Base by Base - Music

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 434.

Song title: Starch in Our Bones
Original Base by Base episode: 434: High‑coverage genomes recast Japan's prehistoric demography

Article metadata:
Article title: High-coverage ancient genomes reveal divergent population histories and prehistoric starch-related genetic variation in Japan
Journal: PNAS
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2606162123
Reference: Ishiya K., Mizuno F., Gojobori J., Kumagai M., et al. High-coverage ancient genomes reveal divergent population histories and prehistoric starch-related genetic variation in Japan. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026;123(30):e2606162123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2606162123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Under bright screens and borrowed time,
We lift old dust into a line.
Two lives return in fragments of light,
High-coverage whispers in the night.

Pre-Chorus
After the ice, the pathways split,
One steady flame, one rising fit.
Names are gone but the signals stay,
In every marker, a buried day.

Chorus
Hey—call it soul in a double helix,
Call it drums in the data we mix.
We were many roads, we were one home,
And the starch was singing before the grain was grown.
Clap your hands, let the past come through—
We taste tomorrow in what was true.

Verse 2
One line holds fast like an anchored shore,
One line surges, a crowded door.
A continental tide in the newer blood,
Threads of continuity under the mud.

Bridge
Count the copies, taste the clue:
Nine or ten, and it’s ancient too.
Before the paddies, before the rice,
Mouths were ready—adapted twice.

Final Chorus
Hey—call it soul in a double helix,
Call it drums in the data we mix.
We were many roads, we were one home,
And the starch was singing before the grain was grown.
Clap your hands, let the past come through—
We taste tomorrow in what was true.

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 433.

Song title: Lactate Lights the Switch
Original Base by Base episode: 433: Lactate, HSP90α and the Mitochondrial Switch

Article metadata:
Article title: HSP90α lactylation orchestrates PGC1α and LRPGC1 nuclear translocation driving mitochondrial biogenesis
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2528979123
Reference: Wu G., Li H., He T., et al. HSP90α lactylation orchestrates PGC1α and LRPGC1 nuclear translocation driving mitochondrial biogenesis. PNAS. 2026;123(30):e2528979123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2528979123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Late-night numbers on a glowing screen
A quiet signal turns the gears unseen
Lactate in the air like a spark in the room
Telling small engines how to make more room

Pre-Chorus
A chaperone hears the chemical call
Two tiny marks and the dominos fall
Locks and latches, line by line
Open the door to a power-up sign

Chorus
Lactate lights the switch, let the whole cell sing
HSP90 holds the fire like a wedding ring
PGC1 on the move to the nucleus tonight
Building more mitochondria, raising up the light

Verse 2
K58 pulls ULK1 into place
S39 written like a starter’s pace
K616 shuts CDK5 outside
So S596 can’t slow the ride

Bridge
NRF1, NRF2—blueprints in the dark
New membranes rising from a single spark
More fuel, more breath when the morning begins
A brighter charge under the skin

Final Chorus
Lactate lights the switch, let the whole cell sing
HSP90 turns the signal into everything
PGC1 and LRPGC1 cross that open door
More mitochondria waking, asking for more

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 432.

Song title: Pocket Factor Fallout
Original Base by Base episode: 432: Echovirus 18: Capsid opening releases the genome

Article metadata:
Article title: Particles of echovirus 18 open to release their genomes in vivo
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2601182123
Reference: Mukhamedova L., Buchta D., Hrebík D., et al. Particles of echovirus 18 open to release their genomes in vivo. PNAS. 2026;123(30):e2601182123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2601182123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Late in the cell where the cold light glows
A quiet shell keeps a secret close
One touch at the surface, the lock comes loose
A loaded little world looking for a route

Pre-Chorus
A receptor hand on a viral frame
Kicks out the oil from a hidden lane
No time for statues, no frozen pose
Just one sharp signal and the pressure grows

Chorus
Open up, let it go—capsid cracks in the afterglow
One to three walls fall away, and the message starts to flow
No steady in-betweens, just a break in the dome
When the pocket factor’s gone, the genome finds its way home

Verse 2
In endosome shadows, it turns on fast
Primed by binding, not built to last
You won’t catch the middle—it's gone too soon
A blink of geometry, a missing moon

Bridge
If you can stop that first small shove
Or block the hinge where the panels love to move
You can freeze the spill before it starts
Keep the code from crossing into hearts

Final Chorus
Open up, let it go—capsid cracks in the afterglow
One to three walls fall away, and the message starts to flow
No steady in-betweens, just a break in the dome
Cut the trigger, hold the line—don’t let the genome roam

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 431.

