Thus The Guardian today. “Playing auditory cues during sleep partially undid biases, raising possibility of using the technique to make permanent behavioral changes,” explains the newspapers. Great news, this! According to the article, Xiaoqing Hu, who led the study at Northwestern University, is quite optimistic about the results. The biases are learnt, and thus they can also be unlearnt. And this applies to all kinds of biases, not only the gender and racial ones. For instance, smoking and unhealthy eating habits can also be cured during sleep. But the research team cautions that the use of the technique they have employed would require strict ethical guidelines in the future. In other words, humans are available to all sorts of suggestions during sleep. Brainwashing works every which way, that is. I can imagine dictators of all sorts sniggering to themselves as they read about the research at Northwestern University. They have known it all along, it goes without saying.