Mimivirus

Mimivirus is a tiny living thing called a virus. It's so small you can't see it with your eyes, you need a really powerful microscope. Scientists first discovered mimivirus in the year 1992, and since then, they have been studying it a lot.

Mimivirus is called "mimi" because it's a very big virus compared to other viruses. Most of the time, viruses are tiny and can only be seen under a microscope. But mimivirus is so big that scientists first thought it was just a tiny living thing like a bacteria! It's still really small, but much bigger than most viruses.

Mimivirus has a round shape and looks a bit like a soccer ball or a planet. The outside of the virus is covered in lots of tiny "spikes" that stick out. These spikes help the virus attach to other living things, like cells in your body or bacteria.

When mimivirus infects a living thing, it can create problems. It can make you very sick. That's why scientists are studying it so much. They want to learn how it works and how to stop it from making people sick.

So, in a nutshell, mimivirus is a big virus with lots of spikes that cause problems when it infects living things. Scientists are studying it to learn more about how it works and how to prevent it from making people sick.