Coccolithovirus

So, there are these tiny little things in the ocean called coccolithophores. They're like little plants that float around and make shells out of calcium carbonate. Coccolithovirus is a virus that infects these little coccolithophores and makes them sick.

The virus has these little spikes on it called "spikes" that can grab onto the shell of the coccolithophore and inject the virus into it. Once the virus is inside, it takes over the cell and makes a bunch of copies of itself until the cell bursts open and releases all the new virus particles.

This might sound bad, but actually there's a really important reason why we care about coccolithovirus. See, when the coccolithophores die from the virus, they sink down to the bottom of the ocean and take all that carbon they were using to make their shells with them. That means they're taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in the ocean, which is really important for keeping the balance of carbon in check.

So while the virus is bad for the little coccolithophores, it's actually kind of good for the planet as a whole.