Moodle Unity Question Type

Brief

Connect unity with the drag and drop question type so I have a unity front end and moodle question back end. Like pattern match has jme for visuals.

Use it to connect with sports and life science guys at the OU and elsewhere along with games for change people.

Detail

Connect unity to moodle through a question type. Moodle is the backend. Storing data, doing analysis and providing the quiz and course aspects. Unity is the front end. Providing the content and interface.

Can develop and deliver in the open using tools I know. I combine earning and playing while developing a symbiotic infrastructure other educators can use. Making it easier for them to improving the quality of their teaching process.

Provides a stable location on which all platforms can depend and share. One place connecting all users. 

Just figured out that I could easily connect unity with the drag and drop question type so I have a unity front end and moodle question back end. Like pattern match has jme for visuals.

Can do the same with unity. Then have a simple api to build moodle quizzes into my virtual training.

Moodle is my backend and I'm writing a contrib solution as a way to start talking about biology and sports science while building a specialist interface between techies and non techie specialists.

Builds into Moodle + Unity + AWS Infrastructure

The Plague and the benefits of Horizontal Gene Transfer

How do you express the concept of Horizontal Gene Transfer in a way most people could understand and also see where it could be useful?

In fact I have several related concepts and questions I think I can express in one idea:

• What is Horizontal Gene Transfer
• Is  horizontal gene transfer natures software update?
• Can viruses can do good?
• Can programming teach you about biology?
• Is biology built into programming?

These are the challengea I've been considering for a few years. One idea I like is creating an experiment to demonstrate the concept in a historical context. Once I understood Horizontal Gene Transfer I quickly started to wonder if this would be a simple answer to why certain people are immune to pandemics like the plague while others aren't.

The point is that anything that would help you survive the plague would be selected for in an evolutionary fashion. Even in the most deadly plagues and pandemics there always people who are immune and survive. It makes a lot of sense that if this immunity were the result of a viral infection then it could spread.

As long as the virus doesn't harm the individual enough that they don't survive then the virus would actually help people live when those around them would die. This would become a symbiotic relationship as long as the plague lasts. It would also encourage the transmission of the virus. Those who are immune would obviously become more common relative to those who are not immune. Stories of miraculous recoveries by being touched or in the presence of certain immune individuals would be abound.

Viruses survive because they can change the genetic code of the hosts they infect

This may sound fantastical but the concept is already in place and called active immunity. The individual themselves would produce the immunity. A related example is Sickle cell anaemia. It is dangerous and uncommon in normal populations but more common in places where malaria is prevent.

Sickle Cell Anaemia protects against malaria. So while normally it would be a bad condition to have but in an environment where Malaria is common is would be quite a benefit. So it demonstrates the principle of an affliction being an advantage however Sickle Cell is an inherited genetic disease.

All we are really talking about here is for nature to come up with a way of being able to transfer this condition to others. That's actually what viruses do. In fact it's how they live. Viruses survive because they can change the genetic code of the hosts they infect. Otherwise they wouldn't be viruses.

So that's the basic theory. A virus uses horizontal gene transfer and could infact do good instead of harm. Giving a species selective advantage. How to demonstrate this though, that's a fun challenge.

We have always known more about evolution and biology than we think. We just haven't appreciated enough different viewpoints. 

So the context is the plague. I'm obviously thinking of the great plague that affected Europe in the middle ages and came to England because I'm English. You pick your own similar story that interests you. The concept is most important.

Working in software is for me an advantage. I practice horizontal gene transfer on a daily basis so the concept and its application becomes quite straightforward once I'm in the right mindset.

The story I want to follow is of a cell or cells being attacked by plague bacteria. You must introduce a virus containing code to protect against the bacteria. Essentially an update to the cell code base. Now the exploit on the code has been fixed.

This explains in one example how a virus could protect us against infection and thus be beneficial. Not just harmful. And how our genetic code can be constantly updated through exposure to the world around us. Just like our devices and apps are constantly being updated.

I described how to translate this into software so this article is about putting context and story behind the techniques. Why you would bother to create this app and why Unity interests me so much as a development platform. You could do this through html 5 but I think it would be easier and have more impact through Unity.

Overall This demonstrates neatly my view that we have always known more about evolution and biology than we think. We just haven't appreciated enough different viewpoints.

Fit for daily life

Another example of being fit making daily life easier is when I popped out for a walk around a local lake with some friends and their kids. I noticed how important fitness was. I was carrying one of the kids most of the way. It felt much like doing squats, presses and arm curls all combined.

