by Ian Punnett

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Yale University announced Friday a $10,000 reward to anyone with information leading to a missing graduate student and bride-to-be.

Police are searching for Annie Le, 24, who was last seen outside a Yale School of Medicine building. Authorities in Connecticut are reviewing security camera footage, examining Le's computer and checking blueprints of the building, according to Yale spokeswoman Dorie Baker.

Co-worker Debbie Apuzzo told CNN affiliate WTNH-TV that Le was scheduled to be married Sunday, and "her fiance hasn't heard from her."

"Annie Le's purse containing her cell phone, credit cards and money were left in her office," a Yale University Police Department news release said, adding that friends, family members and co-workers had not heard from her since Tuesday.

meanwhile . . . 

(AOL) - Potential evidence has been seized from the building where a Yale University graduate student was last seen before she vanished days ahead of her wedding, authorities said Saturday.

"I will categorically say a body has not been found," an FBI spokesperson said. "Items that could potentially be evidence have been seized. Nothing that can be associated with Annie Le at this time."

The New Haven Register and other outlets reported that detectives found bloody clothing in the campus building where Le was last seen.

Not another one.  I’m sure you’ll join me in hoping that this IS a case of a runaway bride.   One hates to contemplate that for every child that’s returned from the hands of evil, another is lost.  No one should have to wait a lifetime to find out what happens.

Like they did in Guatemala:

(CNN) -- The Guatemalan army stole at least 333 children and sold them for adoption in other countries during the Central American nation's 36-year civil war, a government report has concluded.

A presidential ministry has determined that about 45,000 people disappeared during the nation's civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996. About 5,000 of those were children, the ministry said. Another 200,000 people died in the conflict between the leftist guerrillas and right-wing governments.

The nation's public ministry and attorney general's office will determine whether anyone is prosecuted over the abductions.

What do you want to bet the adoption records never included who stole the child or the commander that gave the order in the papers?

Whether it’s a proud, loving parent in this country or anywhere else on the planet, there is no greater horror than having a child just disappear as if it had been stolen by a giant bird--and that has been known to happen.

Perhaps you heard, the bird was the word in New Zealand:

(AP) -- Sophisticated computer scans of fossils have helped solve a mystery over the nature of a giant, ancient raptor known as the Haast's eagle which became extinct about 500 years ago, researchers said Friday.

The researchers say they have determined that the eagle - which lived in the mountains of New Zealand and weighed about 40 pounds (18 kilograms) - was a predator and not a mere scavenger as many thought.

Much larger than modern eagles, Haast's eagle would have swooped to prey on flightless birds - and possibly even the rare unlucky human.

Scientists believe the Haast's eagle became extinct about 500 years ago, most likely due to habitat destruction and the extinction of its prey species at the hands of early Polynesian settlers. Before the humans colonized New Zealand about 750 years ago, the largest inhabitants were birds like the Haast's eagle and the moa.

Researchers said the findings are similar to what is found in Maori folk tales. "The science supports Maori mythology of the legendary pouakai or hokioi, a huge bird that could swoop down on people in the mountains and was capable of killing a small child," he said.

Maybe it’s time we stop referring to those Maori child disappearances as “folk tales.”  One of the scariest things about that story is not just that giant eagle kidnappings really did happen, it’s that they happened as recently as 500 years ago.  

Could giant raptors still be roaming the skies looking for prey?  People like Loren Coleman and Mark Hall have been collecting evidence on the existence of thunderbirds and giant owls for a lifetime.  

Want more proof?

(BBC) One of the world's rarest and most elusive birds has finally been seen flying in its natural habitat (for the first time!).

The Fiji petrel, a seabird that once "went missing" for 130 years, has been sighted flying at sea, near the island of Gua in the Pacific Ocean.

The culmination of a meticulously planned bird hunt, Birdlife International researchers sighted the birds 25 nautical miles south of Gua.  Then, up to eight individuals were seen and photographed over 11 days.

So, not seen in the wild for 130 years--and then eight are found in eleven days.  And it’s not like nobody was looking for 130 years, it’s just that the birds weren’t being seen.  

What a difference a camera makes.  Of course, there are some shots that are so fuzzy that it’s hard to tell exactly what you’re seeing like the Argentinean photograph which has gotten so much play in the last 48 hours.

