Why do we need sleep?How did sleep develop? Do all organisms sleep? This question and many more have plagued the scientific community for ages. Some observations have shown that even a primitive species like jellyfish actually sleep. The question now becomes why do they sleep and how did sleep originate? These developments have thrown a twist into scientists previous beliefs.
Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep
By Carrie Arnold, Nature magazine on September 22, 2017
The brainless marine creatures are the simplest organisms known to seek slumber
The purpose and evolutionary origins of sleep are among the biggest mysteries in neuroscience. Every complex animal, from the humblest fruit fly to the largest blue whale, sleeps—yet scientists can’t explain why any organism would leave itself vulnerable to predators, and unable to eat or mate, for a large portion of the day. Now, researchers have demonstrated for the first time that even an organism without a brain—a kind of jellyfish—shows sleep-like behaviour, suggesting that the origins of sleep are more primitive than thought.
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