This week we're talking about sleep.
- People who slept less than 6 hours a night were 4 times more likely to catch a cold.
- Higher nighttime temperatures due to climate change are projected to disrupt summer sleep patterns, particularly for people who cannot afford air conditioning and people who are more sensitive to heat, like the elderly.
- Not sleeping enough (staying up for 17 hours straight) impaired performance in the same way as a blood alcohol level above the legal driving limit would (BAC 0.05%).
Jaime Devine
Jaime K Devine is an interdisciplinary neuroscientist whose research focuses on how behavior and biology, specifically sleep and health, interact. She has a PhD in Neuroscience from Brandeis University and a Certificate in Sleep Medicine from Harvard Medical School. She is also a dedicated science communicator, runner, working mother and nerd.
Michael Gaultois
Michael is hunting a PhD in Chemistry at the University of California, and is a big fan of fountain pens, smoked gouda, M.C. Escher, and high fives. His interests have taken him to collegiate service organizations, RC helicopters, organizational management, start-up companies, world travels, and scientific endeavours.
Ian Mahar
Ian is a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University, studying neuropsychiatric features of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and other neurodegenerative conditions. He did his PhD in Neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, doing neuropsychiatry research in the McGill Group for Suicide Studies at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. He also does science writing and outreach, and his primary interests for all three are how the brain regulates emotions, and what happens when this regulation goes awry.
