the.com/coronavirus
A spiky protein crown that turned 'uncertain times' into a permanent subtitle.
means A family of viruses, some causing anything from a mild cold to severe respiratory disease, named for the crown-like ring of spike proteins studding their surface.
from From Latin corona, meaning 'crown' or 'wreath' (itself from Greek korone), fused with virus, Latin for 'poison' or 'slimy liquid.' Electron microscopes in the 1960s revealed these particles ringed with bulbous spikes, resembling a solar corona — the halo of light visible around the sun during an eclipse — and virologists named them accordingly, decades before the word would crown every news broadcast on Earth.
- name origin
- named for crown-like spike proteins, not beer
- family size
- causes everything from colds to covid-19
- first discovery
- identified in chickens back in 1937
- zoonotic streak
- most strains jump from animals to humans