What is a circadian rhythm?
Q: What is a circadian rhythm?
A: A circadian rhythm is an internal cycle that repeats approximately every 24 hours and regulates many bodily functions, such as sleeping, feeding, body temperature and hormone production.
Q: Where does the word "circadian" come from?
A: The word "circadian" comes from the Latin circa, meaning “around”, and diem or dies, meaning “day” - so it literally means “about a day”.
Q: What are some biological time-keeping rhythms?
A: Biological time-keeping rhythms include daily, tidal, weekly, seasonal and annual rhythms. Most of these rhythms repeat once a day and are therefore called circadian.
Q: How do animal clocks work?
A: Animal clocks have three main components - a central biochemical oscillator with a period of around 24 hours which keeps time; input pathways to this central oscillator to adjust the clock; and output pathways which regulate biochemistry, physiology and behaviour throughout an organism.
Q: Who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017 for their discoveries on molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm?
A: Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017 for their discoveries on molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm in fruit flies (Drosophila).
Q: What do circadian rhythms regulate in animals?
A: Circadian rhythms regulate many bodily functions including feeding, sleeping, body temperature and hormone production in animals.
Q: How do oceanic animals coordinate egg fertilisation externally?
A: Little is known about how oceanic animals coordinate egg fertilisation externally but it seems to be achieved through physiological coordination using their internal clocks (circadian rhythms).
