Humans have been struggling to understand dreaming for literally millennia. Now, new research in the neurosciences suggests that, rather than mysterious messages from the unconscious mind, dreams may instead reflect the processing of recent memories in the sleeping brain. We each spend about a third of our lives sleeping. Why? As a cognitive neuroscientist, Erin studies this relatively uncharted territory, exploring the function of sleep, the brain basis of dreaming, and the role of resting states in memory consolidation more broadly. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx