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.

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 408.

Song title: Fusion Switch (Tau Let Go)
Original Base by Base episode: 408: Tau, mitochondria, and the fusion switch

Article metadata:
Article title: Tau protein as a regulator of mitochondrial function and dynamics
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2521642123
Reference: Tsakiria E., Campos-Marques C., Ferreira I.L., Trougakos I.P., Dioli C., Gianniou D.D., Silva J.M., Skourti K., Roussos A., Samiotaki M., Sotiropoulos I., Palikaras K., et al. Tau protein as a regulator of mitochondrial function and dynamics. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026; doi:10.1073/pnas.2521642123.

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Under bright screens in the midnight lab
I watch the power in the quiet cradles
Tiny engines learning how to grab
A steadier rhythm, tighter cables

Pre-Chorus
There’s a hand on the throttle we never named
A silent brake in the cell’s back room
Let it loosen and the map gets rearranged
Like sunrise pushing through the gloom

Chorus
When Tau lets go, the lights burn clean
Mitochondria fuse like a living stream
Breathing higher, voltage on the rise
But sparks of ROS in the corners of my eyes

Verse 2
No more snap-cuts, fewer splits at the seams
Drp1 fades to the background motion
Mitofusin pulls the threads of these dreams
Stitching fragments into one wide ocean

Bridge
And the cleanup crews start moving in time
Mitophagy humming, taking out the worst
Stronger in stress, still paying the dime
More fire inside means more to quench first

Final Chorus
When Tau lets go, the lights burn clean
Mitochondria fuse like a living stream
Breathing higher, voltage on the rise
But sparks of ROS in the corners of my eyes
So we ride that trade-off, bold and true
More power to live—more heat to see through

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 410.

Song title: More Than a Number
Original Base by Base episode: 410: Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential

Article metadata:
Article title: Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential
Journal: PNAS
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2536181123
Reference: Abson KL, Zijmers L, Mittell EA, Young EA, Postma E, Eyre-Walker A, Hadfield JD. Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026;123(27):e2536181123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2536181123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
I watched the data flicker on a midnight screen,
A million tiny letters, sharp and clean.
We counted all the differences, called it “room to grow”,
But the future wouldn’t line up in a row.

Pre-Chorus
’Cause change don’t ride on one simple score,
It’s not a mirror, it’s something more.
Mutation whispers, selection holds,
And drift just turns the story cold.

Chorus
Don’t tell me life is safe because the barcode shines,
A high π can’t promise brighter times.
Doubling the signal barely moves the line,
Adaptation’s not a number you can oversimplify.
So read the traits, feel the ground, hear the living roar—
If we want tomorrow, we need more than a number.

Verse 2
Across the branches of a deep-rooted family tree,
Some carry plenty, still can’t break free.
Evolvability bends under hidden rules,
Rates and restraints in stabilizing schools.
Microsatellite sparks, nucleotide waves—
Two different maps that don’t point to the same.

Bridge
Hold up the heartbeats, not just the code,
Measure what matters in the wild’s hard road.
A shallow slope in a noisy sky,
Says “don’t bet the species on a single proxy” tonight.
Build the plan with function, with fitness, with care,
Not just a scatterplot hanging in the air.

Final Chorus
Don’t tell me life is safe because the barcode shines,
A high π can’t promise brighter times.
Doubling the signal barely moves the line,
Adaptation’s not a number you can oversimplify.
So read the traits, feel the ground, hear the living roar—
If we want tomorrow, we need more than a number.

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 411.

Song title: Spots in the Dark
Original Base by Base episode: 411: EKV cells and the Human Prion Assay: a scalable platform for sCJD infectivity

Article metadata:
Article title: A scalable, dividing cell model for the robust propagation and quantification of human sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease prions
Journal: PNAS
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2600341123
Reference: Nihata A, Collinge J, Linehan J, Brandner S, Mead S, Schmidt C, Rayner MLD, Jat PS, Arora P, et al. A scalable, dividing cell model for the robust propagation and quantification of human sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease prions. PNAS. 2026;123(27):e2600341123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2600341123.

