Bacteriophage(t4) ; A bacteriophage is a virus which infects bacteria. In particular, the bacteriophage T4 is a virus which infects E.Coli, a bacteria that has been used extensively for molecular biology research. The bacteriophage T4 exemplifies the life cycle of viruses. It exists as an inactive virion until one of its extended 'legs' comes into contact with the surface of an E. Coli. Sensors on the ends of its 'legs' recognize binding sites on the surface of the host's cell, and this triggers the bacteriophage into action. The bacteriophage binds to the surface of the host, punctures the cell with its injection tube, and then injects its own genetic blueprint. This genetic information subverts the host cell's normal operation and sets the cell's biosynthetic machinery to work creating replicas of the virus. These newly created viruses escape from the cell and then float about dormant until one happens to come into contact with a new host cell. In nature, the bacteriophage T4 contains about 168,800 base pairs of double stranded DNA. This genetic blueprint contains all of the necessary information to create new bacteriophage T4. Our virtual bacteriophage T4 also contains its own genetic information; it is made up of characters of ascii VRML 2.0 code. At some point in the future evolution of cyberspace, our virus will find an appropriate host and replicate itself. The virtual virus is born, and the question of whether viruses are 'alive' is extended to the question of whether virtual viruses are alive!