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Questions tagged [viruses]

For questions about infectious agents that alter existing systems in order to reproduce.

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13 votes
12 answers
4k views

Keeping the horde of nanomachines at bay?

So, there are three major powers in the setting that can be reasoned with, and a fourth that is just there to destroy. I have a problem with balancing them. The so-called nature spirits are creatures ...
Mephistopheles's user avatar
12 votes
4 answers
3k views

what makes a disease deadly?

I am writing a story, in which a mad scientist (based on Ted Kaczynski) wants to kill as many people as possible with an artificially created disease. The idea is, that more complex societies are ...
Qoray's user avatar
  • 1,089
23 votes
12 answers
7k views

The everybody-hates-everybody virus. Can humanity survive?

Aliens that are weaklings and have no physical weapons as we know them, want to conquer Earth because their home planet is dying. They sow an everybody-hates-everybody virus throughout Earth's ...
chasly - supports Monica's user avatar
20 votes
4 answers
10k views

How do scientists know whether a virus is man-made or not?

Question The alien want to make some new virus (or editing the gene of existing virus) to increase human death rate, and they don't want human to know the virus has been edited. I have read some ...
fairytale's user avatar
  • 1,334
14 votes
12 answers
6k views

Can a person be immune to all diseases and poisons

I have an OC, who was born with this one-of-a-kind condition. His immune system is abnormally strong, invincible really. He's incapable of getting sick, or dying of bacteria, viruses, venoms, poisons, ...
throwaway account's user avatar
11 votes
6 answers
663 views

How could a seemingly-harmless virus become deadly at a predetermined date and time?

A secret group of environmentalist ultra-extremists has engineered a virus (or virus-like pathogen) with the purpose of making all of humanity extinct (yes, including themselves). They are aware that ...
plasticinsect's user avatar
11 votes
9 answers
1k views

How would a virus that only kills one sex work?

There is a popular movie trope of the near-total elimination of a sex (often male) because of a virus/a plague. This got me wondering : How would such a virus work? I'm not sure if it would be ...
faddllz's user avatar
  • 1,822
8 votes
6 answers
1k views

Could a "multicellular" virus exist?

When I say multicellular I mean it's made of more that one viruses. Basically it's a bunch of viruses that act like viruses but use the viruses made by infected cells to build a "multicellular" ...
Topcode's user avatar
  • 2,356
5 votes
2 answers
127 views

Heterozygote advantage against influenza/flu

Some heterozygote advantages in humans are: People with sickle-cell trait are resistant to malaria, but people with sickle-cell disease tend to die young. Depending of the source we believe, people ...
mammifereviolet4694's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
816 views

Creating a plausible Wendigo fever

It is believed that Wendigos are supernatural beings with an insatiable hunger for human flesh, or humans who are selfish and commit cannibalism and while the latter is more accurate, Wendigo fever is ...
icewar1908's user avatar
  • 6,949
5 votes
4 answers
763 views

Can a virus that causes forced evolution exist?

I recently watched a movie called The Cave. In the movie there's a group of spelunkers that get trapped in the cave with a bunch of blind monsters. towards the end of the movie, we find out that the ...
Ghazt Master's user avatar
2 votes
6 answers
516 views

How to counteract a trojan horse when the horse is the anti-virus software?

I have got caught behind the 'irresistible force meets immoveable rock' conundrum. A predatory country has been making very long-term plans for building an empire. This country, as part of a very long-...
Justin Thyme the Second's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
191 views

ideal virus for eco-terrorist [closed]

This is a follow up question to my earlier question what makes a disease deadly? In my book, the villain, a biology professor inspired by Ted Kaczynski, wants to revert humanity into a hunter ...
Qoray's user avatar
  • 1,089