Narcoleptic Naps Are a Creative Sweet Spot

A recently identified stage of sleep common to narcoleptics is a fertile source of creativity. Plus: new telescopes will help us SETL; when will fusion energy light our homes?; Facts So Romantic; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( Newsletter brought to you by: January 26, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the latest stories from Nautilus—and this week’s Facts So Romantic below [READ NAUTILUS](   [MICROBIOLOGY]( [The Universal Clock of Aging]( Father Time is ticking away in our DNA. BY ELENA KAZAMIA When Gertrude Stein famously quipped that “we are always the same age inside,” she certainly wasn’t referring to the conglomerate of cells, carefully organized into tissues, that form a human body. [Continue reading →]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Intelligent Security for Clever Canines]( Your dog is smart! But you already knew that. She also has a [general intelligence factor](, or g, just like you. Canny canines deserve the smartest technology to give them the freedom to explore while staying safe. [SpotOn]( puts the most advanced GPS fence technology in the palm of your hand. Swap buried wires with their patented True Location™ GPS technology to build custom fences from anywhere. Reliable, flexible, and intuitive, SpotOn provides [savvy security]( for intelligent dogs. [Protect Your Dog](   [ASTRONOMY]( [New Telescopes Will Help Us SETL]( Extraterrestrial life doesn’t need to be intelligent to be worth finding. BY PAUL M. SUTTER [Continue reading →]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [Narcoleptic Naps Are a Creative Sweet Spot]( A recently identified stage of sleep common to narcoleptics is a fertile source of creativity. BY KRISTEN FRENCH [Continue reading →]( [ECONOMICS]( [When Will Fusion Energy Light Our Homes?]( One question for Thomas Nicholas, a computational plasma physicist and former fusion researcher who now studies climate science at Columbia University. BY BRIAN GALLAGHER [Continue reading →](   [“This is still one of the most interesting / helpful articles I’ve read about depression and SSRIs.”]( [Nautilus reader Annaka Harris reacts to Taylor Beck’s story, “A Vaccine for Depression?”](   FACTS SO ROMANTIC The Best Things We Learned Today [Aging]( is a coding error. [Nautilus→](   [Methane on Mars]( undergoes seasonal variations, just like on Earth. [Nautilus→](   [Our bodies are home]( to about as many bacterial cells as human cells. [Nautilus→](   [The idea of editing genomes]( with CRISPR came to geneticist George Church in a narcoleptic nap. [Nautilus→](   [If we let freshwater icebergs]( roam the ocean frontier and die their natural deaths, the precious resource they contain will mingle with salty seawater, rendering them useless for the purposes of alleviating the mounting freshwater crisis. [Chasing Icebergs: How Frozen Freshwater Can Save the Planet→](   [“]()[Horvath is excited about the ‘vampire idea’ of anti-aging.]([”]() [Elena Kazamia writes about a formula that can predict aging in every tissue across 185 mammal species.](   More in Microbiology [What We Really Are Is an Agglomeration of Cells]( Siddhartha Mukherjee sings the praises of the cell to offer us a holistic portrait of life. BY MICHAEL DENHAM [Continue reading →]( [The Big Thinker]( Nick Lane is asking—and answering—the vital questions about life. BY PHILIP BALL [Continue reading →](   P.S. In a military exercise, US Marines were able to [defeat]( a robot by successfully sneaking up to it while hiding in a cardboard box. (The Metal Gear Solid fans will appreciate how [prescient]( Hideo Kojima’s humor is.) Of course, cardboard boxes are hardly the only object that’s given AI trouble. In 2019, Michael Segal [wrote](, “One of the core challenges of modern AI can be demonstrated with a rotating yellow school bus.”   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER [Share the Nautilus Experience This Lunar New Year]( As the Lunar New Year ushers in the Year of the Rabbit, [Nautilus]( would like to wish you health, happiness, and good fortune! A new beginning is the perfect time to get fresh perspectives, explore new ideas, and cultivate community. For the rest of the month, when you buy a subscription for yourself, you can [give a six-month digital subscription]( to a friend for free. Have a Happy Lunar New Year! [Subscribe Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to [unsubscribe](.