The purpose of this web site is to provide an introduction to the study of biological clocks or chronobiology for those people with little or no prior knowledge of the subject. The primary audiences therefore are 6th formers and interested lay people but hopefully it will also prove useful for undergraduate biological science students.

Chronobiology covers many areas in the biological sciences, from endocrinology through genetics to behaviour and beyond, and consequently there is very little information dealing with the subject in isolation and without the prerequisites of knowledge in the aforementioned fields. The aim of this site, therefore, is to correct this problem and provide an introduction to and explanation of chronobiology which requires as little background knowledge as possible.

The following sections can be found on this site:

• Introduction: an introduction to the subject of chronobiology and descriptions of biological clocks and rhythms.
• Clocks and Rhythms I : how environmental rhythms are generated and how these in turn produce biological rhythms.
• Clocks and Rhythms II :The uses of Biological Clocks and why they have evolved.
• Clock I : Searching for the location of Biological Clocks, Clocks in Mammals and the Pineal Gland, Melatonin and Mammals.
• Clock II :The Properties of Biological Clocks.
• Clock Mechanism : the genetic and molecular basis of biological clocks.
• Applications: Human Rhythms, Shift Work and Jet Lag.
• Glossary: a glossary of chronobiological terms.
• References: a list of the books and journals used to construct this site.
• Links: links to chronobiology and other sites (also includes references).

This site is navigated by clicking on the blue underlined text, or by by clicking on the buttons below. The site can also be navigated using the buttons on your browser. In many cases certain words in the text will be underlined in blue too: these are links to the Glossary which contains a more detailed explanation of the underlined word. These links open in a new window and so can be closed once you have finished reading the explanation.

For example if you click on the word "period" in this sentence you'll be linked to the glossary where you'll find an explanation of the word. Give it a try !