In isolation, viruses and bacteriophages show none of the expected signs of life. They do not respond to stimuli, they do not grow, they do not do any of the things we normally associate with life.

Why can't viruses respond to stimuli?

Some researchers also suggest that living things must be able to respond to stimuli and evolve over time. Viruses can't generate their own energy, and though they can reproduce and even evolve with the assistance of a host, those functions are impossible for one of the tiny entities out on its own.

Do viruses respond to stimuli Khan Academy?

Living things respond to stimuli.

While they don't change behaviors in response to touch or sound or light the way that humans, bacteria, or sea sponges might, there has not been enough research done to definitively say that viruses do not respond to anything.