The constant interruptions of modern-day office life slow productivity but seem impossible to resist -- I talked about this problem once. The New York Times has an interesting magazine article about ways of dealing with it, some of them (the high-tech solutions some people are working on) quite intriguing.

And apparently those lucky people who sleep well and easily, unperturbed by such factors as caffeine, have a natural advantage -- a gene. It's all to do with an enzyme called adenosine, apparently -- suggesting a new approach to dealing with insomnia.