Researchers Tap a Sleep Switch in the Brain

How do you define a species? The question has been controversial since the days of Darwin. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with writer Marlowe Starling about how recent advances in genomics have both clarified and complicated the picture. This topic ...  Show more

Thunderstorms have captivated humanity for millennia, and yet their inner workings remain deeply mysterious. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, guest host and Quanta senior editor Hannah Waters speaks with staff writer Charlie Wood about the new technologies that are helping ...  Show more

Restless nights? Walking around like a sleepless zombie? Welcome to the BrainTools podcast, practical Brain science for everyday people. In this episode of the BrainTools Podcast you're going to learn the neuroscience of sleep: why we sleep, the sleep-deprived brain and how sleep ...  Show more

Neuroscientists have long been trying to determine what happens in the brain during sleep, but to date, they have overlooked a key player: astrocytes. These star-shaped cells were once thought to be the glue that held the brain together, but we are now beginning to appreciate ...

Research indicates that sleep is one of the many factors in how our bodies create, store, and burn fat. We explore in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/sleep-obesity.htm Learn more about your ad-choices at https://ww ...  Show more

Researchers studying anesthetized rats discovered a handful of activity patterns that may mark the path to consciousness after anesthesia. Karen Hopkin reports