People who need less sleep are actually mutants

Well, sort of. A new study has identified a gene mutation that allows people to function well on under six hours of sleep a night.

The experiment, picked up by IFLscience and in the journal Sleep, looked at 100 twins, 59 of whom were totally identical and 41 of whom were fraternal twins. They found that those with a variant of the BHLHE41 gene, called Y362H, needed less recovery sleep after being deprived of rest and showed fewer symptoms of sleep deprivation.