If you haven’t heard:

A strange object photographed over a lake in Argentina has been described as either a flying dinosaur or a UFO.

The object, photographed by a fisherman near San Rafael over an artificial lake called El-Nihuil, was, according the the newspaper Los Andes, witnessed by more than one person.

Mr Pino, 44, from San Rafael, fishes on the lake and told Los Andes that he often goes down to the water to watch the swans. On Saturday last week, however, he noticed a strange object hovering over the lake and took a series of photographs on his mobile phone.

Members of UFO and cryptozoology communities are both claiming ownership of the object with some saying that it could be an unknown creature or a Pterodactyl - a flying dinosaur that last lived on Earth 66 million years ago.

On the spectrum of “what could that splotch be?”, is there nothing between “dinosaur” on this end and “UFO” on the other?  Could it not be some kind of giant raptor?  A pterodactyl flying a UFO maybe?  Whatever it was, could it be the same thing that appeared to those two elderly ladies over the Channel Islands off the coast of France? 

IT was red, it hovered in the sky, it looked something like a dolls’ house and travelled at great speed.

The UFO was watched intently by two elderly sisters who live at Gorey and who now want to find out if anyone else saw what made their jaws drop late last Friday night.

Gladys Manning (92) was opening the side curtain in her lounge in Place Le Couteur when she saw the red object in a gap between trees behind her garden at about 11.30 pm.

‘I was so shocked that I called out to Christine and forgot she was deaf. In a second it flashed off across the sky towards Gorey Pier,’ said Gladys. However, when Gladys went to open the other curtain the object came back to hover in the same place, and this time it was seen by Christine.

Again the object, which the women said appeared to them to be about the size of a television screen, was there for a few seconds before it zipped off at speed in the same direction as before.  (This Is Jersey)

A UFO the size of a TV screen?  Let’s hope it’s not somebody with some RC helicopter playing a joke on the ladies.

And if it isn’t true, then when you tell Gladys, keep your voice low so that Christine won’t hear you.  

Nice to hear from you, Channel Islands.  Don’t go changing.

by Ian Punnett Happy International Bacon Day! At least according to the National Pork Board, Sept. 5 marks the second annual Bacon Day. I’m pretty sure Congress hasn’t voted on the creation of a national holiday for bacon but it’s just a matter or time considering Congress’ love of pork. I happen to believe that bacon makes everything better. I love bacon. Some people have asked me what is it like to have such a large national audience on the weekend and be a little bit famous and I say, “It’s like having part of you made into bacon.” Well, it makes sense to me. A Washington University in St. Louis researcher is a little more famous today:  Sept. 4, 2009 -- Chimpanzees in the Congo have developed specialized "tool kits" to forage for army ants, reveals new research published Sept. 3 in the American Journal of Primatology. This not only provides the first direct evidence of multiple tool use in this context, but suggests that chimpanzees have developed a sustainable way of harvesting food. A team from the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, recovered 1,060 tools and collected 25 video recordings of chimpanzees using them to forage for army ants.  That’s even more amazing--the chimps were using video cameras record themselves! Do you know what kind of tools that the chimpanzees were using to open up the army ant hills? Monkey wrenches! FoxNews is reporting about a cool new tool: A speed bump that generates electricity. New Energy Technologies has developed a prototype device it’s now testing at a Burger King in Hillside, New Jersey. The “Motion Power Energy Harvester” is designed to capture kinetic energy from vehicles that would otherwise be lost when drivers hit the brakes to pick up their Whoppers. It looks like a flattened speed bump with long pedals across the top that press down when tires roll over them. That force turns gears inside, generating 2000 watts of electricity instantaneously, according to the engineers who designed it. The trick is collecting that energy and distributing it in a cost-effective way. Engineer Jerry Lynch says, “If this is multiplied by ten times the length and we have 100,000 or 150,000 cars a year the device will pay back in less than two years,” Lynch estimates. Great--now the drive-thru lanes are going to be a mile and half long. No, I’m kidding, that’s awesome. Does this mean that if I’m helping Burger King pay its electric bill then when I’m driving through to get the latest “Simpsons” character toys that they’ll have more than Marge and Dr. Hibbard? They never have the ones I like when I get there! Most of my cartoon watching friends have abandoned “The Simpsons” for “Family Guy” but I remain loyal, even if it’s not as good as it used to be. “Family Guy” is funny but it’s not exactly a high-water mark for civilization. And it turns out that civilization is just a little younger than we thought it was: Modern humans spread out of Africa 20,000 years later than previously thought, according to new genetic research just published. The new analysis revealed modern humans separated from Neanderthals around 300-400,000 years ago rather than previous estimates of 500-600,000 years. The research suggested that modern humans migrated out of Africa between 55-60,000 years ago rather than the previous dates of 70-80,000 years. (Physorg.com) And, researchers can now reveal, the departure happened on a Thursday. They’d have a one-in-seven chance of being right! Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are developing a new technology for use in underwater acoustics. The new technology uses flashes of laser light to remotely create underwater sound. The new acoustic source has the potential to expand and improve both Naval and commercial underwater acoustic applications, including undersea communications, navigation, and acoustic imaging. (Physorg.com) Just one more step in the march of science to ruin completely the lives dolphins and whales. A UK grandfather revealed today that a massive stroke miraculously cured his ailing sight. Malcolm Darby, 70, had worn glasses since the age of two due to measles. "It wasn't until about four or five days later in hospital when a nurse walked past me with a newspaper under her arm and I could read the heading. I could never have done that before," he said. "I didn't think anything about it because I was still suffering from the stroke. "But after I got home I realised I could watch my television without my glasses.” But recovering his sight was not the only strange effect of his life-changing stroke - the 70-year-old has lost his ability to speak French. He added: "I'm on the mend now, so every cloud has a silver lining, especially with getting my sight back. "But before the stroke I used to be able to speak French, and now I just can't get a word of it out." Isn’t the brain just amazing? The same stroke in the same brain but in one part, sight is restored while another part of the brain is French fried.

