The Sleep Prescription
Drawing on his experience as a sleep scientist at UCSF, Aric Prather, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, shares his simple but powerful seven-day plan to achieve restorative rest.

University of California San Francisco
Give to UCSFDrawing on his experience as a sleep scientist at UCSF, Aric Prather, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, shares his simple but powerful seven-day plan to achieve restorative rest.
People trying to conceive are bombarded with advice meant to improve their odds. But how much power do we really have over our fertility?
With vaping taking over the youth market, Pamela Ling, MD ’96, MPH, applies her research-driven social media and marketing expertise to beat the tobacco industry at its own game.
Trillions of invisible organisms make up the human microbiome. Now, medical scientists want to put these bugs to work.
Could psychedelics become mainstream medicines?
This weekly podcast features conversations with UCSF luminaries on breaking research ranging from sleep genetics to screen time for kids to COVID surges.
Companies claim there’s bad stuff in our homes and bodies, and we should pay to purge it. What’s worth worrying over?
What happens once abortion is illegal in half the country?
How David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian found the molecules in our bodies that sense heat, cold, touch, and pain – and transformed sensory neuroscience.
Does your rambunctious teen seem like an animal? You may be on to something. Harvard evolutionary biologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, MD ’87, and science writer Kathryn Bowers reveal startling similarities between humans and animals in young adulthood.
Explore the power of psychedelic therapy to treat the ailing human mind with international expert Carhart-Harris, who joined UCSF in 2021 as the Metzner Distinguished Professor and director of the new Neuroscape Psychedelics Division. Discover what his comparison of psilocybin with an antidepressant revealed on the Aug. 19 episode.
How neuroscientists harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to give a paralyzed man back his voice.
UCSF’s David Julius won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on pain sensation. “It was really a shock,” he says.
A concerted research effort gave UCSF scientists early insight into long COVID. It also showed patients that they weren’t in the fight alone.
Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, an infectious disease expert and professor of medicine, has been an ardent voice for science during the coronavirus pandemic.
UCSF neurologist Gil Rabinovici, MD, explains the controversy and shares why he thinks Alzheimer’s care is entering a new era “regardless of whether aducanumab proves to be a blockbuster or a bust.”
Cronutt was one sick sea lion before undergoing a groundbreaking surgery last fall. Today he's seizure-free and doing well.
Can dieting help you live longer? Do microbes control your immune system? Can studying snakes help stop the next pandemic? UCSF microbiologist Peter Turnbaugh, PhD, interviews famous scientists and rising stars about research quests that span the spectrum of health.
Leading scientists share some of the tools and strategies that could help us better confront and contain future outbreaks.
Insomnia is miserable, and lost sleep can harm our health. Now, researchers are seeing the promise of solutions in our genes.
UCSF School of Nursing alum Quinn Grundy, PhD ’15, RN, shines a light on how sales reps from pharmaceutical and other health care companies skirt scrutiny, and get their products used in hospitals and doctors’ offices, by forging relationships with nurses.
Cognitive behaviorial therapy for insomnia, the gold-standard intervention, also suggests benefits for well-being.
Hidden autoimmunity may explain how the coronavirus wreaks such widespread and unpredictable harm.
The viruses that cause polio and COVID-19 mutate, but treatments for the diseases don’t. For over 20 years, UCSF and Gladstone Institutes scientist Leor Weinberger, PhD, has been thinking of ways to make vaccines work more efficiently by being adaptive, rather than static.
An elderly man had symptoms no one could explain – until Amy Berger, MD, PhD, and her team investigated.
Games and supplements claim to strengthen memory and cognition. Should you buy them?
Tissue biologist Sarah Knox has long been fascinated with saliva. Just when she begins to doubt whether her singular passion will lead to real-world impact, an old family friend reaches out to her with a problem only she may be able to solve.
We turned to UCSF scientists to better understand probiotics and the human microbiome they aim to influence.
Susan Acton discovered ACE2 while searching for new cardiovascular drugs. Decades later, she was surprised to see it popping up in the news once COVID took hold.
A UCSF team has engineered a tiny antibody capable of neutralizing the coronavirus.