What Was The First Virus?

Hello all! Hope you enjoy it. One clarification - the images shown are of a mixture of different chalk cliffs on the south coast of England, not only those specifically in Dover. Also, fun fact - I myself was suffering from coronavirus whilst finishing this video. Dedication to the topic.

hope this goes viral

OUTSTANDING!! As a long-retired microbiologist I just had to watch this. After what seemed like about 10 - 12 mins the video ended. I then looked at the clock and saw that 25 mins had elapsed. That's how engrossed I was. I majored in bacteriology and immunology rather than virology, which was in its infancy when I trained, so you should take pride in the fact that you made some points that were new to this old wrinkly bugs man! With heartiest congratulations on such a great production.

One theory I don't hear much about is that viruses may have been caused by microbes being torn apart (by being eaten or some other trauma). Some of the scraps could have been DNA or RNA fragments that got spilled back into the environment, and had enough coherence to reproduce themselves when they bumped into another microbe.

Man, this is I think the third video I’ve watched from this channel, and the absolute insane level of quality in these videos keeps blowing me away. These are actually better than than some of the top documentaries made. The editing, the narration, the in-depth information, the cool images, all while being extremely entertaining? It’s just baffling. Well done! You definitely earned my subscription.

Damn we’re in an age where we can get more informative and in depth, yet more concise, documentary type videos on YouTube for free than actual documentaries

All I have on my TV is Netflix and YouTube. This documentary is a fine example of why I'm not paying for cable anymore.

Dude this was television level production quality. Amazing work, man.

I have heard so many times that part of our DNA has virus origins. But so far I have not heard anyone else pointing out that among all infected cells, only the sex cells actually pass and preserve these virus DNA sections. It is kind of obvious, but worth mentioning I think. It brings a little more depth and clarity, especially if you are not very knowledgeable to this matter.

My man here putting entire TV CHANNELS to shame!

I don't get sick very often and was able to avoid Covid when those around me were getting sick. Now I am sick and the only thing that seems so sooth me psychologically are videos from this channel. Everything else seems to make me feel sicker. Thank you so much for putting this together. The voice work and b roll fit together like a rare work of art.

Just beautiful, especially the photos of coccolithophores--they almost look as if they were crocheted. Thank you for putting these up here, I call YouTube my free college--and yours is my favorite course.

When I first learned how much of our DNA is made up of inactive viral DNA, and that it this inflation of our genome by "junk" DNA that protects us from errors in gene copying, it definitely made me appreciate the role of viruses in evolution at large.

Reading up on the relationship viruses have with marine microbial diversity, and how they alter important natural processes has me high key interested in pursuing higher education in marine virology. For example, coccolithophores’ significant contribution to sea spray aerosols, an important component for cloud formation, increases significantly with infection by coccolithoviruses. To imagine something of such a small scale driving a biophysical interaction that bears significance to our coastal weather patterns, is utterly mind blowing.

David Kelly your narration is an inspiration! Combined with Leila's writing ,your delivery is perfection. A clear and interesting lecture with such appropriate emphasis in every sentence that attention can never wander. Superb . Exceptional . Outstanding. I am lost for words,,,,,,

These videos are really professionally done. My one pet peeve is that as far as we know all DNA and RNA on Earth has a right-handed helix (righty-tighty lefty-loosey) and some of the clips in this video have left-handed helixes, like at 19:13 and 21:36. Some biochemists just can't unsee that. 🙂

Love the calm pace of your voice over, compared to many other channels that speed through the subject matter. Thank you!

Very informative and wonderfully produced. David Kelly has a voice that could become as popular as David Attenborough's and the art of Khail Kupsky complements it. Looking forward to more from History of the Earth. Also makes me think visiting Mars maybe a mistake.

Superb. I am in isolation with covid and am spending the time looking for the best stuff on youtube. This is right up there. Such a complex subject explained so very,very well. Thank you to all involved.

Thank you for this. As one of the first HIV/AIDS outreach workers in the world,I became fascinated and horrified by viruses. This was really informative.