My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. I am not an MD so I cannot diagnose and treat your sleep problems. As well as writing this blog, I am also the Online Discussion Expert for PLoS. This is a personal blog and opinions within it in no way reflect the policies of PLoS. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com
This post from March 27, 2006 starts with some of my old research and poses a new hypothesis.
The question of animal models
There are some very good reasons why much of biology is performed in just a handful of model organisms. Techniques get refined and the knowledge can grow incrementally until…
One of the assumptions in the study of circadian organization is that, at the level of molecules and cells, all vertebrate (and perhaps all animal) clocks work in roughly the same way. The diversity of circadian properties is understood to be a higher-level property of interacting multicelular…
This post, from January 25, 2006, describes part of the Doctoral work of my lab-buddy Chris.
Mammals have only one circadian pacemaker - the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Apparently all the other cells in the body contain circadian clocks, too, but only the SCN drives all the overt rhythms.…
One of the important questions in the study of circadian organization is the way multiple clocks in the body communicate with each other in order to produce unified rhythmic output.
In the case of mammals, the two pacemakers are the left and the right suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The tow nuclei…
Go say Hello to the newest addition to the Seed ScienceBlogs stable, The Scientific Indian.
Grand Rounds 2.46 are up on Hospital Impact. My readers will probably appreciate the entry on sleep disorders by rdoctor.
Going into more and more detail, here is a February 11, 2005 post about the current knowledge about the circadian organization in my favourite animal - the Japanese quail.
Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica), also known as the Asian Migratory Quail, are gallinaceous birds from the family…
This post was originally written on February 11, 2005. Moving from relatively simple mammalian model to more complex systems.
I have previously described the basic properties of the circadian organization in mammals. Non-mammalian vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds) have more…
This February 06, 2005 post describes the basic elements of the circadian system in mammals.
The principal mammalian circadian pacemaker is located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus. The general area was first discovered in 1948 by Curt Richter who systematically lesioned a…
I wrote this post back on February 02, 2005 in order to drive home the point that the circadian clock is not a single organ, but an organ system comprised of all cells in the body linked in a hierarchical manner:
In the earliest days of chronobiology, the notion of circadian organization was…
As I announced last week, this week will be All Clocks All The Time. Why?
First, I need to move some of the old posts from Circadiana over here, at a faster rate than I've been doing so far. Second, I'll be quite busy this week. Third, I need to hype myself up for the final effort at my…
First, go to Well-timed Period and Pharyngula to get all the neccessary information about Plan B, what it is, what it isn't, and how it works. Then go to Bitch PhD and buy a T-shirt (for which you need to know what you are talking about because you WILL be asked).
You have until August 29th to write a post about trees, or a particular tree, or a picture of a really cool tree, or a poem about a tree...and send it to Burning Silo for the next edition of the Festival of the Trees
Shakes has the quickest, clearest summary (with good additional links) about what happened at Heathrow last week, how media lied to you yet again, and who picked the timing and why. I hear that my cousin was at Heathrow at the time and ended up flying four hours too late, but I have not heard from…
In Jeebus can't see through the walls of the Ramada, Amanda adds some excellent commentary on my guest-post over on Echidne.
I know I have already linked to Cracks In The Wall, Part I: Defining the Authoritarian Personality yesterday, but here it is again if you missed it, especially now that…
Sara Robinson on Orcinus: Cracks In The Wall, Part I: Defining the Authoritarian Personality
Amanda: Sometimes a cigar is just an arbitrary social custom and You might not be trailer trash if you think Jeff Foxworthy is funny
Lance Mannion: A joy forever
Publius: POLITICIZE TERRORISM
Mr. WD:…
Next Tar Heel Tavern will be hosted tonight (Saturday) by etbnc (one of my most frequent commenters) on My Blue Puzzle Piece. The theme is "the future":
That can include predictions, prescriptions, hopes, dreams, near future, far future, middlin' future, back to...etc.
Send your entries to: tht70…
Well, this Friday Weird Sex Blogging is not going to be so unique. After all, Janet and Zuzu have already blogged about it, but who can resist a phallic-looking, rotten-meat smelling, fly-attracting flower! And it is not a B-grade movie on the sci-fi channel. This is real! The Titan Arum (…
Carel discovered a fascinating website about iris pigmentation. As Carel notes:
Morgan Worthy, a retired psychologist, has put together an iris pigmentation site that includes lists of iris color for over 5,600 vertebrate species, along with observations based on his database that range from the…
Not just in the USA. Visceral queeziness coupled with religious sentiment coupled with scientific ignorance appears in other parts of the world as well, as in the UK
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, a professional group based in Edinburgh, has published a report on the ethical implications…
The second ConvergeSouth conference on blogging and journalism will be held on the NC A&T University in Greensboro, NC on Saturday, October 14, 2006. Check out the homepage and blog and register soon. It is going to be even more of an Unconference than last year.
Although it is expected…
Seed ScienceBlogs are liveblogging the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto from August 13th-18th.
Two special correspondents on the ground, and our own Tara Smith of Aetiology will post daily commentary on a blog specially dsigned for this occasion - AIDS at 25.
Quite fittingly, the…
Teens Who Do Use Condoms Often Don't Use Them Properly:
A worrying number of young people who do use condoms don't use them correctly, so risking unwanted pregnancy or infections, reveals research published ahead of print in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. But a good relationship with…
There are several excellent book reviews in the latest American Scientist. Check them out for reviews of Dennett and Collins books, if nothing else, but the one that caught my eye was the review of Academic Charisma and the Origins of the Research University by William Clark, which I will, just…
An interesting article in the new issue of the American Scientist, challenges the view, made popular by Jared Diamond in Collapse, among others, of the collapse of Easter Island civilization due to overpopulation and cutting down of trees:
"Easter Island has become a case study of human-induced…
