Great success this Monday, October 2nd 2017 for three scientists from around the world… a Circadian Rhythm Nobel Prize…that has circadian significance, and supports the theme fundamentally of this WebSite! They have won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythm. Congratulations Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young! I have continuously written about the importance of our internal clock.
My instincts come from an evolutionary and paleolithic view of our human race that is doing everything to ignore with our present lifestyle the consequences of our DNA makeup. These researchers, or Chronobiologists, have really helped in identifying how cells in organisms…it’s not just humans!..regulate their internal chronotype or circadian rhythm. Biology…my original science!..after all reigns supreme! These internal clocks have a huge role in our health and can negatively drive disasters such as cancer risk, mental health, and obesity as a consequence! Great book by chronobiologist Till Roenneberg called ‘Internal Time;…’ this was published way back!..and it really emphasizes circadian importance…now endorsed! Even plants depend on this rhythm and those that are continuously in the dark…are equally dependent conversely! It’s relatively complicated! First a gene causing cells to produce a PER protein that accumulates at night and breaks down daytime. After levels degrade a switch on again! A second protein found in 1994 called timeless…this binds with PER so as to enter nucleus to block activity, and another gene regulates to match 24 hour cycle! In addition hormones and other genes work with light being pivotal!
All this in my opinion to help us survive! We humans have uniquely have turned the table on the damage of light…Circadian Rhythm Nobel Prize!
Our skin metabolizes and uses it for Vitamin D…and other ancillary cellular functioning! It’s an adaptation to and for hunter gatherer forbears that reaped a survival advantage from the DNA adaptations and the specific genes developed as a result! There is real validity to shift work…watch out nurses, night shifts, airline crews…it goes on! as a probable cancer trigger. Circadian Rhythm Nobel Prize!
