Re: Evolution of sleep (joke)

[frank bliss <frank@blissnet.com>]

I forgot about jokesters and new parents too. I am assuming from the 
responses to date, no one is aware of vertebrates that do not go 
through some form of brain inactivity related to sleep and that there 
is an obvious evolutionary bias toward animals maintaining sleep as a 
recovery period.  This whole thread started out as a discussion about 
hibernation providing a safe passage across the K/T boundary. I am 
thinking that eliminating stress would be a survival strategy that 
would provide additional energy reserves for other purposes.  Both 
short term naps and long term hibernation suffice for that function.  I 
suspect that along with there not being one cause for the extinction of 
large dinosaurs at the K/T, there is not one cause for the survival of 
other groups through the K/T. Nature is full of experiments and what 
ever one works, gets passed on.
Frank Bliss
MS Biostratigraphy
Weston, Wyoming
On Mar 17, 2005, at 4:00 PM, Richard W. Travsky wrote:

> On Thu, 17 Mar 2005, Tim Williams wrote:
> > Frank Bliss wrote:
> >
> > > Is there any vertebrate creature that doesn't sleep?
> >
> > A grad student?
>
> Hospital interns?