Thanks for joining Karen's AMA
Dr. Karen Konkoly is part of the science collective at DUST, an MIT Media Lab spinoff. We build tools to help you recall, shape, and learn from your dreams.
Get early access to the DUST app, plus lullabies, insomnia courses, and wind-down tools from leading sleep researchers.
Our work featured in
Our work featured in
Our work featured in
"Dream Engineering is #1 most powerful idea of the 21st century."
"Dream Engineering is #1 most powerful idea of the 21st century."
We founded the field.
We founded the field.
In our MIT studies, we guided 92% of people to dream of a specific topic chosen before bed.
In our MIT studies, we guided 92% of people to dream of a specific topic chosen before bed.
In our MIT studies, we guided 92% of people to dream of a specific topic chosen before bed.
Remember, record, and understand your dreams with our app
Remember, record, and understand your dreams with our app
The Dust app is now in private beta for iOS. Sign up to be notified when access becomes available.
The Dust app is now in private beta for iOS. Sign up to be notified when access becomes available.
Dream Collective
Dream Collective
Dream Collective
We’re constantly making new things in the name of research and culture change around dreams. These people make it happen.
We’re constantly making new things in the name of research and culture change around dreams. These people make it happen.
We’re constantly making new things in the name of research and culture change around dreams. These people make it happen.
Dr. Karen Konkoly
Dr. Karen Konkoly
Dr. Karen Konkoly
Post-doctoral researcher, Cambridge University
Post-doctoral researcher, Cambridge University
Post-doctoral researcher, Cambridge University
Northwestern University Cognitive Neuroscience Lab
Northwestern University Cognitive Neuroscience Lab
Robert Stickgold
Robert Stickgold
Robert Stickgold
Professor of Psychiatry, Principal Investigator
Professor of Psychiatry, Principal Investigator
Professor of Psychiatry, Principal Investigator
Harvard Medical School, Center for Sleep and Cognition, BIDMC
Harvard Medical School, Center for Sleep and Cognition, BIDMC
Dr. Pattie Maes
Dr. Pattie Maes
Dr. Pattie Maes
Professor, Principal Investigator
Professor, Principal Investigator
Professor, Principal Investigator
MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces Lab, Center for Neurobiological Engineering
MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces Lab, Center for Neurobiological Engineering
Dr. David Eagleman
Dr. David Eagleman
Dr. David Eagleman
Neuroscientist
Neuroscientist
Neuroscientist
Stanford University, The Center for Science and Law, Inner Cosmos Podcast
Stanford University, The Center for Science and Law, Inner Cosmos Podcast
Dr. Leslie Ellis
Dr. Leslie Ellis
Dr. Leslie Ellis
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Inward Bound Counseling, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Author, “A Clinician's Guide to Dream Therapy”
Inward Bound Counseling, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Author, “A Clinician's Guide to Dream Therapy”
Dr. Michelle Carr
Dr. Michelle Carr
Dr. Michelle Carr
Professor, Principal Investigator, Dream Engineering Laboratory
Professor, Principal Investigator, Dream Engineering Laboratory
Professor, Principal Investigator, Dream Engineering Laboratory
University of Montreal, Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine.
University of Montreal, Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine.
Dr. Westley Youngren
Dr. Westley Youngren
Dr. Westley Youngren
Principal Investigator, The Nocturnal Investigations of Traumatic Experiences (NITE) Lab
Principal Investigator, The Nocturnal Investigations of Traumatic Experiences (NITE) Lab
Principal Investigator, The Nocturnal Investigations of Traumatic Experiences (NITE) Lab
The University of Missouri - Kansas City
The University of Missouri - Kansas City
Dr. Adam Haar Horowitz
Dr. Adam Haar Horowitz
Dr. Adam Haar Horowitz
Co-founder, DUST
Co-founder, DUST
Co-founder, DUST
Research Affiliate, MIT Media Lab, Harvard Medical School Center for Sleep and Cognition
Research Affiliate, MIT Media Lab, Harvard Medical School Center for Sleep and Cognition
Tomas Vega
Tomas Vega
Tomas Vega
Co-founder, DUST
Co-founder, DUST
Co-founder, DUST
MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces Lab, Tactical Hybrid Ecologies Lab
MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces Lab, Tactical Hybrid Ecologies Lab
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"I’ve been surprised to discover for myself that my own dreams are not in fact as boring or unremarkable as what I first thought. For years, I’ve basically written off an entire aspect of myself…."
