This press release from two months ago resulted in BBC reporting that was extensively discussed here on HN back then.[1] (I remember this because I had a good n

This press release from two months ago resulted in BBC reporting that was extensively discussed here on HN back then.[1] (I remember this because I had a good night's sleep last night.) As usual for news stories about science discoveries, this is a report of a preliminary primary research finding that may or may not be replicated and extended into the framework of an overall theory of human sleep. The science news cycle gives a crucial role to press releases like the release kindly submitted here,[2] so all of us who sleep will look forward to further research studies to confirm or disconfirm this preliminary finding and help us understand how this mouse study relates to human behavior. The obligatory link for any discussion of a report on a preliminary research result is the article "Warning Signs in Experimental Design and Interpretation"[3] by Peter Norvig, director of research at Google, on how to interpret scientific research. Considering carefully how the current research was done (after a good night's sleep, of course) may help suggest further research that will advance our understanding of what sleep is good for. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6567966 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6567966 [2] http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1174 http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1174 [3] http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html