Seems par for the course since our adaptive immune system is based on an old viral/transposon recombinase.

Transposon Molecular Domestication and the Evolution of the RAG Recombinase

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6494689/

Here is the actual study:

Escape of the BC200 gene to a human poxvirus reveals its persistent transposition in primates

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeh3441

Is VDJ recombination based on viruses or transposons?

It's the first time I hear this. Can't yet say much about it until I can verify that.

Yes, the RAG transposon inserted itself into a variable domain exon about 500 million years ago. Here’s a more recent paper on this:

Origin of immunoglobulins and T cell receptors: A candidate gene for invasion by the RAG transposon

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40614193/

> It's the first time I hear this. Can't yet say much about it until I can verify that.

How are you going to verify it?

this head line has the wrong end of the stick, the gene in question is a known transposable element AKA a jumping gene, so no a virus didnt steal a gene.

A transposable element partook of vertical gene flow to a conspecific expression system.

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/09/new-type-human-jump...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposable_element

This brings a whole new meaning to sores. Has this infection been previously identified? Edit: Yes https://www.cdc.gov/molluscum-contagiosum/about/index.html

I guess it just hadn't been linked to human genes before.

Gift link since people were complaining about the NYT paywall - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/science/virus-molluscum-h...

This must be microbe awareness day.

Earlier iirc someone posted

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cancer-infections-9.7361622

I thought viruses weren't considered to be microbes. Was I mistaken? Is there a broader category that includes things like bacteria and also viruses?

In the context of "things that cause diseases", "pathogen" covers both. But that isn't exactly an answer to your question.

Can we please start banning articles with paywalls from being posted at all?

If I cannot read without a subscription (or a damn paywall removed), it shouldn’t be posted here. This is tantamount to posting an ad for an NYT sub.

IMO a good approach would be to surface the status of links to readers, with an icon for "pay-walled" or "register-walled", then see how organic voting affects things.

I like that idea but aren't we supposed to read the article before voting?

The HN rules are that paywalled content can be posted only if it's trivially bypassable via a free tool. The NYTimes links work on fresh IP addresses as part of a free allowance for new readers, which is why the proxy-based archive website archive.today is able to get through. I'm not a big fan of this being allowed, but there is some thought to it at least, they aren't just allowing anything.

It is a shame that the free tool of choice is a site that put a DDOS attack in its captcha. So my options are not read the article or... not read the article. Nice.

You say that like "commit a felony to read the article" isn't a valid option (/s).

IIRC the staff will usually intentionally elevate bypass links to the top whenever they see them posted in the comments. (And when a link has already been posted they tend to sink comments like yours that complain without providing a link, lol)

Again, why not require the bypassed link right from the gate, then? You’d sidestep people complaining about it and wouldn’t little the comment section with people posting alternative links or asking for them.

NYT is the only one profiting getting free publicity for their subscription service here.

Did you create three accounts just to reply? And if so why not stick to just one?

I speculated in a different reply that it’s to reduce dups. Two people could post the same article, but if they used different paywall-bypassers they would appear as separate submissions.

My understanding is you’re not supposed to post paywall-cutting links but it’s ok to post them as comments. Perhaps to prevent dupes? Or perhaps there is no such rule.

while that would be nice, generaly there are many knowledgeable comments several pay grades abovethe nyt staff, here in the comments, which if you wait for them to build and then do a page search for your terms of interest, can often take you painlessly to a susinct synopsis of the issues under discussion

I’m just always amazed that this many HN readers pay for the NY Times or any of the other publications constantly posted here with paywalls.

Can't read through the paywall

Ah yes, the NYT paywall.

Here you go everyone: https://archive.ph/PpKtR

There was no theft involved. "Genes" are not "owned".

You wouldn't download a gene, would you?

I’d actually love to, can I swap out many of mine with LeBron and Albert Einstein? Anyone got the torrent link?

I suspect the original author's copyright had expired, so the gene was public domain.