Viruses may help phytoplankton make clouds — by tearing the algae apart

When tiny sea algae get sick, they may sneeze the seeds of clouds. Phytoplankton (Emiliania huxleyi) infected with a virus shed the small calcium carbonate plates that make up their shells much more quickly than healthy phytoplankton. Kicked up by thrashing waves into sea spray, those calcium bits may ultimately become part of the complex dance of cloud formation, researchers report August 15 in iScience.  Trish Quinn is quoted.