Technology: The Genesis lamp might be the beginning of a better night’s sleep

If this lamp helps astronauts wake up and fall asleep, it can probably do the same for you on earth By Corinne Iozzio

Our bodies evolved to rise with the sun and rest with the moon, and then the lightbulb ruined it all. Artificial light — emitted by everything from office fluorescents to phones — contains sun-replicating blue wavelengths that keep us up into the wee hours, which can potentially lead to obesity, depression, and other diseases, as well as what a doctor might describe as general crankiness.

To remedy this, you could crawl into a hole every night at sundown, a not altogether unappealing way to avoid Wi- Fi and work e- mail; or invest in a smarter light source. Like the Lighting Science Group’s new Genesis LED lamp, which emits different tones at different times of day to mimic the effect of natural sunshine and twilight. “It allows us to have light at night, to do things we think are useful—and maybe still go to sleep,” says Fred Maxik, the company’s founder.

The Genesis works best when other light sources aren’t interfering, but stick it on your desk or bedside table and you’ll still reap the benefits. In our test, it was bright enough to light a room on its own and had us wide awake at 6 a.m. NASA says the technology is so effective at regulating our rhythms that it’s installing a customized version on the International Space Station, where astronauts experience a possibly crazymaking 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours. $ 300; available for presale starting Feb. 1 at lsgc.com

A companion app lets you set the lamp to flick on at a preset time. An air-quality sensor measures volatile organic compounds, cuing you to open a window or turn on a fan when the concentration gets too high. During waking hours, Genesis gives off...