3.04.10 - 2:00PM
- by
Jordan Breindel

What Is That? Microscopic Pyramid Spider

topic:
What Is That?

This may come as a shock to some of you, but not everything you see on the internet is actually real. For example, as much as we wish it really did happen, Obama probably never held this poodle at the Lincoln Memorial. On the off chance that the President did actually confer with Birthday Dog, we can be sure it was a closed-door meeting and no cameras were allowed inside.

What does any of this have to do with the five-legged pyramid creature you see below? Basically, I'm just not sure if it's real. I would never knowingly deceive any of our wonderful What Is That? responders, but what can you do? It's the internet. So, if it's real, what is thing and what can you tell us about it? Is it deadly? It looks...deadly.

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3.04.10

By LESder

Highest Rank

It's a virus.

3.04.10

By LESder

Neutral

Specifically, a bacteriophage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophages

3.04.10

By Mikey

Neutral

It's Strongbadiophage

http://www.hrwiki.org/w/images/thumb/0/05/Strongbadiophage.PNG/75px-Strongbadiophage.PNG

3.04.10

By Scribbles

Neutral

You beat me to it, I was going to call it a Strongbadiophage too.
Homestarrunner: "Uh oh, here comes a Strongbadiophage"

3.05.10

By Beth

Neutral

For those of you who remember high school biology and have taken it within the last 15 years or so, that is totally a bacteriophage...

3.05.10

By Beth

Neutral

Oh, and to explain what a bacteriophage is better...
The top part is filled with genetic material that the phage injects into bacteria. When the genetic material is inside the bacteria, either it integrates with the bacterium's DNA (when it's dormant) and then eventually bursts open the bacterium, spreading it's DNA even further and destroying the bacterium.

It's a pretty cool organism that is worked on being used in medicine right now to inject certain DNA into the human body and also to be used to destroy certain bacteria.

3.11.10

By StereoTypo

Neutral

Careful about calling them organisms. If you consider the fact that they lack cellular structure or a metabolism, viruses can be defined as organic structures rather than living organisms.