Psychology
video
Sleep and dreams
How might the dreamworlds of other animals differ from our own?
8 minutes
essay
Stories and literature
The diaries of Kafka
By day an insurance official, by night he was an incessant, insomniacal scribe of the space between waking and dreaming
Ross Benjamin
essay
Neuroscience
A thickness in the air
The spooky sensation that someone or something else is right there haunts us all. But what does this felt presence mean?
Ben Alderson-Day
essay
Sleep and dreams
The dreams of animals
The psychic lives of nonhuman dreamers reveal colours, harmonies and beauties of which we had little inkling until now
David M Peña-Guzmán
essay
Fairness and equality
Poor sleep
Being on-call, out-of-sync and underslept is not just personal but a pervasive political injustice. Bold change is needed
Jonathan White
essay
Sleep and dreams
Ancestral dreams
We’re not the only beings that dream. What visions might sleep bring to a cell, an insect, a mollusk, an ape?
Sidarta Ribeiro
essay
Sleep and dreams
Inside your dreamscape
Dream-hacking techniques can help us create, heal and have fun. They could also become tools of commercial manipulation
Adam Haar Horowitz, Robert Stickgold & Antonio Zadra
essay
Sleep and dreams
Why do we sleep?
Adults sleep less than babies. Sperm whales sleep less again. A new mathematical theory unlocks the mysteries of slumber
Van Savage & Geoffrey West
essay
Sleep and dreams
Nightmares becalmed
I’m a dream engineer. Through touch, scent and sound, we help people rescript the dramas of their sleeping lives
Michelle Carr
essay
Sleep and dreams
In exile from the dreamscape
We live in a wake-centric world that devalues dreaming, yet we need to experience dreams to be our authentic selves
Rubin Naiman
video
Neurodiversity
The work of a sleepwalking artist offers a glimpse into the fertile slumbering brain
4 minutes
essay
Sleep and dreams
Here’s to naps and snoozes
American work culture, seeping around the globe, threatens to ruin the pleasures and benefits of public, communal sleep
Todd Pitock
video
Sleep and dreams
Chocolate, monsters and mothers – surreal glimpses of our most common dreams
2 minutes
idea
Sleep and dreams
Down with the larks: on the virtues of sleeping like a sloth
Joel Frohlich
idea
Sleep and dreams
The lucid dreaming playbook: how to take charge of your dreams
Denholm Aspy
idea
Sleep and dreams
Our dreams have many purposes, changing across the lifespan
Patrick McNamara
idea
Sleep and dreams
How sound and smell cues can enhance learning while you sleep
Sadie Witkowski
essay
History
The empire dreamt back
To help rule its empire, Britain turned to psychoanalysis. But they weren’t willing to hear the truth it told
Erik Linstrum
essay
Politics and government
American dreaming 3.0
Embrace dreams as a counter to the naive realism of politics today, and they could become a potent democratic force
Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
idea
Sleep and dreams
Sleepwalking is the result of a survival mechanism gone awry
Phil Jaekl
video
Stories and literature
Leonard Cohen turns an erotic fantasy that wasn’t into a sleepless night’s work
6 minutes
idea
Sleep and dreams
How the 24-hour society is stealing time from the night
Leon Kreitzman
essay
Sleep and dreams
Dreams and revelations
The world’s great religions and spiritual journeys emerged from dreams and visions. Neurochemistry tells us how
Patrick McNamara
essay
Sleep and dreams
Falling for sleep
When wakefulness is seen as the main event, no wonder so many have trouble sleeping. Can we rekindle the joy of slumber?
Rubin Naiman