On January 1st 2022, PhD candidate Gali Albalak started her research project at the Leiden University Medical Centre and Leyden academy. She will investigate whether the time of exercise, morning or evening, matters in maintaining a healthy circadian clock and whether this helps in growing old healthy and happily. She will carry out this research under supervision of dr. Raymond Noordam, dr. ir. Diana van Heemst and prof. dr. David van Bodegom. Gali introduces herself below. Tell...

The announcement of loosening the covid rules on January 25 (in the Netherlands) will make live a little easier for many people. But the night scene will stay locked for a while longer because from 10 PM all bars remain closed. Editie NL (dutch national news channel) asked BioClock coordinator and professor LUMC Joke Meijer how the absence of this night life may affect adolescents. The mental health of these students has declined in the past year and the COVID rules have further decreased...

Adolescents are strongly affected by the COVID rules, particularly because they are more focused on night activities than others in the population. Their biological clock makes them more night owls and during their part of life, social aspects are crucial. Therefore, Het Parool (national newspaper) wrote an article about this and included the opinion of BioClock coordinator Joke Meijer. Read the article here (in Dutch).

The Dutch national newspaper Trouw wrote an article about nocturnal light. Why are the lights on everywhere? It is not necessary and harmful. BioClock researcher Kamiel Spoelstra further explains how this light affects nature. You can read the article here (in Dutch).

At the Netherlands Insititute of Ecology in Wageningen will PhD candidate Sander Buddendorf investigate the effects of artificial light at night on bat-prey interactions. Since light at night is increasing, and bat populations are decreasing, it is time to investigate this relationship and think of possible solutions. Under the supervision of dr. ir. Kamiel Spoelstra and prof. Marcel Visser will Sander execute his research. He introduces himself here: Tell us a little about yourself,...

Light pollution is high in The Netherlands. Many areas are very lit, and this is affecting nature, including human health. How severe this is and what to do about it, is what BioClock focuses on. RTL, a Dutch news channel, made an item about light pollution and held an interview with professor Joke Meijer and dr. ir. Kamiel Spoelstra. You can view the news item (in Dutch) here (start from minute 15′).

Bionieuws (the magazing for biologists) reported on an interesting study for shift workers that regularly work at night: it matters when you eat. Researcher Matthew Brown and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester investigated the effects of eating at night. This severely disturbed their rhythms but if they continued to eat during the day, their glucose metabolism remained healthy. These studies are important to reduce the risks for shift workers. The scientific article from Brown...