Welcome to the wonderful, winding world of Schauer Thoughts! This week we’re meandering through new research from MIT on the rest and digest system, as well as making a sharp turn into “womb envy.” Is the rest and digest system related to womb envy? Not really. I mean, potentially? There is definitely a glandular route through the endocrine system, but I’m not taking that road today! Today I’m just covering two separate topics because I wanted to! Huzzah.

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“Wait, so what are today’s separate topics?”

Rest & digest and then “womb envy.”

Thank you again for joining me in the communal Schauer! There’s a joke to be made about “womb envy” and a “baby Schauer” - please let me know if you come up with anything solid! Enjoy the episode.

Nuance for why I “don’t want to get philosophical,” spoiler! It’s not because I don’t like philosophy, it’s because we’re going to get into “zero-sum” thinking and game theory and this is where people are going to argue about what economic systems are the “best” and people feel *compelled* to play devil’s advocate.

Resources:

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst - Robert M. Sapolsky

Could It Be ADHD or… Narcolepsy? - Discover Science, November/December 2025 Edition

Cancer Spreads at Night - Lea Milling Korsholm, Exploring Science

Squishy Math - Kelsey Houston-Edwards, Scientific American, Ultimate Math Edition, Fall/Winter 2025

The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker

Your brain does something surprising when you don’t sleep

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260119234937.htm

Article from Jan. 20

Attentional failures after sleep deprivation are locked to joint neuromuscular, pupil and cerebrospinal fluid flow dynamics

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02098-8

Parietal alpha frequency shapes own-body perception by modulating the temporal integration of bodily signals

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67657-w

Scientists Found the Brain Rhythm that Makes Your Body Feel Like Yours

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260114080325.htm#:~:text=Researchers%20at%20Karolinska%20Institutet%20studied,sense%20of%20self%20is%20disturbed.%22

REM alpha rhythm: diagnostic for narcolepsy? (2006 - a bit dated)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16751726/

FDA Clears First Blood test Used in Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-clears-first-blood-test-used-diagnosing-alzheimers-disease

Europe’s Journal of Psychology

https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/110/110.pdf

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