Show Notes
This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 440.
Song title: Scars on the Signal
Original Base by Base episode: 440: DENV-4: Suppressing DNA Repair and Causing Genome Damage
Article metadata:
Article title: DENV-4 infection suppresses transcription of DNA repair genes
Journal: PNAS
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2536909123
Reference: Lamkina EN, Reich J, Victora JA, et al. DENV-4 infection suppresses transcription of DNA repair genes. PNAS. 2026;123(32):e2536909123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2536909123
Lyrics:
Verse 1
Late-night glow in a humming lab
A quiet hit and the system sags
Warnings flare in a broken chain
But the fix-it crew don’t show the same
Pre-Chorus
Pages go dark in the repair-room light
Shut-down lines in the middle of the fight
A new crack shines where it shouldn’t stay
And the damage writes what we can’t erase
Chorus
DENV-4, you cut the power to repair
Left a bright bruise hanging in the air
Survivors walking with a hidden mark
Scars on the signal in the dark
Verse 2
ATR fades like a siren drowned
While γH2AX paints the fallout loud
And one wild pen starts to over-write
A mutagen hand in the afterlife
Bridge
No telomeres falling, no ending string
But the genes go quiet—hear the silence ring
If the cells move on, what will they become?
A future risk from a battle won
Final Chorus
DENV-4, you cut the power to repair
Left a bright bruise hanging in the air
We’ll chase the why, we’ll chart the spark
’Til we clear those scars out of the dark
