Viruses form a shell around themselves called a capsid. This shell, or capsid, protects the viruses genetic material, or RNA, from intruders. The most interesting part about the capsids is how they are formed. Like all DNA or RNA molecules, they include instructions for their replication. Ribosomes take the instructions stored in the DNA or RNA to build more of those same molecules. But viruses have a limited amount of storage, which means the instructions held in their RNA cannot have complex assembly steps. Instead, they have a...

Measles are extremely contagious. So much so, they have a hitting average a major league batter would kill for. What makes measles so contagious is their ability to hide from our body's immune system initial defenses. In fact, they hi-jack them to help it spread across the whole body. When the measles virus enters our system, our white-blood cells are tricked into thinking the virus is not a threat. The measles virus then uses the white-blood cells as free transportation to the immune-system-central-station (lymph node). Once in our...