Lack of Sleep Kills Brain Cells, New Study Shows.  By Melanie Haiken. http://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniehaiken/2014/03/20/lack-of-sleep-kills-brain-cells-new-study-suggests/

“Researchers from the center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania found that prolonging wakefulness damages a particular type of brain cell called locus ceruleus (LC) neurons.” The LC neurons maintain alertness, and keeping us awake.  Studies prove that this brain-damage is irreversible, and the brain cells can not be recovered.  Mice were sleep deprived for several days, and experienced “25% loss of LCs in a particular section of the brain stem.”

The articles research topic is health and how important sleep is to the brain.  The research question is asking: What health effects does sleep deprivation have on the brain?  The type of data needed for this study can be found on public or private records.  The data retrieval method will be medical observations, and scanning the brain.

To analyze how the brain is affected the scientists need data on the brain before and after the sleep deprivation tests.  The scientists will need a controlled group that maintains a normal sleep schedule and a group that becomes sleep deprived; this allows the scientists to compare the difference between normal sleep and lack of sleep.   Then the data is analyzed by running a correlation test between brain damage results and sleep deprivation.  I believe this research is conducted thoroughly and produces extraordinary results.  I think everyone should take note of the importance of sleep, and should maintain healthy sleep schedules.