Body clocks: Time for the Nobel Prize

The circadian—or biological—clock is an intrinsic, timekeeping, molecular mechanism that allows plants to coordinate physiological activities over 24-hour cycles called circadian rhythms. Photoperiodism is a collective term for the biological responses of plants to variations in the relative lengths of dark and light periods. The period of light-exposure is called the photoperiod.

The body's temperature, measured in degrees, is determined by the balance between heat production and dissipation to the surrounding environment. For instance, if exercising vigorously, the body will produce more heat, causing sweat and dissipating that heat. Despite extreme environmental conditions and physical exertion, the human temperature-control system maintains a constant core body temperature (the temperature of deep tissues, which are the tissues located beneath the skin and other...

Body temperature reflects the equilibrium between heat production and heat loss within the body. Most heat is generated by metabolically active tissues, particularly the liver, heart, brain, kidneys, and endocrine organs. At rest, skeletal muscles contribute 20–30% of total heat production, but during vigorous exercise, this can increase up to 30–40 times.
The average body temperature is approximately 37°C (98.6°F) and typically ranges from 36.1–37.2°C...

The centroid is an important concept in engineering, physics, and mechanics. It is the geometric center of a body. It always lies within the body except in cases with holes or cavities. When the material that a body is composed of is uniform or homogeneous, the centroid coincides with its center of mass or the center of gravity.
For a homogeneous body with constant density, the centroid can usually be found using equations representing a balance of the moments of the body's volume. If the...

In mechanics, understanding the motion of objects is essential, and one tool that helps solve this problem is the free-body diagram. It is a simple but powerful graphical representation that succinctly represents all the forces acting on an object. A free-body diagram can represent a stationary or moving object, and is used in mechanics to explain the cause of an object's motion.
A free-body diagram transforms a complex problem into a simple representation, making it easy to understand the...

A composite body is a body made up of multiple parts, connected to form a larger, unified object. Each part has its own weight and center of gravity, which must be considered to determine the center of gravity of the composite body. In cases where the density or specific weight is constant, the center of gravity coincides with the centroid.
Composite bodies have widespread applications in mechanical engineering, from automobiles to aircraft to rockets. For example, an automobile wheel comprises...