Monday October 2, 2017 three Americans Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash (Brandeis University in Massachusetts) and Michael W. Young (Rockefeller University in New York) won a Nobel Prize in the field of medicine. They discovered key genetic reason for the body’s 24-hour biological clock, also known as “circadian rhythm”. Which we
commonly called “jet lag”.
What is circadian rhythm
Circadian rhythm is a 24 hour(roughly) cycle in the physiological processes of living beings (human, animal, plants even cyanobacteria). It determining the sleeping and feeding patterns. There are other biological activities like – brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration also happen during the process.
Human Brain & Hypothalamus
How it controlled ?
There is a “master control” (inside the brain) that coordinates the whole thing. A group of nerve cells known as “suprachiasmatic nucleus” or “SCN” inside the hypothalamus control the activities. Suprachiasmatic nucleus contain only 20,000 nerve cells! Circadian rhythm controls when you need to go to bathroom at a particular time of
day or feel sleepy on a certain time.
Their contribution
These doctors ware able to look inside and discover the detail of the whole inner working process. Because of this doctors now are able to understand better about a patient’s condition. For example doctors have discovered a genetic mutation in some people who have a chronic sleeping problem.
Writer – Rubayat M.
