Yasemin Saplakoglu, November 18, 2025
Neuroscientists studying the shifts between sleep and awareness are finding many liminal states, which could help explain the disorders that can result when sleep transitions go wrong
This article by Smithsonian Magazine explores the mysterious boundary between waking and sleep—a transitional state called hypnagogia, where people are “one foot in dreams and one foot in the world.” Former Fluid Interfaces researcher Adam Horowitz describes this shift as one where “everything has to change”—from brain chemistry to the way neurons fire. He also led research showing that early-stage dreams can be guided through external cues, building on findings that this state enhances creativity.
In this hypnagogic state, many people are one foot in dreams and one foot in the world.
Horowitz's work helped shape the group’s Sleep + Dream Engineering work, which explores how this fleeting brain state can be steered to support cognition, imagination, and emotional wellbeing. By combining neuroscience, wearable technology, and human-computer interaction, the Fluid Interfaces group investigates how we might not only study sleep, but actively co-create with it. Researchers like MIT’s Laura Lewis are also uncovering how the brain moves between consciousness and unconsciousness, offering new insights into the science of sleep.
