Image courtesy littleclockshop.com

If you’re anything like me, you are NOT a morning person.  One could argue that part of the reason is my consistent inability to go to bed at a reasonable hour, or my addiction to Diet Coke.  I, however, prefer to assign blame elsewhere – like a loose gear in my body clock.

Seems like I’m not the only one who believes that a wonky clock could be the culprit.  There’s quite a bit of research into what controls circadian rhythms, and it’s always been quite intriguing to me.  I came across a very interesting little article recently published in Scientific American that pointed me towards research being done by Dr. Ravi Allada’s group at Northwestern University.  His lab, in collaboration with Dr. Joonho Choe’s group at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, published an article in the February issue of Nature that presents the discovery of a new gene critical for normal daily rhythms of the sleep-wake cycle. Continue reading →