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When I moved in with my ex-partner back in my early 20s, we got a lot of unsolicited but well-meant advice from our parents and their friends. “Never sleep on an argument” was the most common proverb. “Rubbish,” I thought, “I’m grumpy and make terrible decisions when I’m tired.” As sleep expert Dan Denis writes, science is behind me on that one. That’s just one of the breakthroughs sleep researchers have made over the last five years.
I was astonished to read that researchers have successfully established two-way communication with participants while they slept, under rigorous laboratory conditions. And alarmed to hear of the many health problems scientists have traced back to poor sleep. But the research I am most excited to follow in the future is the study of dreaming, which has become a respected field in neuroscience. Scientists are hoping we may be able to harness the power of our dreams to solve problems in the waking world.
Malaysia appears to be taking a leaf out of China's successful "panda diplomacy" project which has helped the People's Republic win friends and influence people since the 1970s. But Malaysia's plans to give orangutans to its major economic partners is running into difficulties. Here's why.
And a 1,700-year-old Christian text going up for auction next month is expected to fetch between £2 and £3 million. It's thought to be the oldest book in private hands rather than a museum and sheds a great deal of light on the development of early Christianity.
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