Piece Description

Every creature does it - from giant hump back whales all the way down to fruit flies - and yet science still can't answer the basic questions: Why do sleep? What is it for? We'll eavesdrop on the uneasy dreams of rats in search of answers.

One Eye Open It's a dangerous world out there, with predators always lurking. So what on earth would give every single animal in the kingdom the gumption to think it could lay itself down each day, let down its defenses, and go to sleep? Well, turns out that many species might not be as "out cold" as land mammals. We join Charles Amlaner and Steven Lima and their team at Indiana University who show us iguanas sleeping only half their brain at a time. That's right. Sleep with one eye open. That way, the iguana can watch for predators, as the other half of its brain takes a rest... While these creatures stay half awake to protect themselves, for humans, the dangers of sleep can come from within. We visit the Hennepin County Sleep Lab, where Dr. Carlos Shenck shows us some of the most terrifying sleep disorders around.

Sleep Deprivation Ahhhh, babies. We get in bed with producer Hannah Palin, and her husband, and her baby Dominic, as they all try to go to sleep. An intimate portrait of the effects of sleep deprivation... And then we try to understand what sleep is for by looking at what happens when you don't get it. The tired, cranky feeling of exhaustion, what's that really about? What thing are you missing by not getting sleep? Dr. Allan Pack describes what an exhausted brain looks like (hint: a 14 year-old boy's room). And Dr. Gulio Tunoni gives us insight into why a good night of sleep is good for the brain and, as the Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers and opera singer Brad Cresswell tell us, good for learning how to play music.

Dreams Astrologers and psychics, move over, labcoat scientists are getting in on the study of dreams. Dr. Robert Stickgold tells us about how he found a foothold into studying dreams, and published the first paper on the scientific study of dreams in 40 years with a little help from Tetris. Then Dr. Matt Wilson peers into sleeping rat brains. He's learned to read the synaptic brain chatter in the rat brains, and--though he won't quite say it himself--it seems pretty clear that he's seeing their dreams.