Chicken Soup and the Lemming

The Lemming categorically denies that leftover pizza has anything to do with how the Lemming has been feeling.

The Lemming simply preferred staying inside, watching old movies and catching up on reading. Also sleeping and chicken soup.

Retrospectively reflecting:

• "A Tale of Two Birds"
  (January 9, 2015)
• "This Year We Gotta Get Organized"
  (January 2, 2015)
• "Christmas with the Lemming"
  (December 24, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Holiday Travel Plans"
  (December 19, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Xanadu Springs"
  (June 20, 2014)

Learning at Night: We Sleep, Our Brains Work

"Sleepwalkers Replay Day's Learning"
Brandon Keim, Wired Science (March 24, 2011)

"A video of what appears to be a sleeping woman doing a modified, slow-motion funky robot dance in bed may represent the most direct evidence yet that minds replay a day's learning during slumber.

"Much research supports this hypothesis, which in recent years has eroded the classical conviction that sleeping minds were, if not empty vessels, blank slates for undirected neurological activity. When tested on new facts, people remember them better after a good night's sleep than after a short break.

"Brain imaging shows similar patterns in their sleeping brains as when they are learning. But while compelling, such demonstrations are indirect.

"To avoid ambiguity, sleep researcher Delphine Oudiette of France's Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris and colleagues devised a cleverly straightforward test: They would teach a motor task to sleepwalkers and people with sleep behavior disorders, who typically move their bodies in tandem with dreams. If test subjects repeated the motions while sleeping, it would clearly demonstrate replay.

"Oudiette's team describes the experiment Mar. 21 in Public Library of Science ONE. Participants were trained to hit an array of color-coded buttons in response to computer prompts, then taped while asleep. Taken in aggregate, their sleeping movements tended to resemble those in the test. One woman in particular performed the test choreography with uncanny precision....

"...But be careful with those evening karate classes...."

There's something to the last line in that article. One night, the Lemming awoke - rather abruptly - because my wife had practiced a particular kick she'd been learning in Soo Bahk Do, a sort of Korean karate.

Then she woke up: probably a side-effect of the Lemming's yell. No harm done, but it was startling.

This research, besides shedding more light on what the brain does when we're asleep, has a practical application for students, in the Lemming's opinion. The traditional cram-all-night-for-finals ritual may be less effective than a brief review, followed by a good night's sleep.

So much for a hallowed academic tradition.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Life is On the Clock - And Has Been for a Very Long Time"
  (January 29, 2011)
• " 'Mommy Brain' Research by a Mother"
  (October 23, 2010)
• "Barnacles, Brains, and Staying Awake"
  (February 13, 2010)
• "Metabolic Syndrome, Wii Fit, and Mii"
  (November 20, 2009)
• "Ten Geeky Wake-Up Tricks"
  (March 9, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: East Coast Air Travel; or, 'Oops'

First, the good news: Nobody got hurt.

Now, the sort-of-good-news: It's really quiet, that time of night, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Which may explain why the air traffic controller fell asleep.

Looks like the FAA may be re-evaluating having just one air traffic controller on duty on the late-night shift. About a year ago, the one (1) air traffic controller locked himself out of the control room.

Meanwhile, the fire is out at Miami International Airport.

It's been a big day for east coast air travel.

---

"Air Traffic Controller Is Suspended"
Timothy Williams, Jad Mouawad, with Anahad O,Connor, Julie Creswell contributing, The New York Times (March 24, 2011)

"The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday suspended the air traffic controller who was on duty just after midnight Wednesday, when two passenger jets landed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport without clearance or guidance from the control tower. The controller may have been asleep, officials said.

"No one was injured in the incident, which involved two airplanes carrying a total of about 165 people.

" 'The F.A.A. is thoroughly investigating Wednesday's early morning incidents at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport's control tower,' said Randy Babbitt, the agency's administrator. 'While that is taking place, we have suspended the air traffic controller from all operational duties. I am determined to get to the bottom of this situation for the safety of the traveling public.'..."

There's more: mostly about the F.A.A. fellow being outraged; and something's going to be done; and he when he was a pilot he wouldn't have landed that plane, no way, no how.

Also, this isn't the first oopsie at R. R. W. N. A.:

"...According to transcripts of the radio communication between the pilot and a controller at the Potomac center on Wednesday morning, a third aircraft also approached the airport during the incident on Wednesday. 'So you're aware, the tower is apparently not manned,' the controller told the pilot of the third plane, an American Airlines flight. 'We've made a few phone calls; nobody's answering. So, two airplanes went in in the past 10 to 15 minutes, so you can expect to go in to an uncontrolled airport.'

