Links containing search words: "Philip Low"

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Secret sleep of birds revealed in brain scans
Linda Geddes Birds may not be as "bird-brained" as we thought. Zebra finches show many features of sleep, which had previously been assumed to be the sole preserve of mammals. The finding raises new questions about the complexity of the bird brain and about the evolution of sleep as we know it. Mammalian sleep is characterised by distinct stages: slow wave sleep (SWS), intermediate sleep (IS) and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, with a progression towards more REM sleep. EEG recordings of the brain's electrical activity also show specific landmarks called "K-complexes" and "spindles" during SWS. Since K-complexes had only ever been observed in mammals, neuroscientists assumed that a neocortex – an area of the brain involved in higher functions such as conscious thought and language – was needed to generate them. Philip Low at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California, US, and his colleagues monitored five zebra finches during the night, tracking eye and body movements, and brain activity. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.