By Stefanie Hertel and Anne Rediger, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
“Turn the night into day!” Are these not the mottos of our modern times? To party the night away or, for unfortunate individuals, to work at night is now the norm. In doing so, however, we encounter an opponent that should not be underestimated — the internal clock — which governs the daily rhythm, from gene expression and metabolism to behavior of not only humans but also insects, plants, and unicellular cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae). As such, the internal clock is biologically fundamental — a part of life like reproduction or cell divisions. Therefore, an understanding of the underlying mechanism is highly relevant to human health and quality of life.