" 'Is there a reason it's not manned?' the American pilot is heard asking.

" 'Well, I'm going to take a guess and say that the controller got locked out,” the Potomac controller responded. 'I've heard of it happening before.'

" 'That's the first time I've heard it,' the pilot said.

" 'Fortunately, it's not very often,” the controller said. 'It happened about a year ago. But I'm not sure that's what happened now, but anyway, there's nobody in the tower.'

" 'Interesting,' said the pilot, apparently exasperated.

"After a few seconds, the Potomac controller reported, 'The tower's back in business.'

" 'That was a close call,' said the pilot, who sounded relieved.

" 'Wasn't it, though?' the Potomac controller replied."

Television news that the Lemming's heard has been careful to point out that Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is pretty quiet after midnight, when this happened. And that it's several miles away from some of the most restricted airspace in the country. Or, looking at it another way, it's only miles away from some of the most restricted airspace in the country.

Still, like The New York Times pointed out, nobody got hurt. That's good news.

Meanwhile, near Miami, Florida:

---

"MIA fuel tank fire affecting flights into the evening"
WSVN-TV (March 24, 2011)

"Though the flames at Miami International Airport are no longer raging, the aftermath is still causing major travel troubles.

"Dozens of flights have been canceled following the fire that ignited late Wednesday night. The resulting fueling issues at MIA are expected to have a ripple effect into Thursday evening.

"Thursday morning, the aviation director spoke at the Miami-Dade Commission to explain what caused this fire. 'We think one of the 16 pumps that we have in line,' said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Jose Abreu. 'The problem is the underground infrastructure that connects these pipes was also aversely affected.'

"Abreu said the trigger was electrical in nature. 'I'm an engineer, and I go by the numbers,' he said, 'and based on what I've heard-- cause I was there up until about a few hours ago-- based on what I've heard from both the firefighters and the Miami-Dade Aviation folks, it was a short-circuit.'

"The blaze broke out at 11 p.m. at the airport's fuel farm, an area where fuel is stored for planes. Fire crews, including 110 firefighters, battled the flames into the early morning hours, at around 1 a.m., Thursday...."

More good news: nobody got hurt.

---

It's rough, getting suspended like that air traffic controller did. At this point, the Lemming hasn't a clue why the fellow dozed off. It could be anything from having to work shifts back-to-back, to carbon monoxide in the ventilation system, to putting decaf instead of regular in the thermos.

Whatever the reason - and whatever the F. A. A. decides to do about what they find out - the Lemming is glad that his traveling is of the virtual variety these days.

The Miami International Airport fire? That was one spectacular blaze: and the Lemming is very glad that nobody was hurt.

Sort-of-related posts:

• "TSA vs. Holiday Travelers: Radiation Exposure or 'Pat-Down' "
  (November 15, 2010)
• "Northwest Flight 188 Overshoots MSP - Time to Reconsider Humans on Flight Crews?"
  (October 23, 2009)
• "A Software Glitch, Vintage Computers, and FAA Air Traffic Control"
  (August 30, 2008)
• "Oops: Pilots Overshoot Runway by 359 Miles"
  (June 26, 2008)
• "Our Tax Dollars On Lunch Break?"
  (February 8, 2008)

Life is On the Clock - And Has Been for a Very Long Time

"Ancient body clock keeps all life on time: studies"
Kate Kelland, editing by Paul Casciato, Health, Edition: US, Reuters (January 26, 2011)

"Scientists have identified the mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life -- a finding they say should shed light on some shift work-related problems like diabetes, depression and cancer.

"Researchers from Britain's Cambridge and Edinburgh universities, whose work was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, said their findings provide important insight into health-related problems linked to people such as nurses, pilots and other shift workers, whose body clocks are disrupted.

"The studies also suggest that the 24-hour circadian clock found in human cells is the same as that found in algae, and dates back millions of years to early life on earth, they said.

"In the first study, Cambridge scientists found for the first time that red blood cells have a 24-hour rhythm.

"This is significant, they explained, because circadian rhythms have always been assumed to be linked to DNA and gene activity -- but, unlike most other cells in the body, red blood cells do not have DNA...."

What the scientists found was that levels of peroxiredoxins - proteins found in just about every living thing on Earth - change on a 24 hour schedule. Whether the organism is exposed to light or not.

Just how these ancient clocks tie in with the rest of our bodies' processes - is still a mystery. But researchers have something specific to look for now.

On a personal note, finding these built-in clocks reminds the Lemming that there's most likely something to the old saying, "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise."

Not, as James Thurber put it, 'early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy and wealthy and dead.' And that's another topic.

