Z-Time

Ask a chronobiologists about the history of the discipline, and you find that specific places are central to it.

What does time mean to you? Is it the ticking of a clock? The rhythm of a dance? The oscillation of a cell?

A reflection on curating the Z-time digital exhibition during a COVID 19 lockdown

The lockdown has brought many challenges but one of its unexpected benefits has been the growth of digital conferences, lectures and events that allow us to tune in no matter where we are in the world. My favorite science comedy night in London, Science Showoff, even moved itself to the virtual world, and last week I took the opportunity to present my own comedy ‘set’ about my work with circadian scientists at CBMR.

The lockdown seems to have only intensified our obsession with our sleep and how to sleep better – if the proliferation of sleep tracking apps is anything to go by. And while all of this might seem very modern, people have actually been worrying about how to get a good night’s sleep for a very long time.

As we approach the end of March, many countries around the world from Mongolia to Paraguay to Greenland are preparing to ‘spring forward’ and move the clocks forward an hour. Each year, Daylight Savings Time (DST) brings with it passionate debates about whether it should be scrapped or retained. And in 2019, the EU member states voted to stop the observance of DST from 2021 – making this (possibly) the last year that the seasonal time change will be observed in Denmark.

If I told you that I studied circadian rhythms, it probably wouldn’t mean very much to you. What about ‘chronobiology’? The biology part is easy enough, the study of living things, but what about ‘chrono’? These scientific names obscure a simple fact about being human that most of us take for granted – that our daily lives are governed by time.