Sleep cycle scientists awarded Nobel prize

UK physiologists have welcomed the award of the 2017 Nobel prize in medicine to three American researchers for their discovery of the ‘biological clock’ that controls an animal's circadian rhythm.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet announced the names of the three joint winners, Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young on 2 October.

David Eisner, president of the Physiological Society, in the UK, said: “Their research has transformed our understanding of circadian biology. Having evolved on a planet with a roughly 24-hour cycle of day and night, we have evolved to anticipate when these changes happen.