Three Americans won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
- They received the awards for their discoveries about the body's daily rhythms, opening up whole new fields of research and raising awareness about the importance of getting proper sleep
- Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young won the 9-million-kronor prize for isolating a gene that controls the body’s normal daily biological rhythm.
- Circadian rhythms adapt the workings of the body to different phases of the day, influencing sleep, behaviour, hormone levels, body temperature and metabolism.
- Michael Hastings is a scientist at the U.K. Medical Research Council
- Mr Rosbash is on the faculty at Brandeis University
- Mr Young is at Rockefeller University and Mr Hall has been associated with the University of Maine.
