Abstract
For dealing with everyday physiology, that is, with respect to physiological variation in the normal range, the prevailing position corresponds to that in preatomic physics. The "a-tom" was then the smallest known particle that could not be further split. Breaking the atom opened the door to a new universe of particles governed by new forces and physical laws. Nuclear physics evolved and brought new knowledge, a new energy source and a wealth of practical applications. The analogy applies to the splitting of the normal range into the time structures of everyday physiology. From picking different times of day and seasons for study, a trans-disciplinary science, chronobiology, emerged. Chronobiology objectively maps chronomes (portmanteau'd from chronos = time and nomos = rule), time structures quantifying the relations among cycles and other events. The chronomes of variables in and around us intermodulate with each other; thus, we start exploring organisms as dynamic systems open to their environments near and far, and dependent upon them, beyond air and food. Entering the realm of everyday physiology allowed us to quantify, with refined indices, associations of life with remote drummers. The intermodulating feedsideward mechanisms involved in cosmophysical associations of life on earth may be in part endocrine responses to factors far beyond visible light and temperature. Pertinent knowledge may serve to optimize the quality and duration of life.
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