The Hard Facts on the Medusa Virus

Depending on which version of ancient mythology you read, Medusa had a head of serpents and whoever looked upon her was turned to stone. Talk about having a hard day! Borrowing from the gist of the mythology, researchers came up with something called the Medusavirus. No snakes, though. And you're not likely to "catch" this virus.

Medusa by Jacek Malczewski, 1900

The Medusavirus is not only large in size, but it also has a large, complex genome. Believers in universal common descent evolution have a difficult time finding an explanation for it, as there is no lineage, contains special genes, and gene transfer happens rapidly. Even so, scientists are wondering what it really is. While more research will be conducted, we do have something unique that supports creation and is antithetical to evolution.

A novel ‘giant virus’ (diameter 260 nanometers, 1 nanometer is 10-9 meters) has recently been discovered in a Japanese hot spring. Masaharu Takemaru, a virologist at the Tokyo University of Science, named it Medusavirus after the Greek legend of the Medusa, who was so ugly that people looking at her would turn to stone. Researchers have cultured Medusavirus inside the amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii. The virus induces the amoeba to dehydrate and harden in self-defense (a process known as encystment). If they fail to do this, these amoebae will be invaded by the virus, which hijacks the reproductive machinery to produce more viruses. Then the amoeba bursts to release the new viruses.

To read this short but technical article, click on "Newly discovered Medusavirus turns evolutionary theory to stone".