Hey everybody, happy Friday. You made
just got back from the dentist. As it
turns out, even doctors can get
cavities. Can you believe it? So, let
this be a reminder not to eat too much
candy and make sure to brush and floss
twice a day. I'm excited to spend part
of my Friday with you. So, let's get you
your 10 minutes of news. We start with
an update on the ongoing federal
government shutdown and the big impact
it could have on air travel this
weekend. President Donald Trump's
administration says it's planning to cut
flights in at least 40 of the nation's
busiest airports starting as soon as
today if the government shutdown does
not end. Transportation Secretary Shawn
Duffy said that means 10% of traffic
could be cut, though it's still unknown
which airports would be impacted. Duffy
says the decision was made to keep quote
the airspace safe amid the staffing
shortages. And now to an update on the
deadliest typhoon to hit Asia so far
this year, Typhoon Ki. The storm made
landfall in central Vietnam yesterday
with conditions equivalent to a category
3 hurricane. That means there were winds
of up to 125 m an hour. It's the
strongest storm on record to hit that
part of the country, which by the way is
still recovering from severe flooding
and landslides caused by weeks of record
rainfall. The storm also left at least
114 people dead and more than 120
missing after tearing through the
Philippines earlier this week. President
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a
state of national calamity there and
promised to continue relief and response
operations. Okay, time for 10 second
trivia. What does REM or REMM stand for?
really exciting moments. Rapid eye
movement, relaxing energy medium,
restful euphoria measurement.
Now, if you said rapid eye movement,
that means you can do this in your
sleep. The REM Stage features darting
eye movements, heightened brain
activity, and vivid dreaming.
Speaking of dreams, have you ever
wondered if it's possible to control
your dreams? A technique known as lucid
dreaming aims to help people do just
that. And our Maya Blackstone put the
process to the test, working in her
sleep to see if she could pull it off.
Take a look.
>> Lucid dreaming is quite straightforward,
really. It's a dream when you know that
you're dreaming.
>> I took a 19-day intensive course with
this expert to learn how to trigger a
lucid dream.
My mom died when I was a teenager after
a long battle with ovarian cancer.
>> You like it?
>> Now that I've gotten older, it's hard to
even remember what her voice sounds
like.
>> Take that to school, honey. Put your
stuff in.
>> When I heard about lucid dreaming, my
first thought was, could I see my mom
again? So, today is the first day I'm
trying your lucid dreaming course. What
advice do you have for me?
>> We're so used to being awake that we
just assume all the time, of course, I'm
awake. Is this a dream? Um that question
needs to become a major part of your
thinking. Um without that there will be
no lucid dreams.
>> Dreams feel real while we're dreaming.
So the idea is to constantly question my
reality to ask myself, am I dreaming? So
when I ask myself this while dreaming,
I'll realize I'm actually asleep. Then
I'll be able to consciously interact
with and perhaps control my dream world.
If you want to dream of a a dead loved
one, uh that is possible. If we can get
you lucid, then we will start to nudge
you in that direction so you can have
that experience.
>> I watched daily tutorials and kept a
dream journal. And each morning, I would
dutifully record video diaries of my
dreams.
>> The moment I woke up,
>> day three, day 11. What do you think are
some of the therapeutic benefits of
lucid dreaming? One of the benefits that
we've looked at is a counter uh practice
for nightmares. They could decide to
wake up if they're lucid and they can
say, "I realize this is a dream." Other
people want to use their lucid dreams
for spiritual development, perhaps
unlock certain creativity. There are
others that may want to practice certain
skills, a musical skill, something
you're already really good at, perhaps
like in slow motion or analyzing it in a
different way. We're in an early stage
of the science. About 2 weeks into the
course, I wasn't getting the results I
thought I would, so I checked in more.
>> It's 4:30 in the morning.
>> He called me in the middle of the night
to interrupt my sleep mid cycle to help
prompt a lucid dream.
