Sidarta Ribeiro

Sidarta Tollendal Gomes Ribeiro (Brasília, April 16, 1971) is a Brazilian neuroscientist, writer, science communicator, and deputy director of the Brain Institute at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), which he joined in 2008 as full professor.

To answer, he articulates several narratives: the biological evolution of sleep and oneiric phenomena, the cultural history of dream interpretations and their social functions, psychological and psychoanalytic investigations and theories, and recent discoveries of neuroscience.

Based on a large and diverse body of evidence, the author unfolds the vision suggested in the book's title: that dreams are a "probabilistic oracle" in which memories are rearranged to predict and rehearse possible futures, anticipating risks and opportunities.

The Oracle of Night describes dreams as an essential feature in the evolutionary process that made Homo sapiens an exceptionally versatile and inventive animal – a resource that needs to be rediscovered in this historical moment of great challenges for the future of the planet and the human species.

On May 13, 2011, Sidarta Ribeiro took part in the inauguration of the Brain Institute (Instituto do Cérebro - ICe),[3] together with Ivonildo do Rego and Angela Paiva, former and current Presidents of UFRN, academic leaders, faculty, technicians and students.