They unparalyzed cats during their REM sleep! What kind of mad scientists are you that you create sleep walking cats!
NARRATOR: Nature, it appeared, had devised a special state of paralysis to house our dreams, one in which they remained internal experiences. It was a conclusion that seemed impossible to deny, when researchers learned to switch the paralysis off.
This cat looks as if it's awake; in fact, it's deep in REM sleep.
This dog appears to be running; it too is in REM sleep, and, like the cat, dreaming.
To see these dreams played out, scientists disabled the part of the brain that paralyzes muscles during REM sleep.
PATRICK MCNAMARA: And what we see when you do this, with cats in particular, is that they can walk around during REM sleep, and their behavior is not random, it's not chaotic. They're not just doing any old crazy thing. They appear to be doing the kinds of behaviors that cats like to do, like stalk a prey, you know, play with a mouse or something. So presumably that's what they dream about when they go into REM sleep, so that's what we think is happening.[NOVA]
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