Biological clock

Scientists map the wiring of the biological clock

Changing sleep cycles can cause cancer and other disorders

June 10, 2013

(Credit: iStockphoto)

The connections make the clock precise but also let it adjust to changes in day/night cycles.

The World Health Organization lists shift work as a potential carcinogen, says Erik Herzog, PhD, Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

And that’s just one example among many of the troubles we cause ourselves when we override the biological clocks in our brains and pay attention instead to the mechanical clocks on our wrists.

Researchers have reported the discovery of a crucial part of the biological clock in the brain: wiring that sets its accuracy to within a few minutes out of the 1440 minutes per day. This wiring uses the GABA (γ-amino-butyric acid) neurotransmitter to connect the individual cells of the biological clock in a fast network that changes strength with time of day./.../