Song title: Plaque of Light
Original Base by Base episode: 431: KIAP4 and the ARND family: essential proteins for Leishmania–sand fly adhesion

Article metadata:
Article title: Identification of a conserved gene family with an essential role in
Leishmania
parasite–insect vector adhesion
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2603653123
Reference: Owino BO, Yanase R, Pruzinovac K, Farr H, Lopez Y, Marron AO, Vaughan S, Volf P, Sunter JD. Identification of a conserved gene family with an essential role in Leishmania parasite–insect vector adhesion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026;123(30):e2603653123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2603653123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Under cold blue screens, the night stays wide awake
A tiny traveler learns the hold it has to take
On a narrow threshold where the currents twist and roll
It builds a quiet landing gear for its whole soul

Pre-Chorus
Threads align where the flagellum meets the wall
A hidden scaffold answers to the call
Not fire, not fuel—just shape and fit
A lock made of contact, molecule by bit

Chorus
Hold on, hold fast, at the edge of the flow
A plaque of light where the pathways go
If we break that grip, the story can bend
Stop the ride before it starts again

Verse 2
A conserved code repeats in cousins far apart
Same silent engine with a missing start
No Walker to walk, no spark to burn
Still it pulls the pieces where they need to turn

Bridge
Name it KIAP4—watch it rise with the change
As haptomonads form, the pattern rearranges
Cut the gene and the anchor comes undone
No valve to colonize, no race to be run

Final Chorus
Hold on, hold fast, at the edge of the flow
A plaque of light where the pathways go
Find that scaffold, cut the chain, defend
Stop transmission—let the cycle end

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 430.

Song title: Steady Light, Deep Time
Original Base by Base episode: 430: Proterozoic Rise: Steady Diversification of Crown Eukaryotes

Article metadata:
Article title: Environmental phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown eukaryotes starting from the mid-Proterozoic
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2600283123
Reference: Sandin MM, Burki F, Cohen PA, Morlond H (2026) Environmental phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown eukaryotes starting from the mid-Proterozoic. PNAS 123(29):e2600283123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2600283123

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Midnight in the lab, bright screens like tides
Long-read letters drift where the old world hides
In dust-thin echoes, a living outline grows
Not one sudden spark—just how the river flows

Pre-Chorus
We trace the branches back through shadowed years
Past broken fossils, past the quiet fears
A clock that hums where memory is thin
Says life kept learning how to begin

Chorus
Steady light, deep time, let it rise, let it rise
From the mid-Proterozoic to our open eyes
Not a single thunderbolt, just a widening choir
Crown eukaryotes climbing, line by line, higher
Steady light, deep time—watch the whole world bloom

Verse 2
A first green engine, borrowed from within
Plastids in the dark, turning dawn to skin
Archaeplastida holding early ground
While predators and partners pull the web around

Bridge
We don’t catch it all—some names still slip away
Half to three-quarters of the hidden array
Roots can shift, and calibers can bend
Still the curve keeps singing: it never had to end

Final Chorus
Steady light, deep time, let it rise, let it rise
Through the long blue silence to our open eyes
Most great lineages in a tight two-hundred million years
But the beat stayed constant through the unknown gears
Steady light, deep time—now we hear it in the bloom

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 429.

Song title: Seventeen Little Lights
Original Base by Base episode: 429: Validating the EAGL genetic literacy measure

Article metadata:
Article title: Psychometric validation of the education and assessment of genetic literacy or the EAGL measure
Journal: Human Genetics and Genomics Advances
DOI: 10.1016/j.xhgg.2026.100651
Reference: Barna LS, Liao Y, Wierzbicki MR, Ramírez-Renta GM, Kaphingst KA, Gunter C. Psychometric validation of the education and assessment of genetic literacy or the EAGL measure. Human Genetics and Genomics Advances. 2026;7:100651. doi:10.1016/j.xhgg.2026.100651.