My five sets of tennis really helped with stamina. It's built up my shoulders very well. It also helped yesterday when I was doing some DIY.

Basically lots of daily things work better when you're fit enough. So life becomes much easier when you're fit.

My idea with these posts is simply so explain why I care so much about being active. It isn't about living longer or even losing weight. It's about having more fun, really living your life. Being fit simply allows you to live your life to the full much more. That can't be a bad thing can it.

Fit for days out: Fit means fun part two

After all this we had to watch the diving and then get home. Here is the list of what we had to do:

• I used binoculars but this tired my eyes out. Meaning my brain was getting tired from the day and from trying to watch even though the diving only lasted 1 hour. 
• walk back down the stairs to the exit 
• Walk to find water water. 
• Walk out of the aquatic park 15 mins 
• walk to Stratford 30 mins. 
• Train to St Pancras.
• Walk to Euston 15 mins
• walk to train 5 mins. Walk
• up platform and over to car 10 mins. 
• Drive home.

Bloody knackered, I'm 70 kgs (About 12 stone). I couldn't help but wonder how would that feel for someone heavier like 100 kgs.

We loved every minute of it and would happily do it again but it goes to show that doing fun things is a lot of work. The story is similar no matter what fun you do. A trip to the Good food show is just as tiring, so is visiting a childrens play park with our son. So preparing for it in your daily life actually makes sense.

That is why playing tennis during lunch is so useful to me. I play with quite a competitive group so I get quite a work out. Like I say, some times we meet up outside work and have a proper 5 set match. A lot of fun but something you really need to prepare for.  All the running, stopping turning, jumping and everything else over several hours while at the same time having limited food and water and experiencing sun, rain or whatever is actually great preparation for fun days out. Mainly because to my body it's the same thing. It doesn't know the difference, all it knows is that it may not get enough water for several hours, then binge on salty dehydrating food and do a lot of walking.  Oh and of course have lots of drinks that aren't very hydrating like coke or milkshakes. That's part of a fun day out isn't it. It's not so much fun if you avoid them.

I assume this sounds familiar to you because its pretty much the standard food for a day out isn't it. The point is that because I play sport I have trained my body to handle all this in its stride. So I wasn't as tired the day after we saw the diving for two reasons. It didn't take as much out of me as it did everyone else and I recover faster because that is what sports teach your body to do. Replace what has been lost and fix what has been broken.

Boy it helps to be fit

So you've heard my way to make busy days easier to handle. How do you find your fitness helps when you have fun?

Fit for days out: Fit means fun part one

A theme running through this blog is the idea of Life as play. Make the play in your life keep you healthy. This post comes from notes I made when I took my family to visit the 2012 London Olympics. What I keep noticing through life is that the really fun stuff takes a lot out of you. That's great but it stands to reason that the fitter you are the more fun you can have without breaking or the less the fun will take out of you. Either way its worth getting fit so you can have more fun. I don't hear many people talking about things this way so I thought I would share.

We are just coming home from the olympics and I am writing this on the train. We had a fantastic time and boy am I glad I'm fit. I have built up the ability to play 5 sets of tennis when needed and it made the day so much easier.

What you forget about these days out is the amount of walking, carrying, climbing and general movement you do. You really use your body a lot and even waiting around is tiring. So the day out is always physically, mentally and emotionally draining. You have a great time but you're exhausted by the end.

I like sports because they train you in all these aspects. So does movement in general. I'll run you through how tiring the day was and then how being active helped.

We had tickets to see the diving at the stratford olympic park. Sounds simple enough. Just hop on a train and go watch. Of course that wasn't the case. It never is, particularly when you visit London. Here is the list of things we had to do to get there:

To watch the diving we

• parked the car near milton keynes train station
• walked to the station 
• walked to the platform 
• almost had to stand on the train. 
• Walked to kings cross. 
• Walked to board Javelin train to stratford. 
• Walked across the park for 50 mins getting free water, and food and finding the park live event to pass the time waiting for the diving. 
• walk 15 mins to the olympic shop.
•  40 mins standing in long queue
•  walked around the shop for 1 hour
• 30 minutes walking to diving
• walk up 15 flights of stairs
• walk to our seats where it was very hot.

You probably think I'm being a bit over the top. I just wanted to show you how many things we had to do that were basically way beyond what we normally do in a day. Parking the car up and walking a short way to work, then walking around work a little is about all we do. Like most people who don't use public transport. So seeing this list makes you realise just how much of a serious effort it is. To cap it off we were really tired for the next day or two because it was so intense.

