Top all-time · #6751
Metacelsus
Personal blog · denovo.substack.com · on HN as Metacelsussciencehealth
Metacelsus writes De Novo, a personal blog at denovo.substack.com about science and health. Since 2021, 12 different Hacker News readers have linked it 19 times, most often “Cytomegalovirus: The Worst Herpesvirus”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-20, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (5) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this Substack for posts on viruses and immunology, mainly herpesviruses such as CMV and EBV and mRNA vaccines against herpes. Comments cite these posts as sources or recommend them.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 5 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
All things synthetic.
Most-linked posts?
- Cytomegalovirus: The Worst Herpesvirus3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-10-18
- /p/epstein-barr-virus-more-maladies2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-01-14
- What happens when you clone mice for 20 years straight?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-03-26
What Hacker News says?
I calculated it on my blog a few months ago: Every year, it causes the loss of 4.6 million disability-adjusted life years due to cancers alone, and another ~2 million to autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. https://denovo.substack.com/p/epstein-barr-virus-more-maladi...
Comment linking /p/epstein-barr-virus-more-maladies
on “Multiple Sclerosis Causality”Submitted Meiosis is all you need as a story · 57 points
HN discussionFor more on EBV, I've discussed it on my blog here: https://denovo.substack.com/p/epstein-barr-virus-more-maladi... (It doesn't just cause MS!)
Comment linking /p/epstein-barr-virus-more-maladies
on “Multiple Sclerosis Causality”Submitted How to make your own SARS-CoV-2 variants as a story · 30 points
HN discussionThe full report is here: "Technical Report on Mirror Bacteria: Feasibility and Risks" https://purl.stanford.edu/cv716pj4036 The premise reminds me of the "Rifters" trilogy by biologist and science fiction author Peter Watts. In it, an archaic deep sea microorganism "ßehemoth" that outcompetes all other kingdoms of life is brought to the surface and wreaks global havoc as it spreads. https://www.rifters.com/maelstrom…
Comment linking /p/green-goo-republished
on “Mirror bacteria research poses significant risks, scientists warn”Submitted Cytomegalovirus: The Worst Herpesvirus as a story · 13 points
HN discussionVery nice. Too bad this probably won't work with the worst virus in the herpes family, Cytomegalovirus, for the same reason our immune system struggles to keep up with it. https://denovo.substack.com/p/cytomegalovirus-the-worst-herp...
Comment linking /p/cytomegalovirus-the-worst-herpesvirus
on “Can mRNA Vaccines Defeat Herpes?”Submitted What happens when you clone mice for 20 years straight? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIf you like thinking about those things, I recommend reading about CMV. https://denovo.substack.com/p/cytomegalovirus-the-worst-herp... These non-fatal (or even close to unoticeable at all without statistics) diseases that still have massive world-wide effects are fascinating
Comment linking /p/cytomegalovirus-the-worst-herpesvirus
on “Long Fatigue: The exhaustion that lingers after an infection”Submitted What happens when you clone mice for 20 years straight? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionIt’s getting clearer and clearer that these viruses are extremely bad, see for example https://denovo.substack.com/p/epstein-barr-virus-more-maladi...
Comment linking /p/epstein-barr-virus-more-maladies
on “Highly virulent HIV variant found to be circulating in Europe for decades”Submitted A Tale of Twin Sisters as a story · 1 points
HN discussion>For instance, I'm extremely allergic to the word "proprietary". You may enjoy this: https://denovo.substack.com/p/help-doctor-ive-been-exposed-t...
Comment linking /p/help-doctor-ive-been-exposed-to-proprietary
on “Burning money on paid ads for a dev tool – what we've learned”Submitted Biological DOOM: A brief overview of biological computation as a story · 1 points
HN discussionhttps://denovo.substack.com (Mostly biology)
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?”Submitted Money Money Money as a story · 1 points
HN discussionFull text: https://gwern.net/doc/genetics/gametogenesis/2023-murakami.p... Abstract: Sex chromosome disorders severely compromise gametogenesis in both males and females. In oogenesis, the presence of an additional Y chromosome or the loss of an X chromosome disturbs the robust production of oocytes. Here we efficiently converted the XY chromosome set to XX without an additional Y chromosome in mouse pluripotent ste…
Comment linking /p/of-mice-and-men-and-eggs
on “Generation of functional oocytes from male mice in vitro”Submitted The Third Year Slump as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Applying for NIH funding, Part 1 as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
