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Article: What do platypuses dream of?(research indicates that platypus spends six times more time in REM sleep than humans)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- November 8, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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During REM sleep, named after the rapid eye movement observed during this phase of slumber, people dream and, scientists suspect, memories consolidate. In a surprising development that may challenge theories of why REM sleep arose, researchers have found that the platypus, considered one of the world's most primitive mammals, spends up to 8 hours a day in REM sleep, more than six times the amount that people experience. "They're REM sleep champions," says Jerome M. Siegel of the University of California, Los Angeles and Sepulveda Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Siegel and his colleagues at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, made this ...