 6. What is H5N1? **The Avian Flu.**
 * 7. Since H5N1 has killed mostly birds, why are we worried about it? **Its death rate is half of the people that it infects, which is a very high death rate for a virus.**
 * 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? **A mutation is simply a change to a gene. Viral sex is when two viruses mix their genes and form an new virus.**
 * 9. How can mutation lead to evolution (origin of new species)? **Enough mutations could potentially change the entire genetic code of an organism, making it an entirely different species. THE CODE DOESN'T CHANGE, BUT THE INFORMATION**
 * 10. How can sex lead to evolution (origin of new species)? **If enough genes go "shuffled" around, the genetic code could become so different it could become a new species. CHANGE INFO NOT CODE**