Phylogenomics Unlocks Sleep's Deepest Secret: Conserved Enzyme Network Reveals the Cellular Origins of Sleep
Jul 27, 2026
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], July 27: A landmark phylogenomic study published in Sleep and Vigilance provides compelling evidence that sleep is far older than the brain itself. By tracing the evolutionary history of hundreds of sleep-related genes across the Tree of Life, researchers conclude that the molecular machinery underlying sleep originated in Earth's earliest cells, long before the evolution of nervous systems or consciousness.