Six Ways to Help You Sleep

"6 New Insights on Sleep"
gfanks.com (April 24, 2009)

"I took these 6 excepts from a larger article which I encourage you to read here. These 6 were the insights I hadn't heard about.

1. Tuck a hot-water bottle between your feet or wear a pair of ski socks to bed. The science is a little complicated, but warm feet help your body's internal temperature get to the optimal level for sleep. Essentially, you sleep best when your core temperature drops. By warming your feet, you make sure blood flows well through your legs, allowing your trunk to cool...."

First, kudos to Graeme Franks, for telling where he got the information. I replicated his link, in the quote. (It's from Reader's Digest: "Achieve a Deep, Uninterrupted Sleep / 24 ways to get the rest you need.)

The other five points, like the first, include an explanation for why they're supposed to work. Mr. Franks' sixth point, journaling just before going to bed, is something I haven't run into before: and makes good sense.

Lemming Tracks: The Lemming's Pooped

I thought I was going to accomplish great things today. I stayed awake, which was something of an accomplishment: and wrote a post in another blog ("Sandra Cantu's Dead: Time for Prayer and Thought" A Catholic Citizen in America (April 7, 2009)) - but that's about it.

It may have something to do with my staying up until dawn last night. The Lemming isn't as resilient as he was, thirty years ago.

I've got notes for a few posts here: but that'll wait until tomorrow.

Ten Geeky Wake-Up Tricks

"10 Geeky Tricks for Getting Out of Bed in the Morning"
geekdad Wired blog (February 25, 2009)

"A little confession: I am not a morning person. In fact, I hate getting up before 9 a.m., and I'd probably sleep until 10 a.m. if I could.

"I'm not sure whether it was too many late nights during college, or if I'm a night owl by nature, but it's far too often "late to bed, late to rise" for me. And I'm trying to fix it...."

The 10-point list, from "Go to bed when you're tired" to "Write something down" seems to make sense. And, just might work. I've tried some, and achieved limited success. (A habit with a decades-long head start takes a lot of suppressing.)

A pretty good resource.

zzz-mailing: Using The Intenet - Asleep

"Sleep-walker emails friends"
News.com.au (December 15, 2008)

"A WOMAN in a deep sleep sent emails to friends asking them over for wine and caviar in what doctors believe is the first reported case of 'zzz-mailing' - using the internet while asleep.

"The case of the 44-year-old woman is reported by researchers from the University of Toledo in the latest edition of the medical journal Sleep Medicine.

"They said the woman went to bed about 10pm but got up two hours later and walked to her computer in the next room, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reports.

"She turned it on, connected to the internet, and logged on before composing and sending three emails.

"Each was in a random mix of upper and lower cases, not well formatted and written in strange language, the researchers said.

"One read: 'Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner and drinks, 4pm,. Bring wine and caviar only.'..."

The sleeping pills may have had something to do with it. She'd been taking Zolpidem: the commercial name in America is Ambien.

This is a step or two up from sleepwalking. She had to remember her password, and the procedure for starting her computer and getting on the Internet.

More, at

• "Forget Sleepwalking, Study Reports First Case of Zzz-Mailing"
  FOXNews (December 15, 2008)
• "Writing emails as part of sleepwalking after increase in Zolpidem"
  Science Direct (December 6, 2008)
  (The article is in a 'members-only' section)

Sleep Positions and the Personalities that Go With Them

"Sleep Positions"

This may be more than pop psychology:

"Source: Professor Chris Idzikowski, director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service

"Personality clues can be found in the position that we use to fall asleep."

Positions from Fetus to Starfish

Orexin A: Better than Coffee?

"DARPA Develops Brain Chemical to Replace Sleep" (January 02, 2008)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has come up with a nasal spray for monkeys that lets them shake off sleepiness. Not only are they as alert and smart as well-rested monkeys, but PET scans of their brains show 'wide-awake' patterns of activity.

The active ingredient is orexin A, a brain hormone.

There don't seem to be major problems with the sleep-be-gone spray: but it's early days.

My guess is that, once this stuff starts getting used on college campuses*, we'll find out what function dreams serve. And, why it's not a good idea to turn them off.

* My guess is that it's America's college students who will first try to remove sleep from their schedule. I see two groups involved:

• Scholars, who think they'll get an extra eight hours of study each night
• College kids, who see an opportunity to party 24-7, literally

Monday Advice for the Tired Office Worker

"5 Best Things to Say When Caught Sleeping at Your Desk:" from Atlanta Illustrated.

I don't necessarily endorse a practical application of this list: but it is funny.