"I’ve been surprised to discover for myself that my own dreams are not in fact as boring or unremarkable as what I first thought. For years, I’ve basically written off an entire aspect of myself…."
"I’ve been surprised to discover for myself that my own dreams are not in fact as boring or unremarkable as what I first thought. For years, I’ve basically written off an entire aspect of myself…."
Anand Jagatia, Reporter, BBC World Service
Anand Jagatia, Reporter, BBC World Service
Anand Jagatia, Reporter, BBC World Service
"Dormio may have the power to save millions of lives"
"Dormio may have the power to save millions of lives"
"Dormio may have the power to save millions of lives"
William Shatner, Canadian actor, UnXplained
William Shatner, Canadian actor, UnXplained
William Shatner, Canadian actor, UnXplained
"Concentrating so hard on the experience of dreaming and having that guided experience had the effect of long lucid-dream training concentrated into a single night."
"Concentrating so hard on the experience of dreaming and having that guided experience had the effect of long lucid-dream training concentrated into a single night."
"Concentrating so hard on the experience of dreaming and having that guided experience had the effect of long lucid-dream training concentrated into a single night."
Laura Rysman, Reporter, NYT
Laura Rysman, Reporter, NYT
Laura Rysman, Reporter, NYT
"I think a dream to an insomniac will always be a gift; and these dreams in the dream bed in particular felt so special to receive. It brought me right back, for the first time since, to a month-long period of full color."
Grace Greenwald,
Woodworker, Educator
"I dreamt of trees. Many kinds of trees from different points in my life, connecting me to places and events from another time. Since my at-home dream experiment, I haven’t looked at a tree the same."
Karen Van Kampen,
Science Journalist
"It quickly became impossible to dream as anything else but Hamlet. In addition to learning the entire text with little effort I found that my experiencing was more easy and truthful than I had ever felt before"
John Bambery,
Actor, The Met Opera
“In dream states, we seem to be able to link things together that we normally wouldn’t connect, It’s like there’s an artist in my brain that I get to know through hypnagogia.”
Paul Seli,
Professor, Duke University
“For the past year, I used lines of poetry as seeds to guide my dreams. What bloomed was a garden of dreams wilder and stranger than any reading experience could have conjured.”
Will Dowd,
Writer, Boston Globe
“The most impressive thing for me is the speed, super fast, 1/4 second images. And I feel I really needed it, like I was going in an unknown hard drive of my mind, and staying with what things I like. To check myself. With this experience you better understand the connections that make the world for you meaningful.”
Nicolas Becker,
Oscar Winning Sound Designer
“My Dormio-assisted adventures in hypnagogia showed me how unbelievably, compulsively, naturally, and irresistibly creative the mind becomes once it slips loose of conscious control.”
Michael Clune,
Author, New Yorker
"The number of dreams I’m able to recall has increased, usually it’s 1 dream a night but now it’s 2-3 dreams per night"
Awu Chen,
CEO of SOOOUL
“I was missing my mother fiercely. She’d died about five years ago. It is still hard for me to understand how someone you love can disappear. I set my intention as I had learned in the app, I wanted to see her in a dream. And I did. I was walking with her. She was perhaps in her sixties, still strong, carrying three bags of groceries. I was a little behind her. I came up beside her and said
“Mom, can I help you?” She didn’t speak, but she let me take two bags. It was enough simply to walk beside her.
I woke up so happy to have seen her, joyous really.”Susan H,
Lawyer
"In just the first night of using Dust I could remember my dreams in more vivid detail. In the first week I remembered my dreams every single night. Dust makes every night something to look forward to and is a powerful tool for self reflection."
Sam Kirschner,
VP at Village Global
“In 3 out of 5 days I’ve woken up remembering vivid dreams, and they’ve stuck with me through the day.”
