Even without the aid of a watch, your body knows what time it is. Every cell and organ inside you ticks according to your circadian rhythm. It wakes you up in the morning and makes you tired at night. It raises and lowers your body temperature at set times and regulates the production of insulin and other hormones. It even effects your thoughts and feelings.

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Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have now made another fascinating discovery about the brain’s internal clock — when you die, your brain logs a sort of timestamp of your death.

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The research looked at 146 donated brains, comparing gene expressions in older and younger ones. It turns out that as we age, different genes begin expressing themselves more often. Essentially, as we get older, our current clock wears down while the body puts together a new one.

Some people’s “backup” clocks form better than others though, and that will influence your cognitive abilities as you get older. The one thing all the brain clocks had in common though was that their gene expressions all lined up consistently in terms of time of death.

The only exception was for sufferers of major depression; their brains were on entirely different circadian rhythms — locked on time around the world instead of where they lived.

So it’s a pretty impressive breakthrough in terms of understanding the workings of the human brain, but scientists are still unsure what to make of it, other than that it could help us better understand the effects of major depression on the brain.

Still, it’s cool to have confirmation of our bodies’ internal rhythm, and proof that it leaves behind evidence of itself even after we’re dead.

Here are 4 other weird things your brain does without your permission.