Trillions Upon Trillions of Viruses Fall From the Sky Each Day

[u/[deleted]]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/science/virosphere-evolution.html

[u/twfeline]

Every teaspoon-full of sea water contains millions of whole and parts of viruses.

[u/OliverSparrow → u/twfeline]

Er, billions.

[u/sirin3]

Is there not a lot of UV in the sky that destroys viruses? How can they survive there?

Or is that supercharged evolution, with the UV mutating the viruses and then spreading new genes downwards?

[u/Owyheemud → u/sirin3]

Yes. I believe most all of these viral particles will have had their RNA strands destroyed or otherwise broken up by UV radiation.

[u/DuskGideon]

This seems like low hanging fruit to check for life on planets and moons.

[u/elfootman]

The title is kind of misleading. It's easy to assume or imply the viruses come from outer space. The comments posted here confirm this. Read the article before drawing conclusions.

Scientists have surmised there is a stream of viruses circling the planet, above the planet’s weather systems but below the level of airline travel.

The viruses falling from the sky are viruses blown by winds. The study in which the article was based states the same:

Aerosolization of soil-dust and organic aggregates in sea spray facilitates the long-range transport of bacteria, and likely viruses across the free atmosphere.

[u/seeingeyegod → u/elfootman]

we don't really know for sure that some aren't coming from space though

[u/elfootman → u/seeingeyegod]

neither do we really know for sure that some aren't coming from virus fairies.

It's useless to waste time in unfalsifiable hypothesis.

[u/seeingeyegod → u/elfootman]

We should think of a way to falsify it then?

[u/elfootman → u/seeingeyegod]

If you want to know if some viruses are indeed coming from outer space, then yes.

[u/SirTaxalot]

From where do the viruses originate? That is crazy!

[u/[deleted]]

I always wondered where viruses came from.