Comments on: Sleep May Prepare You for Tomorrow by Dissolving Today’s Neural Connections

By: Petros Kasanovas

Petros Kasanovas — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:49:20 +0000

And than again fruit flies don’t have a hippocampus or a cerebral cortex so the entire analogy to humans is questionable.

By: beach bum

beach bum — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:27:25 +0000

This is so interesting! The pruning of synapses (or connections between brain cells) probably affects the kind of inconsequential stuff that happens on a daily basis. Remembering every bit of trivia from every single day of life would obviously slow us down long term. But episodes that are repeated or highly emotionally charged are obviously stored on a more permanent basis.

I always thought of sleep as an opportunity for the brain to synthesize that day’s information and store it, but it is interesting that it might also be an opportunity for us to forget things! Thanks for the info!

By: Verena

Verena — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:48:57 +0000

“The Thinker” – you need to learn more about neuroscience, as you seem to directly equate neural connections with memories.

By: Elegiac View

Elegiac View — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:49:40 +0000

I would be against the idea of attempting to reproduce the results of sleep so that we would no longer find it necessary to sleep.

Yes, I admit, I am a person who would rather function without sleep, because then I could get so much more done… Then again, I’m also the sort of person who has been known to neglect meals for the same reason. With that in mind, I will ensure that sleep is as essential as food. Would we endeavor to find something that replaces food? No, because that would be impossible. Therefore, I don’t believe we could successfully trade sleep for some kind of mental processing instead. It would deplete the whole purpose of sleep, which is probably to smooth out our minds and provide readiness for a new day. (If you don’t look at it in a purely scientific way, that is.)

By: Isaac Marion

Isaac Marion — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:42:38 +0000

Fruit flies experience “social enrichment”? Are fruit flies getting together on weekends to play volleyball and discuss books they’re reading? Why wasn’t I invited?

By: Seb

Seb — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:08:26 +0000

otakucode, that was was really brilliant, it makes so much sense. Out of curiosity, where would one find more people who think like you?

By: Mantissa

Mantissa — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:25:09 +0000

People who, late in life, find themselves unable to sleep for extended periods, die. No exceptions. For example, death occurs in patients with fatal familial insomnia between 7 to 36 months from onset. There is no known treatment, no cure.

Waking from a dream is death to the sub-persona inhabiting the reality of the dreamworld. And waking from life is what we call death. Our world is just a temporary fragment in an infinite ladder of dreams.

By: TheThinker

TheThinker — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:35:35 +0000

If synapses are being pruned then how is it possible that one can be reminded of things that happened yesterday, last week or thirty years ago. I mean like, look through a family photo album or an old High School Yearbook ….. and write down all the “memories” that you are reminded of.

Given the right “trigger” the subconscious mind will locate those old memories and “post” them so that one can consciously “see them”.

By: BandTheory

BandTheory — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:16:39 +0000

The above post by “Adam Savage” is a trojan or virus. It caused Firefox to move all around my desktop and showed some nasty photos. I would ask you to consider removing it.

By: yaya

yaya — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:01:49 +0000

hmmmm

By: ugubabba

ugubabba — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:03:34 +0000

The article would explain easier remembering of constant repetitions. Its an darwinistic process – first cancel everything , if it proves useful it will be repeated and therefore not dissolved on the same level trivial learning experiences are.

I really liked this article.

It is certainly a pity that some people do not learn, or better learn the wrong things Adam Savage.

By: Adam Savage

Adam Savage — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:31:25 +0000

[Moderator's Note: This comment was both offensive and spam, and has been removed.]

By: CatsAreGods

CatsAreGods — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:26:35 +0000

This idea is slly.

We sleep in order to dream.
We dream in order to prepare our mind for the next day.
We live with cats so that they can help moderate our dreams.

By: kantro

kantro — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:50:47 +0000

Wow! Any article that draws neurological conclusions about the human brain from studies of fruit flies is generally difficult to take seriously…

By: Aranes

Aranes — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:57:12 +0000

Wow! I thought that this article was very interesting.