For fruit flies.
Also, what?
>... circadian rhythms are the 24-hour changes in our physiology that synchronize with the day-night cycle and modulate when we are hungry, sleepy, want sex and have asthma attacks or a fever in the afternoon.
Also, what?
>... circadian rhythms are the 24-hour changes in our physiology that synchronize with the day-night cycle and modulate when we are hungry, sleepy, want sex and have asthma attacks or a fever in the afternoon.
Is this about that circadian rhythm line? It look true, if not under-stated. Shift between nights and days was one of the major constant things throughout the evolution of life. And the influence of this rhythm goes deeper than just physiology - it reaches a molecular level. Almost every cell in the body has a mechanism for keeping internal time of the day [1]. And they are kept in synch through suprachiasmatic nucleus, mainly via the light through the retina, changes in temperature, and food intake [2].
It is so prevalent, that even small things, like your sense of smell or which nasal side is more active and which one is congested falls under circadian regulation [3].
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_clock
Summarizing:
> [They] are the [...] changes [...] that [...] modulate when we [...] have asthma attacks or a fever in the afternoon.
That does not read clearly to me!
That was the best written part of the description, and was written with a clear intention.
The author wanted to add some more surprising (but still really affected by circadian rhythms) stuff, to make the description more memorable and interesting, even to those that knew the "hungry" and "sleepy" part.
The latter: https://hms.harvard.edu/news/circadian-rhythm-asthma
>For the fever part, I haven't noticed such a pattern for myself. Does it mean that fevers are more likely to occur in the afternoon, or does it mean that a normal human's daily temperature pattern resembles a fever in the afternoon?
Apparently the first: https://westjem.com/articles/fever-incidence-is-much-lower-i...
But it's also true our daily temperature pattern changes throughout the day following a circadian rhythm (though I wouldn't call it rising that it "resembles a fever").
A couple options to improve:
1. circadian rhythms are the 24-hour changes in our physiology that synchronize with the day-night cycle and modulate when we are hungry, sleepy, want sex, or, in the afternoon, have asthma attacks or a fever.
2. circadian rhythms are the 24-hour changes in our physiology that synchronize with the day-night cycle and modulate when we are hungry, sleepy, want sex, or suffer conditions like asthma attacks or fevers.
3. circadian rhythms are the 24-hour changes in our physiology that synchronize with the day-night cycle and modulate when we are hungry (mealtimes), sleepy (nighttime), want sex (??? i didnt know this was a thing), or suffer asthma attacks or fevers (afternoons).
Only for people unable to understand a sentence in context.
In general, the Oxford comma, or it's lack thereof, rarely, if ever, is a problem - except for grammar geeks (and even those have debated its significance since forever).
https://desk.thecontentcloud.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/...
In the article it reads:
> Question. During your Nobel Prize acceptance speech, you mentioned that 50% of our genes were regulated by circadian rhythms, but in your talk you said that it is at least 70%?
> Answer. I have updated the figure due to new research done over the past six years. The 50% figure came from research in rodents, but in 2019 there was a large study done on baboons, the first in primates, and [the figure] went to 70%.
I took these figures to also apply to the relevance of the title, which is a quote from the article?
That's how circadian rhythms work, and all of the above are true. The author just picked some more unusual/funny/jarring examples after the staples "hungy and sleepy" to drive his point and give some fun to the article.