by Ian Punnett

In the weeks ahead, we’ve got some great shows on the way. Sunday, Sept 13th - 2nd Sunday in September, John Geiger, author of The Third Man Factor:

“ . . .  a biography of an extraordinary idea: That people at the very edge of death, often adventurers or explorers, experience a sense of an incorporeal being beside them who encourages them to make one final effort to survive.

“If only a handful of people had ever experienced the Third Man, it might be dismissed as an unusual delusion shared by a few overstressed minds. But the amazing thing is this: over the years, the experience has occurred again and again, to 9/11 survivors, mountaineers, divers, polar explorers, prisoners of war, solo sailors, aviators and astronauts. All have escaped traumatic events only to tell strikingly similar stories of having experienced the close presence of a helper or guardian.”

Sometime before that, perhaps the only book that can adequately describe the brain disfunction of people like this couple in California that kidnapped that poor girl 18 years ago and kept her in the backyard like a dog, The Anatomy of Evil by Dr. Michael Stone.  No date yet.

Speaking of evil:

RICHMOND, Va. (Aug. 28) - Authorities stepped up patrols Friday near an area of Jefferson National Forest where a Virginia Tech couple described by their minister as "godly young people" were found slain.

A man walking his dog early Thursday found the bodies of David Lee Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg and Heidi Lynn Childs, 18, of Forest in the parking lot of a day use area and campground that is a popular hangout for Virginia Tech students.

Uh, about that Axis of Evil . . . 

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean-manufactured munitions, detonators, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades bound for Iran in violation of United Nations sanctions, diplomats said.

The UAE two weeks ago notified the UN Security Council of the seizure, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition they aren’t named because the communication hasn’t been made public. They said the ship, owned by an Australian subsidiary of a French company and sailing under a Bahamian flag, was carrying 10 containers of arms disguised as oil equipment.

Meanwhile, the axis of our international economy may be smaller than you think--or as small as you fear:

WASHINGTON -- A recent analysis of the 2007 financial markets of 48 countries has revealed that the world's finances are in the hands of just a few mutual funds, banks, and corporations. This is the first clear picture of the global concentration of financial power, and point out the worldwide financial system's vulnerability as it stood on the brink of the current economic crisis.