So how do you find days out like this? Are they are breeze or do they leave you needing a day off?

Check out part two

Bacteria ‘hijack’ human immune system

Just logging a fascinating new insightfrom the Royal Society that Bacteria 'hijack' the human immune system. It's no real surprise to me. I've talked about how we are made from bacteria and this can both benefit and harm us

The lesson from this article is that bacteria are continually evolving. Most live within us and help us. But we are to them just like the earth is to us. We are they environment in which they live. As well adjust they adjust and as our immune system seeks out harmful things it looks for bacteria like any other potentially harmful organism.

Without going into detail this understanding can have implications for cancer, recovery, allergies, activity, diet

Spore: Why it didn't work

A dream of mine is to create a game or piece of software incorporating evolution and cellular development. So I was very excited to read Spore: My view of the Elephant written by someone who actually worked on the game Spore. It is a highly worthwhile read. Capturing both the complexity of the task and also the lessons learned that doomed the project to failure.

Let me know what you think.

David Attenborough. Rise of the animals and the rise of simulation

I have always loved simulations for their ability to put concepts into the context that makes most sense. I am developing such respect for David Attenborough as I see his ability to take this relatively niche medium and bring it to the mainstream. Using it with his usual attention to detail.

The show fascinates me because it shows the progress of evolution and because I just love anything to do with nature. What makes it worth writing about is the use of 3d and simulation technology to immerse the viewer in the natural world as it was. This isn't new but the level of quality with which it was done shows the evolution of this tool and of the people using it. It shows how 3d, simulations and virtual worlds are being used to express biology in ever more realistic ways.

I prefer it when the story and concept is foremost and the tools used to convey the story disappear into the background. Something they have achieved in this series. A favourite scene of mine depicts a Tiktaalik vertebrate that is extinct as though it were alive and moving from water to land. The treat is that the whole landscape is so realistic despite being a virtual recreation. It literally would not be possible to re create this in real life. It is only possible in the virtual world yet, at least on screen, it appeared anything but virtual. 

My interest in 3d is also because I am learning the skills of producing virtual worlds and simulations using tools such as Unity3d. It is pioneers like David Attenborough who are my teachers because they are using these tools in the way I hope to. Their efforts make it easier for me to show others the value that simulation and similar tools offer.

Just like the simulation used in the hidden life of the cell it's such a rich way of expressing our knowledge.

Launch is dead for free to play games

Recording a thoughtful timely article Launch is dead for free to play games I found through linkedin. I am now seeing my route to like minded people through providing content just like this post. I write a lot of stuff myself but also share good stuff from others.

I am finding it help me connect with people who have similar interests. From there I feel symbiosis will occur naturally in that other things I create like apps and tools will be useful to them and things they do will be useful to me.

Brain Facts 09: Aging

Just listening to episode 9 of the Brain facts podcast. It is like going back to my psychology A level. Something I really enjoyed. The beauty is simply in understanding the body as a whole. So many know a lot about the body but little about the mind. This is the same as knowing all about a computer but not the operating system it runs or a car but not the fuel and engine it uses. The knowledge is incomplete.

This particular topic on aging reminds us that the brain is there to be used as we age just as when we are young. There is no evidence that any decline is inevitable it is just that that is what normally happens. So all you really have to do is choose to use your brain as much when you age as when you are young. In fact, as far as I can learn from my seniors it is the experience you possess when you are older that enables you to out compete the younger fitter individuals. My plan is to keep my fitness while gaining the experience so I can have the best of both worlds when I am older.

Listening to this review reminds me of what I learnt so long ago. That is a completely achievable dream.

A Moodle + Unity + AWS Infrastructure

Brief

In a sentence I have a plan to:

Create a single central system to store data, manage users and security. Provide a scalable backend for unity. Thus each unity app can connect its user to their common data.

Detail

What this means in detail is more complex. I work on Moodle and it’s core to education. I thus understand it well and can develop for it at work. It can provide an infrastructure unity can use for data storage, user and content management.

Amazon web services (AWS) provides a scalable cloud architecture. There is advice on moodle in the aws free tier and using moodle on aws. Including moodle in AWS Marketplace I think it's the right infrastructure for me. Something I can easily develop at work using Moodle as the web data infrastructure. I can do this at work as self development and promote openly. It is an excuse to learn more about Moodle.

This infrastructure will mean I have easy access to database data and so I can start recording data as I go. Either through unity or any other platform I choose. A new Moodle question type might be the first part of this that I develop.

