SHERLOCK OF SLEEP

Part scientist, part detective, Michel Cramer Bornemann has devoted his life to understanding and explaining parasomnias, including some of the most mysterious — and deadliest — sleep disorders ever studied.

BY STEVE NADIS

The elderly man woke up one night to find himself in a bed soaked with blood. His wife, lying next to him, was dead, stabbed with a letter opener. The man was charged with murder, though he claimed to have no memory of what had happened. The defense attorney was stumped, because there was no plausible motive for his client to have killed his wife. The couple had been together for decades, and everything suggested a harmonious, loving relationship with no signs of strife; nor were there mitigating factors like alcohol or drug intoxication. Was it possible, the attorney wondered, that his client had been asleep when his wife was killed and thus was unaware of what he might have done? While many might deem a scenario like that preposterous, it’s the kind of…

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Discover (Digital) - 1 Issue, September/October 2023

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