A pair of physicists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich did a physics-based analysis of the world economy as it looked in early 2007 and found that 24,877 stocks and 106,141 shareholding entities in 48 countries,  which represented the owners of 80 percent of a country's market capital, was controlled by remarkably few shareholders. (Live Science)

If that’s true--and I have no doubt that it isn’t--aren’t all these financial shows wasting a lot of time broadcasting to millions of people when they could just be texting to a handful of powerful people in some back room some where.

I’ll mention that to the Mad Money’s Jim Cramer.  I saw him last week when I was in New York by accident.  He was right next to me at breakfast in my hotel having a meeting.  He’s not as crazy in person.  Good thing.  If he had been waving his arms around as much as he does on TV, we were sitting so close to me he would have hit me with his toast.

Back in July, President Obama met a lot of famous people on his world tour as Jeff Israely reported in Time magazine:

There was a poignant footnote to President Obama's historic July 10 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Behind closed doors in the papal library, Obama handed Benedict a letter that Senator Edward Kennedy had asked him to personally deliver to the pontiff. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs later told reporters that nobody - not even the President - knew the contents of the sealed missive. Obama himself asked Benedict to pray for Kennedy, and called the ailing Senator afterward to fill him in on his encounter with the 82-year-old Pope.

The letter, most likely already re-sealed and tucked away in the Vatican archives, was probably just a dying Catholic's request for a papal blessing. In the eyes of the traditionalist wing of the Church, however, Kennedy should have been asking the Pope for forgiveness. The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported Kennedy's death, praising his work on civil rights and fighting poverty, but noted that his record was marred by his stance on abortion. As of yet, unlike some other world leaders, Pope Benedict has not commented or issued an official communique in response to Kennedy's death. (Time)

Obviously abortion is a sin in the Catholic church.  We’ll see if Pope Benedict ever issues anything about the death of Sen. Kennedy.  Of course, suicide is a sin too according to the church but would Jesus forgive these cows?

In the picturesque Swiss village of Lauterbrunnen, the locals are worried.

Dozens of alpine cows appear to be committing suicide by throwing themselves off a cliff near the small village in the Alps.

In the space of just three days, 28 cows and bulls have mysteriously died after they plunged hundreds of metres to rocks below where they were killed instantly.

“We are investigating because cows growing up in the mountains normally can estimate dangers and do not plunge down cliffs.” 

(Call it moo-icide).

According to local reports, there had been violent thunderstorms in the area which may well have spooked the animals.  (The Daily Mail)

Spooking of being speaked:

Patrick Stewart has told fellow actors that he saw a ghost in what is reputed to be one of Britain's most haunted theatres.

He saw the apparition while performing Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellen.

Stage hands believe he saw the ghost of John Baldwin Buckstone, who was actor-manager of the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the mid 19th century and a friend of Charles ****ens.

Buckstone had a long association with the Theatre Royal, first as a comic actor, then as a playwright and finally as its actor-manager from 1853 to 1877, during which time it put on some 200 productions. The house became the leading comic theatre of the day.

He did not die in the building, passing away peacefully at home in Sydenham, Kent, after a long illness in 1879 aged 77. But theatre lore professes that he nevertheless haunts the place to the present day.

Nigel Everett, a director of the theatre, said: "Patrick told us all about it. He was stunned. I would not say frightened, but I would say impressed.” (The Telegraph.UK)

More impressive than the success of Merck's antidepressant research:

In 2002, Merck, the pharmaceutical giant, was falling behind its rivals in sales. 

In interviews with the press, Edward Scolnick, Merck's research director, laid out his battle plan to restore the firm to preeminence. Key to his strategy was expanding the company's reach into the antidepressant market.

His plan hinged on the success of an experimental antidepressant codenamed MK-869. Still in clinical trials, it looked like every pharma executive's dream: a new kind of medication that exploited brain chemistry in innovative ways to promote feelings of well-being. The drug tested brilliantly early on, with minimal side effects, and Merck touted its game-changing potential at a meeting of 300 securities analysts.

Behind the scenes, however, MK-869 was starting to unravel. 

True, many test subjects treated with the medication felt their hopelessness and anxiety lift. But so did nearly the same number who took a placebo, a look-alike pill made of milk sugar or another inert substance given to groups of volunteers in clinical trials to gauge how much more effective the real drug is by comparison. The fact that taking a faux drug can powerfully improve some people's health—the so-called placebo effect—has long been considered an embarrassment to the serious practice of pharmacology.(Wired)

Sounds to me like the perfect antidote for our healthcare problems.  Think of how much money we could save if instead of spending all that money on developing new drugs, we just invest in making better placebos!

