Scientists discover a weak spot shared by polio and common cold viruses

Scientists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, have uncovered a crucial trick used by enteroviruses-the group behind diseases like polio, myocarditis, encephalitis, and even the common cold-to reproduce inside human cells. The team captured, in unprecedented detail, how viral RNA recruits both viral and human proteins to assemble the machinery needed for replication, acting almost like a molecular on-off switch that controls whether the virus copies itself or makes proteins.