Lost soul swims in fish bowl.

In what has been called a "milestone in sleep research," investigators have linked a specific genetic mutation to insomnia. The immediate clinical impact of this discovery, reported in the Public Library of Science-Biology, is unlikely to be too great, however, because their work primarily centers on zebrafish. Why zebrafish? In addition to having backbones and a humanlike nervous system, zebrafish are see-through. That makes it easy to tell what's going on in their heads--literally. Plus, if something goes wrong, well, you can just flush 'em. In fact, the only real obstacle was in determining when exactly the zebrafish were sleeping, because they lack eyelids. Ultimately, the researchers found that in fish with a specific genetic mutation, total sleep time decreased 30%, and when the mutant fish finally did sleep, they did so for half as long as regular fish. Yes, it seems even zebrafish lie awake, tossing and turning, thinking of the kids' grades, that big promotion, and whether to take a second mortgage on the fish bowl. The researchers reported that finally, at around 4 a.m., most zebrafish would switch on the Home Shopping Network until daylight. Hey, zebrafish: Your dreams miss you.