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Long nights, white coats, static in the air
A misfolded whisper turning everywhere
Not a fever, not a bruise, but a hidden spark
We chase a shape that learns to live in the dark

Pre-Chorus
Split the line, let it breathe, let it grow
Watch the signal rise in a steady glow
Count the proof in a simple frame
If it carries the bite, it keeps its name

Chorus
We got spots in the dark, lighting up the page
A living measure for the danger and the rage
No more waiting on a wheel that turns too slow
In these dividing cells, we finally know

Verse 2
Strain by strain, it holds the same disguise
Keeps its fingerprint behind the blinded eyes
Pass it on, it still can take and spread
But now we read it where the cultures are fed

Bridge
And when the antibody meets that twisted thread
Dose by dose, the shadow starts to shed
Clear the burden, watch the silence return
A small bright win in a place we fear to learn

Final Chorus
Yeah, spots in the dark, lighting up the page
A faster compass for the danger and the rage
From the bench to the breakthrough, let the numbers show
In these dividing cells, we finally know

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 412.

Song title: Consensus in the Dark
Original Base by Base episode: 412: Fault Lines in Forensic Proficiency Testing

Article metadata:
Article title: Assessing the foundations of forensic identification evidence: A critical examination of proficiency test design and results
Journal: PNAS
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2528192123
Reference: Scurich N, Albright TD. Assessing the foundations of forensic identification evidence: A critical examination of proficiency test design and results. PNAS. 2026; Vol.123:e2528192123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2528192123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Late-night lab glow on a silent tray,
Marks on metal where the doubt won’t fade.
Easy wins on the warm-up round,
But the real-world noise is a different sound.

Pre-Chorus
If the score is a circle drawn too wide,
If the check is a friend standing at your side,
Then the numbers look clean while the truth stays blurred—
A sure thing built on an uncertain word.

Chorus
Don’t call it certain if you can’t see clear,
In the dark, in the dark—let the bias disappear.
Count the misses, count the maybe, write the confidence down,
No more comfort from a consensus crown.
We need blind verification when the stakes are life,
’Cause a false “match” cuts deeper than a knife.

Verse 2
Half say “inconclusive,” parked in the gray,
While the clock keeps ticking in the casework day.
Shot-to-shot changes, the pattern won’t sit,
And ceiling-high scores hide the cracks in it.

Bridge
Give me a test that feels like the street,
Hard like the questions we’re sworn to meet.
Signal and noise—separate the two,
Let objective measures carry us through.

Final Chorus
Don’t call it certain if you can’t see clear,
In the dark, in the dark—let the bias disappear.
Count the misses, count the maybe, write the confidence down,
No more comfort from a consensus crown.
Turn the lights on: blind verification, honest rates,
So justice doesn’t lean on distorted gates.

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 413.

Song title: Three Places to Hold the Fire
Original Base by Base episode: 413: Rpc34 WH2 dynamics in RNA polymerase III

Article metadata:
Article title: Dynamic positioning of Rpc34 winged helix in RNA polymerase III elongation complex for its stability with implications for reinitiation
Journal: PNAS
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2601775123
Reference: Wu J-S, Chang W-H, et al. Dynamic positioning of Rpc34 winged helix in RNA polymerase III elongation complex for its stability with implications for reinitiation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026;123(27):e2601775123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2601775123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Under cold white lights, the strand starts to glow
A quiet machine where the small scripts flow
One little wing keeps changing where it lands
Holding the bubble with invisible hands

Pre-Chorus
Close, then middle, then drifting away
Counting the seconds it chooses to stay
No straight jump—there’s a rule in the ride
It always passes through the center line

Chorus
Three places to hold the fire in the cleft
A flicker of contact, but it’s all you’ve got left
Weak ties, strong timing, it steadies the view
So the message keeps moving, so the run comes through

Verse 2
Signals in frames, in a pulse on a screen
High, then the middle, then low in between
Cap the loose thiols, let the click be clean
Tag what was hidden in the protein scene

Bridge
And when a brake comes in, the motion gets tight
Pinned upstream, held out of the flight
But when it’s free, it dances to begin again
A fast re-start in the turning pen

Final Chorus
Three places to hold the fire in the cleft
A flicker of contact, but it’s all you’ve got left
Through the middle it travels—no shortcut, no slip
Keeping the template steady at the lip
So it ends, and it starts, with a bright re-clip