Plan Cell Your Sole platform

Like facebook and twitter I want help understanding my cells and how to work with them. My Cell Your Sole blog is where I now talk about most of this. What I have always been in search of is a platform on which I can study my body or a virtual one more. This means having a network infrastructure. Combining a massively multiplayer online (MMO) tool like smartfox with scalable cloud computing like Amazon EC2. This would mean I could use my future Cell Your Sole apps on any device and let other people register and use them too.

I am wondering if I should start crowd sourcing my solutions. As usual KISS at first so I just want to crowdsource aspects of managing my life better. From tracking my body and my day through stuff like fitbit to finding perfect recipes and food for my lifestyle. The next step will be to set goals and achieve them. I will either find a suitable progress tracker or create my own. Then I want to see the possible effect on my cells. Have a place to share and discuss models, animations and theories.

I was inspired by reading Unity + Smartfox + Amazon EC2 = win and checking out the AWS EC2 calculator. I remember that smartfox is perfect as a central server as long as the ports are set to 80 so it works through firewalls.

For now I am just exploring this idea. It is not crucial yet but key to the future. EC2 is free for first year at the moment but I don’t have great need for it yet. I may just Just get smartfox running on home or work and use it to sync as required. I do need to figure out which MMO server I want because I could just use moodle in theory but I’d prefer a proper solution meant for the task.

At first I feel it could support the Moodle Unity Question Type

Book review: The Talent Code

I've just finished reading 'The Talent Code ' by Daniel Coyle and already i feel it's one of those books I'll refer to again and again. It's a well researched book describing daniels theory of how talent is best progressed.

He uses research from state of the art thinkers and introduces new perspectives such as the impact of our new understanding of myelin. The bodies electrical insulator on how skills are developed.

I first read daniels work in a new york times article about 'how to grow a super athlete'. It was such a ground breaking article in my eyes for several reasons.

Firstly it resoundly came from the nurture end of the talent debate. Daniel is very clear that there is always a clear story behind an athletes success. As long as you're prepared to look hard enough.

Secondly he applies the latest biological research to find a plausible, physical answer to this challenging problem. Myelin. My dad is an electrical engineer. He deals with wire, electricity and circuits. So I was brought up with the notion that proper insulation, also known as shielding, in electrical circuits is as important as the wires themselves.

Think about the effect of the radio signals from your phone on the electric signals flowing inside medical and flying equipment. Newer phones provides better shielding for the radio signals they emit so they don't effect other equipment as much as they used to.

Thirdly his work has stayed in my mind since I first read his article on growing super athletes a few years ago. When I recently came across another article talking about his Talent Code principle, I clicked through to his talent code website and saw that very article linked from the side menu. I thought 'this guy likes that same article about myelin and developing tennis stars'. Then I noticed the author and realised he had written it and that I like a lot of his work. His delivery, approach and message resonate with me.

My lifelong pursuit is an understanding of human performance. How far can one person push themselves through their life without breaking. It is taking me on a fascinating journey into the most advanced technology we know of, the human body.

The talent code is a really important work putting some of this elaborate jigsaw together.

Why only drinks that stimulate thirst are profitable

Why only drinks stimulate thirst are profitable has been re-produced at my new blog Cell Your Sole.

So I've had this niggling question for quite a while now. 'Why do most drinks available not quench your thirst?'. for along time I've been ordering a separate glass of water with any drink at a restaurant. In a club or bar I just accept that each drink is going to make me want another.

But why is this the case? Why is each drink so strong and often quite concentrated to make me need a separate glass of water?

I think the reason is basic economics. I don't think it's anything particularly sinister on the manufacturers or sellers part. The drinks market is very competitive and needs sales volume to turn a profit. So each drink must be sold in volume. I just think that it doesn't make sense financially to sell drinks that don't encourage repeat purchases because you won't sell many units of a drink that actually quenches your thirst.

This explains to me why the best sellers are coffee, tea, coke and many other caffeine related drinks. Caffeine makes you pee so you lose some of the water you drink with it. It's also addictive. So you feel the need for another. Chocolate is the same.

I expect that many drinks have been sold over time that do quench your thirst but very few of these have survived for this very reason. They just didn't sell in the volumes required. They were outcompeted by other drinks.  I don't see how drinks without elements that keep you coming back for more like strong flavours, addictive agents or diuretic properties can compete in this market.  It's these properties that produce drinks that won't quench your thirst because they're too concentrated with sugarand laced with diuretics and addictive ingredients.

