The National Academy of Sciences has said that based on a recent study, the best way to solve a problem is to sleep on it. Apparently that active dreamy REM sleep is essential to assimilating new knowledge into previous experience, fostering new connections and insights.

Minimally, it would be good to have a copy of this study handy when the boss finds you napping in your lab. Still, while the results of this study make some intuitive sense, I’m plagued by the question of why my kids haven’t yet cured the common cold, figured out the whole Mid-East debacle, or fashioned a light saber. Given the amount of sleep teens get on the weekend, any given Saturday or Sunday should be just chock full of innovation.