Several months ago, professors Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young received the Nobel Prize for their work on deciphering the mechanisms of the biological clock. Many other scientists around the world are also investigating this topic, including the group of researchers headed by Prof Ralf Stanewsky (a former trainee in Jeffrey Hall's lab) at the University of Münster, Germany. Although scientists have discovered a diverse array of basic mechanisms, many unanswered questions about chronobiology remain. In two papers recently published in the journal Current Biology, a team of Münster biologists has now presented new findings on the inner workings of circadian clocks in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). The researchers have found evidence that indicates that light and temperature stimuli play a mutual role in their synchronisation. Furthermore, they also identified yet unobserved molecular pathways in the photoreceptors, which also affect the fruit fly's circadian rhythm.
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