German scientists have recently discovered a connection between the ABCC9 gene and sleep patterns that don't include very much time spent unconscious. Individuals displaying two copies of a variant of the gene could sleep for a very short amount of time and still wake up feeling pretty much awesome. That eight hour mark didn't apply for them--they could do just fine on four or five hours, even without daytime naps or stimulants like caffeine. Me, I'm still something of a sloth after eight hours of sleep and two cups of strong coffee, so that's saying something. I used to be able to pull off reasonable days after only four hours of shut-eye, but these days the edges of my reality start to blur if I get anything less than six. So I am definitely not of the strain of human that has this particular gene going for them. 

 

Unfortunately for people with the variant, the sleep perk is offset by an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. I guess you can't win them all. But even if you do develop a nasty disease as a result of the gene, at least you'll be awake for most of your remaining life, right? It all balances out in the end, probably.