Make mine chocolate . . .

Finally just for fun:

fm1071.com/show_elements/link.php?entryI...

Enjoy!

by Ian Punnett

 

 

Have you seen Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” yet?  I would not recommend it to everybody--certainly not for people who abhor movie violence or people who are sticklers for history--but as a cinema experience, it sure had its high points such as the German actor that plays the antagonist Nazi who is as good as everybody says he is.  

One of the low points for me was Brad Pitt’s truly weird, cartoonish Southern accent which I found as distracting as the way he kept sticking out his chin.  It’s not that I was expecting geographical or historical authenticity from “Inglorious Basterds,” it’s that I was never sure when the movie would leave the familiar and enter the “Tarantino zone” (which is similar to the Twilight Zone except everybody talks faster and wittier than real life).

Anyway, as long as we’re rewriting history for our own amusement, then you absolutely have to see the video titled, “Hitler Upset Vikings Sign Brett Favre.”  It is laugh out loud one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time.

fm1071.com/show_elements/link.php?entryI...

For non-football, non-Viking fans, by the way, “Helga hats” are the ones that Vikings fans wear that makes them look like they’ve got long blond, Scandahoovian braids.  “Helga hats” are like “cheesehead” hats for Vikings fans except we look and feel much prettier.  

Anyway, you don’t have to know much about either Hitler, Brett Favre or football to think this video is funny but it helps.

Boy, let’s hope the Dutch have a sense of humor these days:

An investigation by the Dutch national museum has revealed that one of its prized possessions, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts, is nothing more than a lump of petrified wood. The rock was originally given to former Prime Minister Willem Drees by then-U.S. ambassador J. William Middendorf during a visit by the astronauts shortly after their 1969 moon landing. A spokesperson said the museum will keep the piece anyway, as a curiosity.  (C2C)

The museum will keep the lump of petrified wood that they thought were told was a moon rock as a “curiosity.”  Yeah, just look for that in the exhibit titled, “Crappy gifts we got from other countries.”  

I’m not sure what the diplomatic response will be for that. Ask them to send it back? Replace it with a real one?  Send a letter saying that NASA is going to start an immediate investigation as to how petrified wood got on the moon?

Got to think fast if you’re in politics. Just consider this story:

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defense and security." The White House is supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government.   (C-Net)

I guess this isn’t much different from other emergency powers that the POTUS has but those rules sound pretty vague and the potential for abuse seems fairly large.  Contact your representative--unless it’s Jay Rockefeller.  Then I wouldn’t bother.

And while that would be painful, it’s not dental pain. There is nothing like dental pain.

I believe in going green as long as green isn’t the color of my teeth. Now, some scientists are coming after the nitrous oxide that allows a dentalphobe like myself from coming within 500 yards of a dentist office.  If researchers are claiming that my nitrous oxide is a threat to the environment, will the politicians be far behind?

A study published today in Science claims that nitrous oxide is the leading cause of ozone layer destruction in the twenty-first century:

“Nitrous oxide is emitted from livestock manure, sewage treatment, combustion and certain other industrial processes. Dentists use it as a sedative (so-called "laughing gas"). In nature, bacteria in soil and the oceans break down nitrogen-containing compounds, releasing nitrous oxide. About one-third of global nitrous oxide emissions are from human activities. Nitrous oxide, like chlorofluorocarbons, is stable when emitted at ground level, but breaks down when it reaches the stratosphere to form other gases, called nitrogen oxides, that trigger ozone-destroying reactions.”

How is this possible?  I breath in nitrous oxide but I don’t breath it out, do I?  Aren’t dental patients living, breathing nitrous oxide filters?

“They” may take away my internet but, I promise you, if “they” want my nitrous oxide they’ll have to pry it from my cold dead (asleep) hand.

Or at least, the cold dead hand of my dentist.  That I would be willing to promise you (don't tell him).

