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Next
Event
Friday, September 26, 2008, 07:00 PM: Truthiness and Agnotology
Does the massive increase in communications technology -- the internet, cell phones, satellite and cable television, internet video like youtube, and so on -- make us more informed? Or does it do the opposite -- spead doubt, confusion, lies, mythology, crackpot conspiracy theories, and the like? Bandwidth will keep increasing and increasing, so what should we expect for the future?
More...
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Sleep
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New results challenge the view that a good night's sleep can leave behind a dense bloom of brain cells in the morning. Prior studies had found that sleep-deprived rodents grow fewer new neurons than well-rested animals, suggesting that sleep somehow promotes the birth of brain cells, called neurogenesis. But that might not be the case: researchers report instead that lack of sleep likely cuts into neurogenesis by triggering a harmful stress response.
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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 we sleep? What is it for? We'll eavesdrop on the uneasy dreams of rats in search of answers.
Audio, 1 hour
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Having few people in your social network increases the risk of sleep disturbances, and thereby also heightens the risk of contracting several diseases.
Having few friends at the workplace and outside work can make you more susceptible to stress, which in turn can lead to sleep disturbances. What's more, having few friends can be experienced as stressful in itself.
Depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases are examples of disorders that are associated with sleep disruptions. The relationship between sleep disturbances and having few friends combined with little emotional support differs somewhat between the genders.
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