Dear Nautilus Reader,
Scientists have many theories about why we dream. And why dreams are so weird.
Dreams, like hallucinogens, make neural connections when we’re asleep that we’d never make when we’re awake. We have to narrow our focus to function. But in the land of the nod, dreams show us what are minds are capable of. Maybe the next morning we have a new appreciation of our creative possibilities.
Dreams could be rehearsals for the emotional difficulties of real life. Or maybe they’re just nightly recapitulations of a day’s events, without much rhyme or reason, our brains riffing, burning off energy.
This week we present a new and intriguing theory that dreams represent our brains doing some “offline learning,” and what’s more, perfecting our abilities to learn in waking life. Take heart from those confounding, weird dreams. There is a method to their madness.
That story; how the simple sandpile illustrates a complex theory of nature; a new partnership among different sea creatures; and more, in some of the most popular stories on Nautilus this week.
NAUTILUS PARTNER Open Call for Decade Actions An open invitation for partners from around the world to request endorsement for transformative actions that contribute to the Ocean Decade vision. The Call for Decade Actions No. 02/2021, the second of a series that will be launched every six months as part of the Ocean Decade, will focus on Decade programs that address priority issues including marine pollution, multiple stressors on marine ecosystems or the ocean-climate nexus.
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