Lyrics:
Verse 1
In the glow of late-night screens, we try to make it plain
Big words, tiny letters, turning worry into name
Some folks say they “get it”, some just guess and hope it lands
So we draw the map of knowing with a few well-placed questions

Pre-Chorus
Is it confidence or clarity when you say you understand?
Can you read the simple picture, can you follow what it means?
Three threads in one signal, softly braided, hand in hand
And the numbers keep the beat when the mind begins to lean

Chorus
Seventeen little lights, lining up the way we learn
What we feel, what we can do, what we truly know for sure
Cut the noise, keep it tight, let the meaning take its turn
So we talk genetics human—clearer words for every world

Verse 2
A quick check for attention, trim the items that are too easy
Keep the ones that show the difference when the truth gets kind of breezy
Not a test to shame a heart, just a measure to communicate
Meet you where you’re standing now, then raise the signal’s weight

Bridge
Because literacy is motion, not a label you can wear
It’s the skill to hold a story without getting lost in air
If we measure it with care, we can teach with kinder aim
And the right explanation makes the data feel like name

Final Chorus
Seventeen little lights, lining up the way we learn
What we feel, what we can do, what we truly know for sure
Make it real, keep it bright, let the meaning take its turn
So we talk genetics human—clearer words for every world

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 428.

Song title: Colocalized Light
Original Base by Base episode: 428: Genetic regulation of plasma metabolites in people with HIV

Article metadata:
Article title: Genome-wide association study of untargeted plasma metabolomic profiles identifies host genetic regulation in people with HIV
Journal: Human Genetics and Genomics Advances
DOI: 10.1016/j.xhgg.2026.100635
Reference: Ait Oumelloul M, van der Graaf A, Tang S, Thorball CW, Labarile M, Saadat A, Timonina V, Schöpf IC, Wandeler G, Nemeth J, Cavassini M, Calmy A, Schmid P, Stöckle M, Elzi L, Zamboni N, Kouyos RD, Tarr PE, Fellay J; Swiss HIV Cohort Study. Genome-wide association study of untargeted plasma metabolomic profiles identifies host genetic regulation in people with HIV. Human Genetics and Genomics Advances. 2026;7:100635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xhgg.2026.100635

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Midnight plasma under neon glow,
We cast a wide net, let the signals show.
From quiet blood to a skyline of peaks,
The genome hums in the language it speaks.

Pre-Chorus
Threads line up where the pathways meet,
A hidden switch under every beat.
Not one note alone—it's a mapped design,
A borrowed spark where the data align.

Chorus
We found the link in the overlap light,
Genes to molecules, holding on tight.
Not fate, not guesswork—just cause in view,
A new kind of compass to guide us through.

Verse 2
Some names are shadows, formulas unconfirmed,
But patterns persist where the evidence turned.
One metabolite softens creatinine down,
Another lifts lipids when it comes around.

Bridge
Still, we test what the numbers imply,
Validate the shapes, ask “when” and “why.”
From NAT8 lines to FUT2 doors,
We trace small changes to bigger shores.

Final Chorus
We found the link in the overlap light,
Genes to molecules, holding on tight.
Step by step, we’re learning what heals,
Turning mapped-out echoes into something real.

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 427.

Song title: Genes on the Menu
Original Base by Base episode: 427: When Genes Talk to Gut: Microbiome as Mediator of Metabolic Risk

Article metadata:
Article title: The gut microbiome as an effector of metabolic disease gene variants
Journal: Trends in Genetics
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2026.03.011
Reference: Simpson RC, Cutler HB, James DE, Masson SWC. The gut microbiome as an effector of metabolic disease gene variants. Trends in Genetics. 2026;42(7):585-588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2026.03.011

Lyrics:
Verse 1
I traced a risk through a family line,
But the answer lived where the dark stays warm.
A hidden crowd in a quiet spine,
Turning every bite into signal and storm.

Pre-Chorus
Immune gates whisper, sugars rearrange,
Bile runs gold like a coded tide.
What you inherit can still be changed,
By the world inside.

