Finding the Stuff that Dreams are Made Of

The stuff that dreams are made of.

My vintage cadillac sweeps through wrought iron gates and makes its way down the grand tree-lined avenue, a canopy of cool green above, with just a glimpse of golden stone in the distance. Then suddenly the building is revealed – a stunning Victorian Gothic façade, heavy oak doors, soaring towers and intricate gargoyles, all bathed in summer sunshine. I drive on past the original Jacobean Wing ...

We are such stuff / as dreams are made on

“W are all doubles... but at night... we meet our sleeper,” wrote Tom Stoppard in his play “Hapgood” (1988). He was approaching a common theme, identity, and how we use disguises to change it. In literature, as in life, we turn the world into a carnival to address personal, social, and cultural objectives. In microbiology carnival de-structuring abounds within the living cells of organisms. And...

Dendritic Spines: The Stuff That Memories Are Made Of?

Two new studies explore structural changes of nerve cells as a potential mechanism for memory formation by studying synaptic reorganization associated with motor learning.

Such stuff as dreams are made on? Elaborative encoding, the ancient art of memory, and the hippocampus.

This article argues that rapid eye movement (REM) dreaming is elaborative encoding for episodic memories. Elaborative encoding in REM can, at least partially, be understood through ancient art of memory (AAOM) principles: visualization, bizarre association, organization, narration, embodiment, and location. These principles render recent memories more distinctive through novel and meaningful as...

Tomorrow's lab: the stuff of dreams.