Terminal Wakefulness: The Terror of Fatal Familial Insomnia

Sleep is not merely a restorative luxury; it is an absolute biological necessity. For a few dozen families across the globe, sleep is a luxury that their own DNA slowly and permanently revokes. Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI) is an incredibly rare, incurable genetic prion disease that attacks the thalamus. The thalamus acts as the brain's switchboard, regulating the transition from wakefulness to ...