Scientists found a way to plant ideas in dreams to boost creativity
Feb 14, 2026
Sleeping on a problem might be more powerful than we ever imagined. Neuroscientists at Northwestern University have shown that dreams can actually be nudged in specific directions — and those dream tweaks may boost creativity. By playing subtle sound cues during REM sleep, researchers prompted peo
ple to dream about unsolved brain teasers they had struggled with earlier. An astonishing 75% of participants dreamed about the cued puzzles, and those puzzles were solved far more often the next day. ...read more read less