DiscoverTiny MattersHow life keeps time: Zeitgebers, hidden clocks, and ugh daylight savings
How life keeps time: Zeitgebers, hidden clocks, and ugh daylight savings

How life keeps time: Zeitgebers, hidden clocks, and ugh daylight savings

Update: 2025-12-10
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Not a fan of daylight savings? Beyond the depressingly early sunsets, that may be because it’s messing with your circadian clock. In this episode of Tiny Matters, we ask, “How do organisms — from bacteria to sea anemones to humans — keep track of time?” We talk about circadian clocks and how both internal molecular changes and environmental cues called “zeitgebers,” which include things like light and food, synchronize biological rhythms and help all of us survive.

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How life keeps time: Zeitgebers, hidden clocks, and ugh daylight savings

How life keeps time: Zeitgebers, hidden clocks, and ugh daylight savings