Sleep

Recent articles

Book cover for Bird Brains and Behavior: A Synthesis, showing several bird species.

‘Bird Brains and Behavior,’ an excerpt

In their new book, published today, Georg Striedter and Andrew Iwaniuk dive deep into the latest research on the neural mechanisms of avian behavior. This excerpt from Chapter 2 explores how birds sleep.

By Andrew Iwaniuk, Georg Striedter
5 August 2025 | 9 min read
A fly over a background of waves of different colors.

Drosophila, like vertebrates, filter sensory information during sleep

Predictive sensory processing in sleeping Drosophila echoes vertebrate research, establishing an evolutionarily conserved neural signature of sleep.

By Siddhant Pusdekar
8 July 2025 | 5 min listen
Image of brain cell activity in rat brains.

Sleep doesn’t just consolidate memories; it actively shapes them

The rapid eye movement (REM) phase preserves newly acquired memories, but deeper non-REM sleep helps to adapt and update them, according to “heroic” day-long electrode recordings in rats.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
6 May 2025 | 6 min listen
Three sleeping mice.

Fleeting sleep interruptions may help brain reset

Brief, seconds-long microarousals during deep sleep “ride on the wave” of locus coeruleus activity in mice and correlate with periods of waste clearing and memory consolidation, new research suggests.

By Shaena Montanari
13 January 2025 | 5 min read
Illustration of a child asleep with brainwave-like lines superimposed above them.

Exploring the connection between autism and sleep

The Transmitter rounds up the latest research on autism and sleep.

By Daisy Yuhas
7 November 2024 | 2 min read
A photograph of Paul-Antoine Libourel.

At the end of the earth with Paul-Antoine Libourel

The French researcher’s accomplishments working with chinstrap penguins in the Antarctic highlight the importance of recording sleep in the wild.

By Yves Sciama
11 June 2024 | 18 min listen
A grid of four brain scans showing excess cerebrospinal fluid.

Is excess brain fluid an early marker of autism?

Brain scans of hundreds of infants suggest that up to 80 percent of those with autism have unusual amounts of cerebrospinal fluid. Researchers are studying how this might contribute to the condition.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
17 August 2023 | 10 min read
An illustration of Ashura Buckley

The sleep/wake cycle and autism with Ashura Buckley

The NIH neurologist talks about her research, her family and how mental health labels can be limiting.

By Brady Huggett
1 July 2023 | 72 min listen
A young woman sleeps at home wearing a Dreem headband and surrounded by stuffed animals.

Capturing autism’s sleep problems with devices nearable and wearable

Next-generation trackers could realize a long-standing research dream: conducting sleep studies in large numbers of autistic people.

By Angie Voyles Askham, Peter Hess
6 June 2023 | 9 min read

Adult Angelman mice get some benefit from boosting UBE3A gene expression

The treatment eases the animals’ sleep troubles, suggesting it has clinically meaningful effects beyond what was thought to be a critical window in early life.

By Angie Voyles Askham
9 February 2023 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Chris Rozell explains how brain stimulation and AI are helping to treat mental disorders

Rozell and his colleagues, using deep brain stimulation and explainable artificial intelligence, have developed tools to help people with treatment-resistant depression.

By Paul Middlebrooks
13 August 2025 | 1 min read
Illustration of a musical staff with notes represented by neurons.

This paper changed my life: Abigail Person on birdsong, feed-forward circuits and convergent computations

By isolating specific neuron types involved in zebra finch birdsong, this 2002 Nature paper from Michael Fee and colleagues revealed elegant neural mechanisms controlling the timing of natural learned behavior.

By Abigail Person
12 August 2025 | 6 min listen
Research image of mouse auditory brainstems.

Prosocial effects of oxytocin are state dependent; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 11 August.

By Jill Adams
12 August 2025 | 2 min read