Monday, September 25, 2006
Social Flies Shed Light on Sleep (Washington Post, Science journal)
From the Washington Post's 'Science Notebook' (2nd item, scroll down the page): Ever feel the need to get a couple of extra hours of sleep after a large family gathering? A contentious faculty meeting? A long evening in a singles bar?
Fruit flies know how you feel.
A study last week in the journal Science found that Drosophila fruit flies needed more sleep after spending time around a lot of other flies or learning something that produced a long-term memory...
...The reason for sleep isn't fully known, but there is some evidence it helps consolidate learning and memory in the brain. [Melanogaster, Evolution, Fly, Social]
Continued at "Social Flies Shed Light on Sleep"
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Based on "Waking Experience Affects Sleep Need in Drosophila" (Abstract)
technorati tags: sleep, fruit, flies, study, journal, science, drosophila, melanogaster, time, learning, long, term, memory, fly, reason, evidence, brain, evolution, washington, post, social
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