Imagineyou’re at the helm of a 747 commercial airliner, cruising
over the Rocky Mountains. Alone in the cockpit, you’re on your
third cup of coffee, having long since resorted to taping your
eyelids open to keep from falling asleep. You’re exhausted.
Above your head, one of the vast constellation of instruments
surrounding you begins to flash rhythmically. Looks kind of
serious, doesn’t it? You try to slap yourself awake and think,
think! Maybe that light knows something you don’t. Maybe those
other silent instruments should be registering distress. Is
there a dead fuse somewhere? Are we all going to die? In a
panic, you bank hard left and smash into the mountains. This may
be how the brain tends to malfunction when it hasn’t gotten
enough sleep — it freaks out over the unimportant details. We
believe this now because of research conducted by the team of
Hans Van Dongen at Washington State University Spokane over the
last three years — the results of which were published earlier
this year. Granted, Van Dongen