Is A Virus Living or Nonliving?

According to the PowerPoint slideshow we used to classify things into living and nonliving categories, there are five characteristics that all living things have in common in one way or another.  These characteristics are:

• Have DNA/Chemicals of Life
• Uses energy (metabolizes) 
• Responds to its Surroundings
• Reproduces making more of its own species
• Grows and Develops

Knowing all this and the discussions we have had this week about bacteria and viruses your task is to:  


Make an argument based on your opinion and most importantly FACTS in a blog post on your own science blog about whether you think viruses are living or nonliving.  

• Be sure to include your reasoning for your opinion.
• Include facts you have learned from your research. 
• What are the different shapes that viruses take and how are they compared to bacteria?  Similar sizes and shapes or very different?
• How do viruses multiply/reproduce?  How does this compare to how bacteria reproduce?  Are they similar or very different?  
• Include what resources you used to research viruses by adding links to your blog post.