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We move our eyes in sleep so we don't get eaten: Neuro Nikolay

short by / on Tuesday, 6 October, 2026
NYU neuroscientist Nikolay Kukushkin said on the podcast that during dreams the brain thinks it's awake, so evolution paralyses the body. "There's only one muscle...you can move with no threat of being detected, and that's the eye muscles," he said. "Our immobility during dreaming – that's evolution telling us, 'Don't move, or somebody will eat you.'"
read more at Figuringout