Science

First The Times tells us that being bored pumps up our cognitive muscles. In fact, say two scientists quoted in the story, it’s time for boredom to “be recognized as a legitimate human emotion that can be central to learning and creativity.”

Now Scientific American parachutes in to say that sleep is similarly essential for memory and other cognitive tasks — indeed, that “snoozing makes you smarter.”

Is this good news or what? My advice: Read both stories, which are quite interesting. Then when you get bored, go take a nap.