Sleepy brains make memorable waves

Snoozing rodents provide clues to how a sleeping brain bolsters memories of recently learned material. Cells in two brain areas–the somatosensory cortex, which handles sensory information, and the hippocampus, which contributes to learning and memory–emit distinctive electrical waves in a timed pattern as mice and rats sleep, say György Buzski of Rutgers University in Newark, N.J.,