Sleep Science Podcast
We spend a third of our lives sleeping, and this podcast is all about understanding sleep. We know a lot about what the brain does in sleep, but we are just starting to understand why it does some of these things, and even more excitingly, how we can take full advantage of sleep and also manipulate it for our own ends. In each episode, neuroscientist Penny Lewis interviews a different sleep researcher, talking about a various aspect of sleep science. Topics include sleep physiology and medicine, circadian rhythm, how sleep impacts on our memories and creativity, Sleep Engineering for enhanced health and cognition, and the most recent technologies to promote sleep.©SleepSciencePodcast 2021. These materials may be downloaded for personal use only. They may not be shared, distributed or reproduced in any form or for any reason without express permission
Episodes
28 episodes
S3E9 - End of Season Christmas Q&A
We've gathered the NaPS lab to answer all your fascinating questions on all things sleep! A perfect bitesize episode to get stuck into the marvellous world of sleep. 1. How does sleep deprivation affect mental health? - Answered by ...
.png)
S3E8 - Michele Bellesi - Glial Cells and the Architecture of Sleep
In this episode, we welcome neuroscientist Michele Bellesi from the University of Camerino to explore the fascinating world of glial cells and their dynamic role in sleep. Michele guides us through the four types of glial cells:...
.png)
S3E7 - Can sleep help us unlearn negative bias and update disturbing memories?- Xiaoqing Hu
Can sleep help us unlearn biases and make our memories more positive?Implicit biases are unconscious stereotypes that influence our judgments and decisions - like assuming a particular gender for a specific job role. But what if w...
S3E6 - Hongi Ngo: Exploring Closed-Loop Auditory Stimulation
We're joined by Hongi Ngo, who developed a revolutionary technique for manipulating sleep oscillations during his PhD. Closed-loop Auditory Stimulation (CLAS), which uses bursts of pink noise which are carefully timed to a particular phas...
.png)
S3E5 - Anna Schapiro - Can we model the way REM and NREM replay consolidate memories?
How are memories represented in the brain and how can we model this?Professor Anna Schapiro from University of Pennsylvania as we discuss her work on computational modelling of sleep and memory. In this episode, we discuss several kinds ...
.png)
S3E4 - Rebecca Spencer - Sleep across a lifetime - infant to old age
How does our sleep change as we age and what could this mean for memory and cognition?In this episode, we discuss with Professor Rebecca Spencer her research exploring how our sleep patterns evolve over the course of our lives.&nbs...
S3E3 - Can sleep make us more creative?
In this deep dive episode, we look at how sleep onset can help creativity. With our amazing guest speakers, Professor Bob Stickgold, Dr Adam Horowitz, Professor Delphine Oudiette and Dr Celia Lacaux, we take a look at their work on ...
.png)
S3E2 - Francesca Siclari - Parasomnias and dreaming
Sleepwalking, sleep talking, night terrors - how do they occur and why do some people have them more than others?Join us as we discuss with Professor Francesca Siclari her work looking at non-REM parasomnias and the link to dreaming. We...
S3E1 - Start of Season Christmas Q&A
To kickstart season 3 of the Sleep Science Podcast, we have the lab behind the podcast, NaPS Lab, to answer some great sleep-related questions from our listeners. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions!1. What is lucid dreaming?
S2E9 - End of season Q&A Session
For our end of season special, we have the rest of the NaPS lab in to answer a number of exciting sleep-related questions from our listeners. These touch on a range of different subjects from sleeps involvement in weight gain to alcohol's effec...
S2E8 - Chiara Cirelli - Synaptic Homeostasis in Sleep
In this episode, we talk with Professor Chiara Cirelli from the department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin. We begin by hearing about how she first got interested in sleep research, and particularly about her time as a medi...
S2E7 - Reto Huber - Local Sleep, Sleep Homeostasis, & Brain Plasticity
In this episode, we interviewed Professor Reto Huber, who leads a research group at the University Children’s Hospital, Zurich. Reto’s interests encompass sleep disorders, development, synaptic plasticity and regeneration. In this e...
S2E5 - Manuel Schabus & Kerstin Hoedlmoser - How babies sleep and what this means for their cognitive function
In this episode we talk to Professor Manuel Schabus and Professor Kerstin Hoedlmoser from the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Salzburg. In this episode, we discuss their work on the development of...
S2E6 Wenbiao Gan - The role of sleep in synapse formation and elimination
In this episode, we talk to Professor Wenbiao Gan from the Neuroscience and Physiology and Skirball Institute at New York University School of Medicine.Professor Gan tells us about how he started to become interested in studying sleep a...
S2E4 Colin Espie – What is insomnia and how can we treat it?
In this episode, we interviewed Colin Espie, one of the world’s leading authorities on sleep and insomnia. Colin is Professor in Sleep Medicine at the University of Oxford, and Clinical Director of the Experimental & Clinical Sleep Me...
S2E3 - Tore Nielsen & Mark Blagrove - Lucid Dreaming & the 'Dream-lag' effect
In this episode, we talk to Professor Tore Nielsen from the University of Montreal and Professor Mark Blagrove from Swansea University.In part 2 of this two part episode, we carry on our discussion about nightmares and talk about ...
S2E1:Tristan Bekinschtein - The Consciousness Boundary
In this episode, we talk to Dr Tristan Bekinschtein from the Cambridge Consciousness and Cognition Lab and discuss his research looking into the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness. We talk about his work in th...
S2E2: Tore Nielsen & Mark Blagrove - Part 1 - What we dream and why we need to
In this episode, we talk to Professor Tore Nielsen from the University of Montreal and Professor Mark Blagrove from Swansea University. In part 1 of this two part episode, we talk about how both our guests became interested in the...
Episode 10: Christmas Q&A session
Today's episode is a little bit different. We're marking the end of our first season by roping in the rest of the NaPS lab to answer listeners' sleep-related questions. Thanks to everyone who sent questions in!List of questions:<...
Episode 9: Michelle Carr and Karen Konkoly - What is lucid dreaming and how can it help us?
Have you ever wished you could control your dreams? In this episode we learn about new approaches letting people do exactly that. We also delve into important benefits lucid dreaming could have, such as helping reduce nightmares or helping proc...
Episode 8: Daniel Bendor: Memory Replay and Consolidation in Rodents
In this episode, we talk to Dr Daniel Bendor from University College London. Daniel's work focuses on rodent studies of place cells in the hippocampus. We discuss the phenomena of memory replay in which place cell activity mimics&n...
Episode 7: Björn Rasch -Targeted Memory Reactivation
In this episode, we talk to Professor Björn Rasch about the pioneering of a process called Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR). TMR is a tool which can be used to selectively consolidate learnt material during sleep by pairing it with se...
Episode 6: Dan Margoliash & Tim Brawn: How sleep helps birds to learn their songs
In this episode we take a neuroethological approach to sleep, and discover why songbirds are such a good model system for studying sleep's role in learning. These include advantages like songbirds' sleep-wake patterns and sleep architecture bei...
Episode 5: Anat Arzi & Thomas Andrillon - Learning in your sleep
We humans have long wondered if it is possible to learn while we sleep but, experimental findings on this have often been disappointing. You will now be happy to learn that the tide has turned in this respect, since we now have firm proof that ...
Episode 4: Vlad Vyazovskiy - Local sleep, circadian rhythms and torpor
In this episode we examine how sleep differs between species to get some clues about what sleep actually is as a phenomenon. How have marine animals solved the problem of sleeping when they regularly need to come up for air? And how d...
