From Miles Harrison
As an engineer, I could not help but put together key elements from two articles, namely “Thought Control” (1 March, p 44) and “Sleep Tight” (15 March, p 30). The former outlines the amazing work done in identifying the molecules responsible for controlling the formation of brain neuron connections and those responsible for tagging of synapses for removal. But it makes no mention of when this activity is likely to occur. If an engineer has to make serious modifications to the control system of a complex plant, either part or all of it is shut down to facilitate software and firmware changes and associated testing before the system is brought back on-line.
Is the activity of brain structure molecular regulators confined to the hours of sleep? If tests can be conducted to verify this then perhaps the Mystery of Sleep is solved.
Blackmans Bay, Tasmania, Australia
