© NASA/Ron GaranWhile in space, astronauts may see a sunrise and sunset every 45 minutes. Astronaut Ron Garan took this image of a sunset from the Space Station.
No one really knows the details of how our body clocks work. But when the rhythms get messed up, the results can be horrendous. Accidents, loss of productivity, disease, including serious illnesses like cancer, are known to be caused, in part, by a messed up body clock.
"Biological clocks regulate almost every function in the human body," said military physician Christian Macedonia, who is overseeing a biochronicity program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.
The timing and interplay of these clocks drive everything from cell growth to metabolism and from aging to death.
"If scientists can get a better grasp on how time factors into biological functions, the Department of Defense could potentially better preserve the health and readiness of the warfighter," Macedonia wrote in an email to Discovery News.
It's not just the military that would like the keys to the body's timepieces. NASA, for example, has to figure out how to help people living off Earth. That mind-bending view from the International Space Station, which orbits about 240 miles above the planet, comes with a dizzying price: a sunrise and sunset every 45 minutes.
NASA is looking at practical solutions, like installing blue lights aboard the station, a wavelength which studies show increases alertness by suppressing the body's release of melatonin, a natural sleep hormone, and stimulating the retinas to secrete an alertness protein called melanopsin.