Dreams are among the most bizarre and counterintuitive experiences that a person can have—and each of us has them multiple times per night, whether or not we remember them. The content of dreams is highly mysterious, and humans have forever debated their significance and structure. Dreams have started religions and wars. They have catalyzed major scientific and non-scientific discoveries. Now, we finally have enough scientific evidence to begin to tell the veridical story of dreaming. 

Why do we dream? (And why don't we already have a good answer to this question?) Are dreams totally random phenomena, are they intimations of the divine, or do they exist somewhere between these characterizations? What is the brain doing while we dream?

In this episode, we investigate the magic of the dreamstate, we learn its neuropsychological backstory, and we consider the significance that we can (and can't) attribute to our dreams. This six-part episode is the first of its kind in providing a comprehensive and intuitive understanding of what dreaming is.