 

 

by Ian Punnett Traveling anywhere is always problematic and there are a variety of hassles associated with heading through airports. This story really makes you wonder whether it's all worth it: At about 8:00pm Sunday night, as he was waiting to depart at JFK, a Delta Airlines pilot spotted something strange floating through the early afternoon sky, seemingly coming down to land on runway 22R. He radioed the control tower, reporting what "looks like a guy on a paraglider" approaching the airport. The controller then warned nearby pilots to look out for a "kite." Shortly after, the Delta pilot radioed back in to say that the paraglider had touched down, dropped something off, and quickly took off into the night sky. "Looks like he hit the ground, dropped something off. Now he's airborne again," the pilot reported, adding, "I guess it ah, looks like some guy on a parachute." The unidentified object/person then took off in the direction of oncoming traffic. OK, tell me again why it was so important the security of our airlines for travelers to be restricted to three ounces of shampoo? Why did I have to take off my loafers at JFK if a guy can land a paraglider in front of a jet full of people and then take off without getting caught? I know I am not alone when I say, “Good God, what does any of that mean?” At least I’m not alone when it comes to the “God” part . . . The United States is a highly religious nation. Almost all Americans believe in God (83%) or a higher power (12%). But scientists are not your typical American. While only 4% of the public say they do not believe in a deity or higher power, a plurality of scientists do not (41%). Scientists are also far more likely to identify religiously as unaffiliated than is the general public (48% vs. 17%) or as atheist (17% vs. 2%). However, unlike the general population, younger scientists are more likely than older scientists to have a belief in God or a higher power. In addition, more chemists than those in other specialties say they believe in God. (Pew Research) It’s encouraging to me to think that younger scientists have found the “fides et ratio” debate less of a zero sum game; curious that chemists are more likely as a group to profess a faith. I wonder if that’s because, by comparison, more women go into chemistry professionally. Or at least that was the legend when I was in college among my nerdiest, “Big Bang Theory” science friends, that all the “hot chicks were in chem.” Hey, you can’t blame guys for dreaming. In fact, we all do it and nobody knows why still. Dreaming itself may be like the human appendix, a necessary leftover from some evolutionary stage. Or maybe not. Perhaps the appendix makes lousy leftovers after all. ScienceDaily (Aug. 21, 2009) — The lowly appendix, long-regarded as a useless evolutionary artifact, won newfound respect two years ago when researchers at Duke University Medical Center proposed that it actually serves a critical function. The appendix, they said, is a safe haven where good bacteria could hang out until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhea, for example. Not only does it appear in nature much more frequently than previously acknowledged, but it has been around much longer than anyone had suspected. "Maybe it's time to correct the textbooks," says William Parker, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgical sciences at Duke and the senior author of the study. "Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a 'vestigial organ.'" If you’re trying to understand the concept of “vestigial organ”--that is, a functionary that originally served a purpose whose presence became a mystery--think “Alan Colmes” of FoxNews. Or, in light of this new evidence about the appendix, perhaps FoxNews should rethink cutting Alan Colmes from “Hannity and Colmes.” Maybe he served an important, as of yet helpful function after all--like storing good bacteria after a nasty case of the on-air tummy queezies. Anyway, that brings us back to the importance of dreaming, whatever that is, or even to sleeping in general: (PhysOrg.com) -- Bats, birds, box turtles, humans and many other animals share at least one thing in common: They sleep. Humans, in fact, spend roughly one-third of their lives asleep, but sleep researchers still don't know why. According to the journal Science, the function of sleep is one of the 125 greatest unsolved mysteries in science. Theories range from brain "maintenance" — including memory consolidation and pruning — to reversing damage from oxidative stress suffered while awake, to promoting longevity. None of these theories are well established, and many are mutually exclusive. Now, a new analysis has concluded that sleep's primary function is to increase animals' efficiency and minimize their risk by regulating the duration and timing of their behavior. The research appears in the current online edition of the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience. "Sleep has normally been viewed as something negative for survival because sleeping animals may be vulnerable to predation and they can't perform the behaviors that ensure survival," Siegel said. These behaviors include eating, procreating, monitoring the environment for danger and scouting for prey. Well, wait, doesn’t that answer why we sleep? We eat, then we get sleepy. We procreate, we get sleepy. We fall asleep while we’re on guard duty, scouting for prey . . . well, at least I’ve known a few guys in the upper midwest that always enjoy a good nap in their deer stands.