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SCIENCE24 - Science of Sleep Part 2: What We Know Today

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My last blog, The Science of Sleep Part 1, covered the historical timeline of our understanding of sleep from ancient times through the present.  This blog, The Science of Sleep Part 2 will present the details of what we know about sleep today.   After a short introduction, I will cover what happens when you sleep, how sleep is regulated in our bodies, why we need sleep, the ideal duration of sleep, sleep disorders, the effect of diet, the effect of drugs, and finally, tips for getting a good night’s sleep. I will list my primary sources at the end.   Introduction I include this short introduction as a “snapshot” of our current understanding of some of the key elements of sleep so that the reader has a top-level perspective on what follows. Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain sensory activity is inhibited.  During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity a...
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SCIENCE23 - The Science of Sleep Part 1: Timeline of our Understanding of Sleep

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As regular readers of this blog know, I get ideas for subjects from many sources.  My primary requirement is that the subject is something I know little about, and want to learn more.  Believe it or not, I found the subject for this blog on an online list of possible blog topics.   The Science of Sleep is a big subject, very complex, and not well understood yet, despite centuries of observations and decades of scientific research.  I decided to try to cover the topic in two parts.  This blog, Part 1, is an historic listing of opinions, observations, and selected significant scientific research milestones, as we tried to understand this phenomenon.  My objective is to show how our understanding of sleep (what is it, how it works, and why do we need it) has expanded over the years.  For convenience, I will discuss this in chronologically-ordered time periods of history, from ancient times through today.  This review of progress in our increasing...
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SCIENCE22 - Mass Extinctions Accelerated the Evolution of Life on Earth

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I have long been fascinated by so called “mass extinction” events that killed off so many species over the course of the development of life on Earth.  Recently, I became aware that these events, while devastating, may have provided opportunities for accelerated evolution and development of certain animal species, including humans.  So that is the subject of this blog:  the role of mass extinction events in the evolution of life on Earth.   In a short introduction, I will discuss the mechanisms, or processes, that directly affect evolution.  Then I will discuss the currently-accepted timeline of the development of life on Earth.  Next, I will talk about the five major extinction events that had such a profound effect on development of life, noting when they occurred in the timeline, and their dramatic effect on evolution.  Then I will discuss how these devastating events resulted in opportunities for new species to replace the ones that had died of...
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