Eli5: what exactly is a virus and are viruses alive?

Question

Eli5: what exactly is a virus and are viruses alive?

In: 130

Answer 1

Viruses are right at the edge of what’s alive and what isn’t; arguing the toss is a somewhat sterile occupation. They’re basically a parcel of instructions and a few useful tools. They can’t reproduce on their own, but they’re biological and they can trick cells into producing more copies of them.