This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 406.

Song title: Cold Side of the Gut
Original Base by Base episode: 406: Temperature & Age Shape Gut Susceptibility to HCoV-229E

Article metadata:
Article title: Temperature and developmental stage govern intestinal susceptibility to human coronavirus 229E
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2600632123
Reference: Synowiec A., Lie L.K., Szczepański A., et al. Temperature and developmental stage govern intestinal susceptibility to human coronavirus 229E. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2026;123(26):e2600632123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2600632123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Neon in the lab, midnight on the clock,
We set that warm line, then we let it drop.
Same cells, same gate, but the world rewinds—
At thirty-two the virus finds time.

Pre-Chorus
Quiet alarms in the innate reply,
Less of the warning, more room to climb.
Screens light up with the rising load—
A colder state and an open road.

Chorus
Temperature tells it when to run,
Cold makes a cradle, heat stops the fun.
In the enterocytes, it stakes its claim,
But at thirty-seven it can’t play the same.
Turn the dial, watch the story cut—
Cold side of the gut, cold side of the gut.

Verse 2
Fetal and young still catch that wave,
Adults switch gears and won’t behave.
Translation slows, metabolism bends,
Stress-path signals draw the ends.

Bridge
One receptor, one lock: ANPEP on the door,
Protease like a razor, it wants a little more.
But camostat cuts the spark mid-flight,
Shut down entry, fade out the bite.

Final Chorus
Temperature tells it when to run,
Cold makes a cradle, heat stops the fun.
In the enterocytes, it stakes its claim,
But grown-up heat won’t feed the flame.
Turn the dial, let the data erupt—
Cold side of the gut, cold side of the gut.

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 409.

Song title: Modular Fire in the Sugarlight
Original Base by Base episode: 409: A systems-level atlas of carbon-response transcriptional states in Escherichia coli

Article metadata:
Article title: A systems-level atlas of carbon-response transcriptional states in Escherichia coli
Journal: PNAS
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2531884123
Reference: Shin J, Son HF, Krishnan J, Hefner Y, Szubin R, Sung J, Patel A, Lou XA, Catoiu EA, Palsson BØ, Zielinski DC. A systems-level atlas of carbon-response transcriptional states in Escherichia coli. PNAS. 2026;123(27):e2531884123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2531884123.

Lyrics:
Verse 1
In a flask of midnight, the carbon changes clothes
Same cell, new dinner, watch the rhythm decompose
One master switch hums, then the side streets come alive
Modules in the wiring telling growth how to survive

Pre-Chorus
Turn the dial—graded signals, not a single on/off flare
Fast lanes sing translation, slow roads load the stress in air
Different doors to energy, but the map stays crystal-clear

Chorus
It’s modular fire in the sugarlight
CRP in the skyline, guiding the night
When the fuel runs heavy, the system feels the strain
Propionate thunder and a nitrogen rain
But the code stays steady—split, recombine
A hundred small choirs in one bright spine

Verse 2
Some substrates enter quietly, not through glycolytic ease
TCA-bound footsteps, slower than we’d like to breathe
NtrC-1 wakes up, recycling what it can
And if prpC goes missing, the whole plan loses land

Bridge
A shadow module flickers—prophage in the scene
Not essential for the moment, but it tells you what it means:
When growth rate drops, the cell pays rent in RpoS time
Less for building ribosomes, more to hold the line

Final Chorus
It’s modular fire in the sugarlight
Stress in the basement, data in flight
Four kinds of carbon stories, clustered by the pace
An atlas for the hunger and the choices cells will face
So tune the cell’s orchestra—engineer, explore
Read the graded modules and you’ll open every door

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 407.

Song title: Lock the Metals Away
Original Base by Base episode: 407: SLC11A2 withholds metals from Salmonella in the gut epithelium

Article metadata:
Article title: SLC11A2 withholds divalent metals from
Salmonella
in the gut epithelium
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2532675123
Reference: Norberg ES, Knodler LA, et al. SLC11A2 withholds divalent metals from Salmonella in the gut epithelium. PNAS. 2026;123:e2532675123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2532675123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
In the gut where the neon microscopes glow,
A shadow slips in where the warm cells grow.
It thinks it can settle, it thinks it can stay,
But the pantry is closing—no feast today.

Pre-Chorus
You can hide in a bubble, build walls in the dark,
But we hear your hunger like a tiny spark.
We cut the supply lines, quiet and sure,
Starve out the storm with a natural cure.

Chorus
Lock the metals away, let the invader wait,
Iron and manganese—seal that gate.
In the vacuole night, watch the numbers fall,
No fuel for the fire when we withhold it all.
Lock the metals away, no easy win,
You can’t grow in a house you can’t eat within.

Verse 2
Some cells see the signal—low down to the bone,
Less than a whisper of iron to own.
A transporter pulls up like a guard on call,
Turns the lights down low inside the wall.

Bridge
Try to steal it back with a desperate plan,
MntH on the run, siderophores in hand.
But every bright grab meets a colder defense,
We tighten the silence with patient suspense.

Final Chorus
Lock the metals away, let the invader wait,
Iron and manganese—seal that gate.
In the vacuole night, watch the numbers fall,
No fuel for the fire when we withhold it all.
Lock the metals away, feel the pressure shift,
A hidden kind of power, a cellular gift.