Jones, C. E. et al. Sci. Adv. 5, eaav5188 (2019)

Juveniles of many animals, humans included, sleep a lot. All that shut eye—in particular, REM sleep—is thought to be critical for proper neurodevelopment. Indeed, work in juvenile rodents, cats, and even Drosophila has linked sleep to development of the visual system, motor system, reflexes, and even social behaviors. A new paper considers sleep deprivation in a highly sociable rodent known for its lifelong pair bonds: the prairie vole.

Prairie voles allowed insufficient rest, courtesy of an orbital shaker placed under their cage, as pre-weened juveniles were impaired in their social bonding abilities as adults—males in particular showed no preference for their partners. They also lacked interest in novel objects and other voles. Aberrant neural circuits in the primary somatosensory cortex were implicated in the social deficiencies.