An example of anthopomorphism in public science discourse"
"When you give the virus the opportunity to infect so many people, then of course it is going to try not only every possible mutation, but every possible combination of mutations, until it finds one that really helps it overcome our defences."
Dr Theodora Hatziioannou
Theodora Hatziioannou (Research Associate Professor, Laboratory of Retrovirology, The Rockefeller University) was talking on an episode of 'BBC Inside Science'. (See 'Of opportunistic viruses and meat-eating bees'.)
It might be suggested that 'defences' here is a metaphor, but the analogy between infection-immune response and invasion-defence has become so familiar the term isusully considered literal. (See 'Disease and immunity – a biological myth').
Read examples of anthropomorphism in science
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