(Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health) How do muscle cells prepare for the particular metabolic challenges of the day? Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum München and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), members of the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), have investigated this question and published their results in 'PLOS Biology'. The study has uncovered a metabolic network which is, contrary to expectations, not controlled by the brain but rather by the 'circadian clock' of muscle cells.