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Nature Medicine 13, 126–128 (1 February 2007) | doi:10.1038/nm0207-126

Orexins: looking forward to sleep, back at addiction

Thomas E Scammell & Clifford B Saper

The Roman god Janus displays two faces, one looking back and the other toward what lies ahead. Like Janus, we can look back over the last several years and appreciate how much we have learned about the roles of the orexin neuropeptides in the regulation of wakefulness and sleep, the control of body weight and metabolism, and the regulation of motivation and addiction.