passive carrier

Cattle are passive carriers of this virulent form of colon bacteria, and there is no way Federal inspectors can identify a carrier animal by physical examination.

Since the lawsuit was filed on Nov. 11, however, the company has contended that it is a passive carrier of information, like a newsstand, and cannot be expected to screen the estimated 75,000 daily postings.

In 1982, Cech became the first to show that RNA molecules are not restricted to being passive carriers of genetic information - they can have catalytic functions and can participate in cellular reactions.

But Prodigy still sought to persuade Justice Ain to reconsider his order of last May that Prodigy could be held liable because it acted as a publisher of information, not merely as a passive carrier.

Since they are built to synchronize with a desktop or a laptop, hand-held organizers can become passive carriers of a virus or worm when an infected e-mail attachment downloaded to the wireless organizer's mailbox is synchronized with the one on the main computer.

Thomas R. Cech of the University of Colorado and Sidney Altman of Yale University shared the chemistry prize for the discovery, which they made independently, that RNA, a crucial genetic substance, was not merely a passive carrier of genetic information but could actively aid chemical reactions in the cells.