The alternative is to price these thirst quenching drinks higher so you don't need to sell the volume but I don't think that sits well with consumers. Mainly because the drinks don't fit the expectations people have of higher priced drinks. They taste more like the simple drinks you'd have at home not expensive drinks for a special occasion.

This is just my opinion. It helps me accept these things for what they are. We may see this change in the future but I'm not holding my breath. Ultimately I'm saying that consumers are making the choices. Manufacturers and retailers have to sell products that make them a profit. to do this you need people regularly coming back for more. By definition that means you give them what they want instead of what they need.

The funny thing is, I think the exact same thing has happened in the food market. the same pattern and results for exactly the same reasons. Often food and drinks are seen to complement each other.

It's also why my approach is to make my body strong enough to be able to handle the food and drinks on offer. Instead of spending my time avoiding the delights on offer I prefer to believe our bodies can thrive with a little of these foods so longer as we maintain our true hunter gatherer roots. That is that we must hunt and gather which means move, play, search. Do that and you'll be able to do what you want when you want.

Hypertension, sodium and activity. Any relation?

So, something just struck me. No... nothing physically hit me :-) I just heard something about blood pressure that linked a bunch of information into one. I'm not sure if this is a new insight so I'm logging it here for future reference.

The first thing was reading that increased potassium in the diet is associated with a lowering in blood pressure. I've probably heard this many time before but not really thought about it. What struck me is the link between potassium and sodium. They are fundamentally involved in propagating nerve impulses. So it struck me that an imbalance in sodium and potassium could have an effect on nervous action throughout the body.

Combine that with marc peletiers insight that High blood pressure is fundamentally a problem with regulation of sodium. He has found structures in the brain that filter sodium much like the kidney does. It's these structures that have a huge impact in high blood pressure.

It's becoming clearer over time that diabetes in a problem with regulating blood sugar and that exercise helps by helping us deal better with sugar. So naturally I'm wondering if exercise has the same effect on helping us regulate sodium and potassium better. Mainly because exercise puts specific pressures on the body. forcing adaptations which make it able to handle the strains applied by daily life. Hence exercise forces the body to keep sugar and possibly sodium levels in check.

Just a thought.

Adapt: Is there evolution in business?

For me the answer is a definitive yes. The more I apply evolutionary principles in thinking about business the more I see it fits and the more I feel I understand business. It's why I like capitalism. It's a very harsh approach, which I don't like, but then is'n't natural selection. Natural selection is about competing for energy and essential nutrients, capitalism is about competing for money and resources that help you get more money. So capitalism is a harsh game but it's important to understand it before you can learn how to thrive in it. If you can do that then maybe you can do some good.

This morning I heard Tim Harford talking about his book Adapt on the science weekly podcast titled how to achieve success through failure. In his book he applies these evolutionary principles and shows how well they can explain what we see in business. Through history and across continents the analysis stacks up. Now I haven't read the book yet, it's on my wish list, but I've been viewing business through evolutionary eyes for so long I feel I know what it will cover.

I wanted to show that it's not just me noticing evolution everywhere and feeling that this insight could help me survive in the world. I think it's why the silicon valley model works so well and it's what I do. I don't worry about anything I do being a perfect fit. I worry about adaptability and flexibility. A perfect product one year is often a flop or waste the next. The best products are those that can adapt enough to be relevant no matter the fashion.

Essentially, as Darwin summarised. It's not the best adapted that survive, but those best able to adapt.

Learning on demand (LOD)

Following on from a previous article on 21st century learning I feel we're moving to an area where learning on demand will be as normal as Video on demand (VOD).

I see the emergence of 24-7 tutorials and motuto as early attempts at this. I can't vouch for the quality and economic viability yet but I do see that the learning market is biased towards young people. All infrastructure and policy focuses on this demographic.

New technologies make it  targetting the wider market financially viable. There is also a serious lack of supply compared to demand. Yet education budgets around the world are dwindling putting pressure on jobs.

This recipe implies to me that cloud based LOD services could meet this extra demand while at the same time saving the teachers under threat of redundancy. These teachers could either join the LOD services directly, or their schools and institutions could partner with the service to bring in additional paid work to meet the staff resources they have.

This scenario means teachers keep their jobs. Schools get to expand without increasing fixed running costs like building new classrooms and education grows as a sector to meet the growing demand.

It's a nice dream anyway. It's probably a few years early now but, from what I'm hearing across the web, there's a lot of work going into initiatives like this and there's a huge demand. Particularly internationally. So long term I think it will be a success. Just how it will evolve is yet to be determined.

