sleep

Someone suffering from a major depressive episode may have trouble getting out of bed - sleep too much during the day, and then suffer from insomnia at night. Today, an experimental, and counter-intuitive treatment for depression.

Plus, the benefits of being bored. Whether we're sitting quietly for a cup of coffee, or taking a walk without a destination, one author argues that setting aside time to do nothing can make us more creative, and teach us more about who we really are - she even has some handy tips for how foster a bit of boredom.

Here at Something Wild, we’ve been thinking a lot about winter and the different strategies animals use to get through these cold, harsh months. There are quite a few techniques to survive winter if you don’t live in a toasty house with central heating or a roaring wood stove.

The top 5 are:

About one in three Granite Staters aren't getting enough sleep. That's according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Today's college students are reliable consumers, with annual budgets for furniture, clothes and gadgets. Much of which ends up in a dumpster. On today’s show, how a group of UNH students kept mounds of trash out of the landfill and turned it into cash...a model now being copied on campuses across the US. Then, business schools call it Enya-Nomics – after the new-age icon who's defied every record industry trend – selling more records than Beyoncé without touring, tweeting, talking to the press, or even leaving her Irish refuge.

Here at Something Wild, we’ve been thinking a lot about winter and the different strategies animals use to get through these cold, harsh months. There are quite a few techniques to survive winter if you don’t live in a toasty house with central heating or a roaring wood stove.

          The top 5 are:

We’re taking a look at the debate over early school start times and the science of adolescent sleep needs.

Guests:

How much sleep do you need and how do you get it? We explore these and other sleep-related questions with the latest on sleep research.

With a market value up to $2.50 an ounce, and online sales on the rise, it’s been called liquid gold. On today’s show, a look into the breast milk market, and how the biotech industry is getting in on the game.

Then, the question of why Homo sapiens thrived while Neanderthals became extinct has long been debated among scientists. We’ll hear from an anthropologist with a stunning new theory that explains their extinction: humans had dogs.

Listen to the full show or click read more for individual segments.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently stated that a later start time could improve the sleeping patterns and grades of middle and high school students. On today’s show: what sleeping in could do for budding minds.

Then, we’ll sleep in a bit longer to take a look at lucid dreaming, the phenomenon of being aware that you’re in a dream, even while asleep.

Plus: from La Boheme to the musical Rent, ”the starving artist” has been romanticized in popular culture. We strip away the rose-colored glasses to make the case for paying artists.

Listen to the full show and Read more for individual segments.

In the US and around the world, researchers working for the armed forces are setting their sights on the human need to recharge, something increasingly perceived as a fatal flaw when missions demand pilots and soldiers stay awake and alert for days at a time. Here to discuss the fight against fatigue is William Saletan, national correspondent at slate.com where he covers science, technology and politics.