Sea anemones and jellyfish don’t have brains, but the way their neurons behave during sleep shows some surprising similarities to humans

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Sleep in fish may look different from humans, but rest is essential for survival. Here’s what experts have to say about fish sleep.

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Le tremblement d’oreille ou le bruit de reniflement que font les chiens ou les chats qui dorment ne sont-ils que des réflexes ou signifient-ils que ces animaux rêvent aussi comme nous autres humains ?

Nous ne le saurons jamais peut-être pas avec certitude. Toutefois, il existe des indices qui suggèrent qu’ayant des habitudes de sommeil similaires à ceux des humains, les animaux rêveraient aussi. Mais leurs rêves seraient différents des nôtres, du moins selon une certaine définition du rêve.

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If you’ve ever watched a dog nap, you’ve probably wondered if animals dream.

It’s a complicated question. We still don’t know exactly why humans dream, or why dreams might be important. Studying animal dreams is even harder; dogs can’t tell us what made them whine or run during a snooze.

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In this article on sleep deprivation, two sleep experts discuss signs you're not getting enough sleep and how to sleep better. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is quoted.

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Fruit flies with low expression of a gene linked to neurodevelopment have disrupted sleep, poor memory and altered social behavior. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, provides comment on the study.

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The FRAXA Research Foundation has awarded a $90,000 research grant to Stanford University scientists to evaluate the effects of potential therapy combinations in fragile X syndrome. The project will be led by researchers Philippe Jacques Mourrain, PhD, Gordon Wang, PhD, and Rochelle Coulson, PhD.

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It seems that animals dream, based on similar sleep patterns in humans. The work of Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is featured in this article.





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Recent research findings suggest alterations in the autism gene CNTNAP2 might relate to a vulnerability to sleep disturbances. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, provides comment on the studies mentioned.

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Sleep is critical for children’s development and for proper maintenance of their brains. A majority of autistic children suffer from sleep disturbances, which may disrupt these crucial processes. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, writes this viewpoint piece.

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The fewer hours of sleep children with autism get, the more severe their features, according to a study of more than 2,700 children with the condition. Insufficient sleep appears to take the biggest toll on a child’s ability to make friends: Every four-minute decrease in sleep duration is associated with a one-point increase in a score that reflects a child’s difficulty in forming peer relationships. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, provides comment. 

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Deep-sleep cycling between brain waves of higher and lower amplitude dates far back on the evolutionary tree, according to a new comparative study of mammals and reptiles.

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The reasons why sleep is so vital often hide in unexpected parts of the body, as host Steven Strogatz discovers in conversations with researchers Dragana Rogulja and Alex Keene.

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Une étude chez la souris éclaire la façon dont l’hyperexcitabilité de neurones impliqués dans l’éveil contribue à fractionner les nuits au fil du vieillissement.

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For many older adults, a good night’s rest is elusive. The implications of chronically poor sleep can be far-reaching and include a decline in cognitive functioning and detrimental effects on health and general well-being.

Fortunately, relief may be in sight. A new study led by investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that neurons in the lateral hypothalamus, a brain region, play a pivotal role in sleep loss in old mice. More specifically, the arousal-promoting hypocretin neurons become hyperexcitable, driving sleep interruptions. 

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Evidence from evolutionarily ancient creatures is revealing that sleep is not just for the brain. Philippe Mourrain’s team at Stanford is developing a way to watch the organ feedback process play out cell by cell in the thumbnail-size, transparent fish Danionella translucida. By using fluorescent tags and other markers that track the activity of certain molecules in the fish’s brain and body, his team will observe how different types of cells control sleep—and benefit from it—over time.

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The genetic factors that influence autism may overlap with those that underlie insomnia, according to a new study of people with autism and their relatives. By contrast, the two conditions show minimal overlap in environmental influences. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is quoted on the subject.

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New research has found that colour-changing patterns in snoozing octopuses are characteristic of two alternating sleep states – a quiet sleep state and an active sleep state. The work of Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is mentioned in articles on this topic:

• À quoi rêvent les animaux ? On commence enfin à le savoir ! - Science & Vie
• Octopus sleep includes a frenzied, colorful, ‘active’ stage - Science News
• Sleeping octopuses might experience fleeting dreams – new study - The Conversation

Insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy are massively increasing in the world. In a scientific investigation, we will discover the new methods developed to find sleep: fractional sleep, light therapy, helmets that stimulate the brain. Consequences are huge: sick leave from work, billions of dollars lost for companies, and worse: obesity, diabetes, early Alzheimer. The science of sleep has become a major priority for researchers, so much so that the Nobel Prize in medicine has just been awarded for the discovery of the internal biological clock. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is interviewed.

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Children with autism are more likely than typical children to have had problems falling asleep as infants. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, provides comment.

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Researchers have found that brain patterns in sleeping zebrafish are similar to those of land vertebrates, suggesting that such sleep signatures developed before aquatic and land animals diverged. Senior author Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and lead author and postdoctoral scholar Louis Leung, are quoted in this piece.

The study is also highlighted in articles from:

• Stanford Medicine's SCOPE blog
• Newsweek
• Nova (PBS)
• Haaretz
  
• Independent (U.K.)
• Inverse
• Science News
• National Geographic
  
• PhysOrg
  
• New Atlas
  
• Science and Life Russia
• Smithsonian Magazine
• MSN
  

and more!

Experts found that these sea creatures sleep for at least 8 hours a day, a duration often considered ideal for human sleep.

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The Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain is pleased to announce two new collaborative projects funded through its research awards program. Thomas Clandinin and Philippe Mourrain of Stanford University will lead research aimed at understanding the sleep-dependent molecular mechanisms that underpin how neuronal membrane function is maintained over long timescales.

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A group of Stanford Medicine scientists have been awarded approximately $10 million from the National Institutes of Health's Autism Centers of Excellence program. The funding, announced by the NIH Sept. 6, will support research on the relationship between sleep dysregulation and autism symptoms.

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Votre poisson rouge rêve-t-il de grands espaces ? C'est possible. Car nombre d'animaux semblent présenter des conditions de sommeil propices aux envolées oniriques. Mieux : on commence à deviner à quoi ils rêvent.

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Catching some z’s repairs a day’s damage to neurons’ DNA in fish and mammals. While the fish are awake, DNA damage accumulates, which, through a buildup of the DNA repair protein Parp1, triggers sleep, according to a study published November 18 in Molecular Cell. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is quoted on the subject.

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UC Santa Cruz is leading a novel study of the aging brain in collaboration with researchers at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Funded by a roughly $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the five-year project will enable scientists to track changes in aging brains over an extended period of time. As we grow old, inflammation in our brains can become excessive. In low amounts, this inflammation acts as a helpful immune response, but too much can impair cognitive function and lead to declines in processes like memory.

Researchers at UCSC, UC Berkeley and Stanford are working together to find and neutralize the factors that cause these declines, using mice as models. They’re looking specifically at changes to blood composition and how immune cells in the brain and central nervous system called microglia alter cognition with age.The study team will be joined by Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. 

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From elephant to earthworm, it is probable that all animal species exhibit phases of sleep. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, provides comment on the the existence of sleep and dreams across evolution.

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In the Science article, Rafael Pelayo, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, write about William C. Dement, one of the founders of sleep science and medicine. Dr. Dement devoted his life to helping the public appreciate the importance of sleep health. His pioneering work, which included the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, touched countless lives.

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Sleep problems are unusually common in people on the spectrum, and yet the topic is poorly understood. In this Cross Talk, five scientists discuss the biggest hurdles they face in understanding the relationship between autism and sleep. Philippe Mourrain, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, provides comment.

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