Disease gene blocker sneaks past cell defences

Just found this fascinating article in new scientist title Disease gene blocker sneaks past cell defences.

A vision for 21st century learning

So I had a vision over Christmas of the kind of learning and teaching I've always wanted. As I wrote it down I became more and more convinced that this is possible right now. It also pulls together my passion for understanding human excellence with my experience in taking ideas to deliverables. It's still very much a work in progress but I'm really excited by it and everyone I've shared it with feels the same. 


It's not about revolution but evolution. My main view is that very little these days is new. The internet isn't enabling much that's new just a new scale, speed and quality of what existed before. Good learning and teaching is the same now as it was 1,000 years ago. What made Plato and Aristotle great will be similar to what made Einstein great. 


What's changed is what one human can achieve in one day with a small budget. The same goes for one team or one organisation. We can just do a lot more with a lot less. So we now get to revisit what good learning and teaching is and figure out what we would do if we could build on the great work that's already being done but with all these great new opportunities and tools that didn't exist before. 


My vision for learning in the 21st century is built by merging best learning practices with the methods of achieving scale in this era and partnerships with leading providers of the components that will be needed.

I learned to thrive due to a world class educational system. I want to bring this to the world and evolve it to fit todays capabilities and expectations.

Part of this involves each student understanding their potential through experience of a virtual body. The human being, particularly their mind, far exceeds the capabilities of any technology yet invented. I want a system designed around it. To make winners of anyone in the world who takes the time to develop their abilities. The knowledge and skills to do this already exist and we're perfectly placed to make use of it.

I've broken this down further into components. Each component is already in existence and will mainly require reuse of current skillsets, personnel and assets.

So now I'm spending time developing these ideas further. What I've found so far is that much of what I'm looking for already exists but the components have never been put together in this way before. I've also found  I'm not alone.  There are many efforts to improve education from a peer to peer university where you can suggest the currciulum or even opt to teach a class to an open high school finding ways to deliver “one-on-one tutoring for every student in every subject".

So there you go. I'm clarifying my vision for 21st century learning. Through this I'm finding that I'm not alone. In fact I keep finding more people with a similar vision that are already implementing it. I don't care who delivers it. I just want it for my children and for everyone who thrives on learning.

Could hygiene obsession cause allergies?

Just came across this fascinating article at sciencefocus.com opening the debate about how clean is healthy? I've always wondered if we need a little dirt to teach our immune system what's good and what's bad for us. They go a step further and say that our immune system needs bad stuff otherwise it might start attacking the good stuff within us.

That completely turns the argument on its head.

“The micro-organisms that we evolved with, long before we began this modern lifestyle, became a crucial part of our physiology,” says Rook. “In this state of ‘evolved dependency’, these microbes took the role of switching on the regulatory pathways that allow our immune systems to function as they should. Without exposure to these microbes, our immune system attacks otherwise harmless foreign molecules.” Rook has labelled this new hypothesis the ‘old friends mechanism’; others call it the ‘microbial exposure theory’.


read more

Things you can do better asleep than you can awake

following on with the theme that sleep is far more important than many of us realise. Here's an analysis of things we can do better asleep than when we're awake.

Essentially there seem to be three main areas that we do better asleep:

1. Forming accurate memories
2. Heal from infection
3. Deal with stress

Lets summarise each area:

Forming accurate memories

Most neuroscientists agree that sleep is when we organize memories for long-term storage. People whose sleep is disturbed after studying have far more imperfect recall than people who get a good eight hours of shuteye. But a study published a couple of weeks ago shows that you can use simple memory reinforcement techniques while you're sleeping that will make your recall better than average.

Heal from infection

We don't just need sleep to improve our minds - we need it to heal our bodies. Physiologist Marc Opp argues that it's possible that sleep is part of our immune system, and that we may have evolved sleep alongside our other bodily defenses against infection. In fact, our ability to dream appears to be connected at a molecular level to our healing abilities. When researchers reduce the levels of proteins used in healing wounds and fighting infection, it also reduces REM sleep. Raising the levels of those same proteins causes people to dream more. So when you go to bed with a cold and wake up feeling better after a night of weird dreams - well, there's a good reason for that.


Deal with stress

Dreaming also appears to be one of the main ways we maintain emotional equilibrium. Sleeping appears to organize our emotions in the same way it organizes and solidifies memories. Researchers report that sleep helps people recognize other people's emotional states, maintain calm in the face of difficult situations, and even develop feelings of trust more easily.