Eugene Russo | Aug 16, 1998 | 4 min read
Recent research has shed new light on the sleep/wake cycle. In two papers featured on the cover of the July 10 issue of Cell (J.L. Price et al., Cell, 94:83-95, 1998; B. Kloss et al., Cell, 94:97-107, 1998), scientists from Rockefeller University reported the discovery of a gene in Drosophila, dubbed double-time (dbt). The dbt gene is believed to regulate the molecular cycles underlying circadian rhythms--patterns of activity that, in humans, regulate body temperature, mental alertness, pain