Dan Welsh,
Broadcast Journalist, BBC News
“I definitely wake up a lot quicker and feel sharper when I’ve had the dreams. It feels very refreshing.”
Dan Welsh,
Broadcast Journalist, BBC News
"In just the first night of using Dust I could remember my dreams in more vivid detail. In the first week I remembered my dreams every single night. Dust makes every night something to look forward to and is a powerful tool for self reflection."
Sam Kirschner,
VP at Village Global
“I would almost compare it to dreaming with sort of jet fuel in the dream. I feel like it really lit this fuse that made the dream stranger, more evocative, more immersive, and more exciting.”
Will Dowd,
Artist and writer
“Dreaming can be a life raft for somebody who is immobilized...The Dormio project...really helped me to cope with that restriction because after a dream that was seeded by this poetry I really felt that I had got out of the house, that I’d taken a rejuvenating walk, that I’d gone out, not into the world, but into a world and come back.
To be completely frank, art is the reason I’m alive right now.”
Will Dowd
Artist and writer
"I think a dream to an insomniac will always be a gift; and these dreams in the dream bed in particular felt so special to receive. It brought me right back, for the first time since, to a month-long period of full color."
Grace Greenwald,
Woodworker, Educator
"I dreamt of trees. Many kinds of trees from different points in my life, connecting me to places and events from another time. Since my at-home dream experiment, I haven’t looked at a tree the same."
Karen Van Kampen,
Science Journalist
"It quickly became impossible to dream as anything else but Hamlet. In addition to learning the entire text with little effort I found that my experiencing was more easy and truthful than I had ever felt before"
John Bambery,
Actor, The Met Opera
“In dream states, we seem to be able to link things together that we normally wouldn’t connect, It’s like there’s an artist in my brain that I get to know through hypnagogia.”
Paul Seli,
Professor, Duke University
“For the past year, I used lines of poetry as seeds to guide my dreams. What bloomed was a garden of dreams wilder and stranger than any reading experience could have conjured.”
Will Dowd,
Writer, Boston Globe
“The most impressive thing for me is the speed, super fast, 1/4 second images. And I feel I really needed it, like I was going in an unknown hard drive of my mind, and staying with what things I like. To check myself. With this experience you better understand the connections that make the world for you meaningful.”
Nicolas Becker,
Oscar Winning Sound Designer
“My Dormio-assisted adventures in hypnagogia showed me how unbelievably, compulsively, naturally, and irresistibly creative the mind becomes once it slips loose of conscious control.”
Michael Clune,
Author, New Yorker
"The number of dreams I’m able to recall has increased, usually it’s 1 dream a night but now it’s 2-3 dreams per night"
Awu Chen,
CEO of SOOOUL
“I was missing my mother fiercely. She’d died about five years ago. It is still hard for me to understand how someone you love can disappear. I set my intention as I had learned in the app, I wanted to see her in a dream. And I did. I was walking with her. She was perhaps in her sixties, still strong, carrying three bags of groceries. I was a little behind her. I came up beside her and said
“Mom, can I help you?” She didn’t speak, but she let me take two bags. It was enough simply to walk beside her.
I woke up so happy to have seen her, joyous really.”Susan H,
Lawyer
"In just the first night of using Dust I could remember my dreams in more vivid detail. In the first week I remembered my dreams every single night. Dust makes every night something to look forward to and is a powerful tool for self reflection."
Sam Kirschner,
VP at Village Global
“In 3 out of 5 days I’ve woken up remembering vivid dreams, and they’ve stuck with me through the day.”
Dan Welsh,
Broadcast Journalist, BBC News
“I definitely wake up a lot quicker and feel sharper when I’ve had the dreams. It feels very refreshing.”
Dan Welsh,
Broadcast Journalist, BBC News
"In just the first night of using Dust I could remember my dreams in more vivid detail. In the first week I remembered my dreams every single night. Dust makes every night something to look forward to and is a powerful tool for self reflection."
Sam Kirschner,
VP at Village Global
“I would almost compare it to dreaming with sort of jet fuel in the dream. I feel like it really lit this fuse that made the dream stranger, more evocative, more immersive, and more exciting.”
