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These cellular clocks help explain why elephants are bigger than mice

Biologists are uncovering how tiny timekeepers in our cells might govern body size, lifespan and ageing.
  1. Michael Marshall

    1. Michael Marshall is a science writer based in Devon, UK.

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Illustration showing 3 inky swirls morphing into a mouse, human and elephant

Illustration by Alberto Seveso

In her laboratory in Barcelona, Spain, Miki Ebisuya has built a clock without cogs, springs or numbers. This clock doesn’t tick. It is made of genes and proteins, and it keeps time in a layer of cells that Ebisuya’s team has grown in its lab. This biological clock is tiny, but it could help to explain some of the most conspicuous differences between animal species.

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Nature 592, 682-684 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01086-9

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