He finds a patron in an eccentric neighbor who lends him a cherished Tononi violin.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

Meanwhile, the precious Tononi is being coveted by the greedy heirs of Michael's benefactor.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

There is, however, a certain logical sense to the Tononi view of the world.

ECONOMIST: Memory formation

Dr Tononi's hypothesis is, it must be said, controversial.

ECONOMIST: Memory formation

In earlier experiments, designed to replicate normal learning, Dr Tononi found that the part of the brain showing most slow-wave activity during sleep was the same as the part that had been activated during the experiment.

ECONOMIST: Memory formation

With the help of Chiara Cirelli, who also works at the University of Wisconsin, Dr Tononi has created a mutant fruit fly that sleeps only two or three hours a night. (A normal fly sleeps between eight and 14 hours.) The mutation itself is in a gene for a nerve-cell protein of a type known as an ion channel.

ECONOMIST: Memory formation