"FEWER people have been there than have walked on the moon."
The places that can make that claim – the ocean deeps, the bowels of huge caves – tend to be few and far between.
But not all mysterious places are physically remote. Every human on the planet visits one of the most peculiar every single day – or rather, night. Think of night as a place, rather than a time, and its oddity becomes apparent (see "The night: The nocturnal journey of body and mind"). It has its own wildlife and its own climate, which is changing in its own way.
Nor are the night's human residents quite like those of the day. Our bodies change radically while we sleep, as do our minds. And those of us who regularly stay up past bedtime may be putting our health on the line. So the night still holds its terrors. A nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
This article appeared in print under the headline "The strange place we go to at night"
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