>> We're waking you up for a very brief
amount of time just to give you a little
bit of mental clarity.
>> It was a real breakthrough.
>> Okay, so I just woke up. I recognized I
was dreaming. I was lucid. I was like
driving and then I was like, "Okay,
drive up this wall and drive down this
wall and drive over here to this
mountain.
>> It works." And I had an even more
intense lucid dream a few days later.
Basically, I was in an elevator. I'm
like, "Oh, I'm dreaming." Because this
is what Daniel and I practiced. So, I
was like, "My like, press all the
buttons on the elevator. Not very
interesting."
>> And then I think I got to got to one of
the floors and then woke up. Truthfully,
this wasn't quite the lucid dreaming
experience I expected. I was able to
make decisions in my dream world, but I
didn't have full control. It was
interesting and valuable, but I would
have loved to say the doors opened and
she was there.
>> But you did that in a creation of a
world that was in your own mind.
>> That's true.
>> This week, we've been asking you to
submit any questions you might have
about the brain and neurosurgery. I got
to tell you, we got triple the amount of
submissions yesterday from Instagram.
One of you asked, "How does technology
and constant screen exposure affect
developing brains?" Well, we're still
learning about this, but the biggest
impact is likely happening to the
youngest brains. Kids around 1 to two
years old who spent 1 to four hours on a
screen could have delayed speech, fine
motor, and social skills. Now, to be
fair, that may be less about the screens
and more about the fact that these kids
aren't practicing those skills as much
in the real world. They also found that
older children, they might have more
difficulty in managing their emotions
because they often turn to a screen
instead of dealing with the problem at
hand directly. Finally, too much screen
time can lead to people feeling
isolated, sleeping less. Look, no doubt
just about everyone is using one of
these devices nowadays, but you have to
know when to put it away. From Miss
Brabham's class at Carolina Day School
in Asheville, North Carolina, how does
the teenage brain work differently than
an adult brain? Well, for starters, the
adult brain is more developed than the
teenage brain. So, what does that mean?
Well, in the brain, you have gray matter
and you have white matter. Gray matter
is typically on the outside, white
matter on the inside. Think of gray
matter as the cities in a state and the
white matter as the roads that connect
those cities. In older brains, those
roads are better constructed and better
insulated, which means they can transmit
signals up to a hundred times faster.
Now, one of the biggest differences
though probably lies in this area of the
brain, the prefrontal and the frontal
cortex. These are the last areas of the
brain to fully form. In fact, they're
often still developing even into your
mid20s. And those areas are responsible
for your judgment and your decision-m.
So, next time you make a bad decision,
you can tell Miss Brahem that it isn't
your fault, but rather it's your
underdeveloped frontal loes.
Today's story getting a 10 out of 10. A
retirement home for penguins. Seven
aging penguins are getting the kind of
special treatment we can all only hope
for in our old age. And this guy is the
inspiration for it all. Lambert is a
critically endangered African penguin
living at the New England Aquarium in
Boston. He started to lose his vision
and was clearly slowing down at the ripe
old age of 33, which by the way is
actually a a bit longer lifespan than
penguins in the wild. Their new space,
as you see there, is flatter. It's also
separated from the rest of the 38 bird
colony to avoid any territorial spats
with aggressive youngsters. It has this
carpeted path down to the water. They're
also getting extra checkups for all the
usual aches and pains from old age. So,
Lambert and his buddies still might not
be able to fly, but at least they get to
retire in style. All right, superstars.
Let's get to your Friday shoutout. Mr.
Samuelson at Barnes County North Public
School in Wimbledon, North Dakota. Thank
you for being a loyal viewer of the
show. I hope you all have a fun, safe,
and fulfilling weekend. And remember,
take care of those brains. Koi, we'll be
back on Monday. We'll see you then. I'm
Dr. Sanjay Gupta and this is CNN 10.
Heat.
Heat.
Heat.
Heat.