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Comment by kkoncevicius | Hacker News Reader

> Also, what?

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

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suprachiasmatic_nucleus

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle

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I doubt it's that the circadian rhythm is news to the person you're replying to, but rather that that line is fairly badly written, particularly the "want sex and have asthma attacks or a fever in the afternoon" part.

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!

You might be right, thou I don't see that sentence as being exceptionally unclear. The first remark in the OP - stating that this is about fruit flies, made me think they might not have heard about circadian rhythms and were genuinely surprised, as it portrays a certain view often shared by people who have studied little about biology.

The conjunction should be "or" not "and"; and the lack of Oxford comma really, really hurts comprehensibility. Also, including the `in the afternoon` breaks the parallel structure of each of the items in the list.

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).

>The conjunction should be "or" not "and"; and the lack of Oxford comma really, really hurts comprehensibility

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).

I found it difficult to understand.

There is, of course, this counter example from 2018 where many people misinterpreted the headline at first reading:

https://desk.thecontentcloud.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/...

LOL, did they?

There's also this: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/oxford-comma-maine.htm...

>I doubt it's that the circadian rhythm is news to the person you're replying to, but rather that that line is fairly badly written, particularly the "want sex and have asthma attacks or a fever in the afternoon" part

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.

For example: I don't consider myself an asthmatic. Does this sentence imply that I nonetheless may experience asthma-like symptoms in the afternoon as a component of my circadian rhythms? Or does it mean that those who already suffer from asthma are more likely to have attacks in the afternoon? 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?

>Or does it mean that those who already suffer from asthma are more likely to have attacks in the afternoon?

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").

Quote from my mom in social media a few weeks ago: "How does the November cactus know that it's November?" with a picture of the flowering cactus. We don't have a true Arctic night at these latitudes, but thanks to the mountains it's close.

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