Chorus
Genes on the menu, microbes in the groove,
Little makers shifting what the body will do.
From fiber to fire, watch the pathways move,
A thousand small voices singing you through.
Genes on the menu, night after night,
We read the pattern in the gut’s soft light.

Verse 2
Some variants feed them a different fuel,
Some raise defenses like a morning wall.
Bifido dancing—breaking an old rule,
Akkermansia answering the call.

Bridge
But the story’s two-way, it circles back,
Diet and chance blur cause and clue.
So build one map from the scattered tracks,
Link genes, bugs, and metabolites too.

Final Chorus
Genes on the menu, microbes in the groove,
Short-chain blessings, bile-acid blues.
If we connect the dots, we can choose how we move,
Find what fits you, not just what’s true.
Genes on the menu, clear and bright,
A new prediction in the gut’s soft light.

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 426.

Song title: Prototypes in the Cloudlight
Original Base by Base episode: 426: ProtoCloud — Prototypical self-explaining model for single-cell analysis

Article metadata:
Article title: ProtoCloud: A prototypical self-explaining model for single-cell analysis
Journal: Cell Genomics
DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101217
Reference: Guo K. & Ding J. ProtoCloud: A prototypical self-explaining model for single-cell analysis. Cell Genomics 6, 101217 (2026). doi:10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101217

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Midnight on a bright-screen sea,
Millions of whispers in a single-cell key,
I used to guess what the clusters meant,
Now the map shows why I’m confident.

Pre-Chorus
Split the signal from the noise in me,
Two hidden rooms in one big dream,
Walk me closer, don’t just label loud—
Let me see the shape inside the cloud.

Chorus
Hold me to a prototype, don’t let me drift,
Show me the genes that make the meaning lift,
If I’m unsure, let the warning shine,
Name the rare ones, one-by-one, in time.

Verse 2
More than one anchor for every kind,
A constellation the model can find,
Similarity sings in a simple refrain,
And misread stories get rewritten again.

Bridge
I don’t need a black-box prayer tonight,
I need a reason with a traceable light,
From latent echoes back to what’s expressed,
A clear thread through the crowded mess.

Final Chorus
Hold me to a prototype, don’t let me drift,
Show me the genes that make the meaning lift,
When the labels shake, let uncertainty speak,
We learn the atlas—stronger, calmer, sleek.

This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 425.

Song title: Maps of the Leaving
Original Base by Base episode: 425: BEAM: Bayesian reconstruction of metastatic migration histories

Article metadata:
Article title: Bayesian inference of tissue-migration histories in metastatic cancer from cell-lineage tracing data
Journal: Cell Genomics 6, 101193 (2026)
DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101193
Reference: Staklinski SJ, Scheben A, Brault LM, Hassett R, Serio RN, Xing J, Nowak DG, Siepel A. Bayesian inference of tissue-migration histories in metastatic cancer from cell-lineage tracing data. Cell Genomics. 2026;6:101193. doi:10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101193

Lyrics:
Verse 1
On bright screens we chase a trail of scars,
Tiny barcodes lighting up who we are,
Family lines through a crowded storm,
Every split a story taking form.

Pre-Chorus
Not guesswork, not a single clean line,
We let the maybes breathe in time,
Hold the doubt right in our hands,
Watch it turn to shifting plans.

Chorus
Draw the map of the leaving, let it speak,
From the first seed to the places it will reach,
Not one road—there are rivers in the dark,
And we measure every question with a spark.
Draw the map of the leaving, feel it move,
Routes and timing, and the edges we can’t prove.

Verse 2
Two clocks ticking—mutation and the run,
Different rhythms, but they fold into one,
A tree grows tall with a hidden bend,
Where a side door opens, where the branches end.

Bridge
Sometimes signals fade, the trail runs thin,
Too few marks to know where we’ve been,
Still we learn what the data won’t allow,
How far we can see, and how to see it now.

Final Chorus
Draw the map of the leaving, let it speak,
From the first seed to the places it will reach,
Metastasis to metastasis, back again,
A looping truth written under the skin.
Draw the map of the leaving, stay awake,
Every uncertain edge is a promise we can make.