Scientists from the University of Wisconsin have discovered that while rats are awake, portions of their brains are in fact, fast asleep. Keeping the test animals up with their favorite toys, scientists attached electrodes to the sleep-deprived subjects to determine which parts of the brain were active. Furthermore, being partly asleep caused the rats to make several mistakes in actions that should be easy to carry out. As an experiment, scientists placed a sugar cube behind a hole in a plexiglass wall. Because the cells in the motor cortex, the area of the brain that controls movement, were asleep, the rat could not accomplish the task with ease, as it failed to grab the cube within several attempts. This strengthened the theory that as the rats were awake, parts of their brain were asleep and not functioning. If having dormant brain cells while being awake also applies to humans, then being sleep-deprived could be potentially fatal, causing inattentiveness. This can lead to car accidents, judgment errors, and much more. Overall, this article demonstrated that although an animal could be awake, not all parts of its brain may be functioning. I chose this article because I am entertained by how the body works and how the brain controls it. This study allows possible further research on humans. If scientists can discover whether or not people also experience “partial sleeping,” it could help prevent thousands of deaths globally.Resources:
Saey, Tina Hesman. “Half-asleep rats look wide awake.” ScienceNews 21 May 2011: n. pag. ScienceNews. Web. 7 May 2011. <http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/73636/title/Half-asleep_rats_look_wide_awake>.
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