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Nobel Prize for Medicine Awarded for Insights into Internal Biological Clock

posted by martyb on Monday October 02 2017, @11:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the I'll-sleep-on-it dept.

AnonTechie writes:

The Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to a trio of American scientists for their discoveries on the molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms – in other words, the 24-hour body clock.

According to the Nobel committee's citation, £825,000 prize shared between American scientists Jeffrey C Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W Young were recognised for their discoveries explaining "how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronised with the Earth's revolutions." All three winners are from the US. Hall, 72, has retired but spent the majority of his career at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachussetts, where fellow laureate Rosbash, 73, is still a faculty member. Young, 68, works at Rockefeller University in New York.

The team identified a gene within fruit flies that controls the creatures' daily rhythm, known as the "period" gene. This gene encodes a protein within the cell during the night which then degrades during the day.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/02/nobel-prize-for-medicine-awarded-for-insights-into-internal-biological-clock

[Also Covered By]:

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:13AM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:13AM (#576319) Journal

    Over-the-counter melatonin: good or bad?

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  • (Score: 2) by tibman on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:42AM

    by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:42AM (#576333)

    Works for me.

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  • (Score: 2) by Kymation on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:59AM

    by Kymation (1047) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:59AM (#576344)

    One of my friends thinks it's great. It does absolutely nothing to me. Try it and find out which type you are.

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 03 2017, @10:47AM

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Tuesday October 03 2017, @10:47AM (#576518) Homepage
    Cheap (own) brand pills worked decently. All hunky-dory, then disaster struck - the chemist stopped stocking it.

    Changed to cheap capsules with some other sleep aid in it:
      - they stink and make me gag before they're in my mouth
      - they float, making them hard to swallow
      - they give me gurgles (and, TMI, possibly farts ... more data required ... or not)

    More expensive pills would be 3 times the price, but I think might be worth it. I'll keep looking for alternatives, as I do believe they do work (at least at 15c per pill it's a Pascal's wager that seems to pay off, 45c/pill does seem a rip-off though).
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