Timekeepers in muscle help mediate metabolism, and may influence neurological processes such as sleep.

Just 20 years ago, scientists didn’t even realize muscles had their own circadian clocks. Now they are beginning to appreciate their importance in health. 

Even in mice with a busted circadian clock and an unhealthy diet, carefully timed feeding overcomes the rodents’ predispositions for metabolic diseases.

In Drosophila, the tissue is more permeable to drugs at night, offering a possible explanation for why some medicines work better at certain times of day.

Research in human patients and mice reveals the role of the circadian clock in the risk of heart damage at different times of day.

Loss of the CLOCK protein, which researchers find is decreased in pediatric epilepsy patients, makes mice more prone to seizures during sleep.

Young talks with The Scientist about studying circadian rhythms in fruit flies, the applications of his work beyond Drosophila, and winning the prize. 

A basic curiosity about how life works led the Brandeis University molecular biologist to discover how our bodies keep time. 

The award in Physiology or Medicine goes to chronobiologists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young.