Pulling An All-Nighter Is A Temporary Antidepressant - a podcast by NPR

What your parents didn't tell you about pulling an all-nighter? It just might ease depression for several days. At least, that's what researchers found happens to mice in a study published in the journal Neuron Thursday.

Most people who've stayed up all night know the "tired and wired" feeling they get the next day. Scientists know this feeling can have a strong antidepressant effect in people that lasts for several days, even after the other changes wear off. But this new study may help researchers figure out why sleeplessness causes this effect.

Plus, we get into some other science headlines we can't stop talking about: Turning a centuries-old debate over starfish on its head and record lows for Antarctica's sea ice.

Got science to share? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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