Will Dowd,
Artist and writer
“Dreaming can be a life raft for somebody who is immobilized...The Dormio project...really helped me to cope with that restriction because after a dream that was seeded by this poetry I really felt that I had got out of the house, that I’d taken a rejuvenating walk, that I’d gone out, not into the world, but into a world and come back.
To be completely frank, art is the reason I’m alive right now.”
Will Dowd
Artist and writer
"I think a dream to an insomniac will always be a gift; and these dreams in the dream bed in particular felt so special to receive. It brought me right back, for the first time since, to a month-long period of full color."
Grace Greenwald,
Woodworker, Educator
"I dreamt of trees. Many kinds of trees from different points in my life, connecting me to places and events from another time. Since my at-home dream experiment, I haven’t looked at a tree the same."
Karen Van Kampen,
Science Journalist
"It quickly became impossible to dream as anything else but Hamlet. In addition to learning the entire text with little effort I found that my experiencing was more easy and truthful than I had ever felt before"
John Bambery,
Actor, The Met Opera
“In dream states, we seem to be able to link things together that we normally wouldn’t connect, It’s like there’s an artist in my brain that I get to know through hypnagogia.”
Paul Seli,
Professor, Duke University
“For the past year, I used lines of poetry as seeds to guide my dreams. What bloomed was a garden of dreams wilder and stranger than any reading experience could have conjured.”
Will Dowd,
Writer, Boston Globe
“The most impressive thing for me is the speed, super fast, 1/4 second images. And I feel I really needed it, like I was going in an unknown hard drive of my mind, and staying with what things I like. To check myself. With this experience you better understand the connections that make the world for you meaningful.”
Nicolas Becker,
Oscar Winning Sound Designer
“My Dormio-assisted adventures in hypnagogia showed me how unbelievably, compulsively, naturally, and irresistibly creative the mind becomes once it slips loose of conscious control.”
Michael Clune,
Author, New Yorker
"The number of dreams I’m able to recall has increased, usually it’s 1 dream a night but now it’s 2-3 dreams per night"
Awu Chen,
CEO of SOOOUL
“I was missing my mother fiercely. She’d died about five years ago. It is still hard for me to understand how someone you love can disappear. I set my intention as I had learned in the app, I wanted to see her in a dream. And I did. I was walking with her. She was perhaps in her sixties, still strong, carrying three bags of groceries. I was a little behind her. I came up beside her and said
“Mom, can I help you?” She didn’t speak, but she let me take two bags. It was enough simply to walk beside her.
I woke up so happy to have seen her, joyous really.”Susan H,
Lawyer
"In just the first night of using Dust I could remember my dreams in more vivid detail. In the first week I remembered my dreams every single night. Dust makes every night something to look forward to and is a powerful tool for self reflection."
Sam Kirschner,
VP at Village Global
“In 3 out of 5 days I’ve woken up remembering vivid dreams, and they’ve stuck with me through the day.”
Dan Welsh,
Broadcast Journalist, BBC News
“I definitely wake up a lot quicker and feel sharper when I’ve had the dreams. It feels very refreshing.”
Dan Welsh,
Broadcast Journalist, BBC News
"In just the first night of using Dust I could remember my dreams in more vivid detail. In the first week I remembered my dreams every single night. Dust makes every night something to look forward to and is a powerful tool for self reflection."
Sam Kirschner,
VP at Village Global
“I would almost compare it to dreaming with sort of jet fuel in the dream. I feel like it really lit this fuse that made the dream stranger, more evocative, more immersive, and more exciting.”
Will Dowd,
Artist and writer
“Dreaming can be a life raft for somebody who is immobilized...The Dormio project...really helped me to cope with that restriction because after a dream that was seeded by this poetry I really felt that I had got out of the house, that I’d taken a rejuvenating walk, that I’d gone out, not into the world, but into a world and come back.
To be completely frank, art is the reason I’m alive right now.”
Will Dowd
Artist and writer
Discover what your dreams could be made of
Get early access to the DUST app, plus lullabies, exclusive insomnia support courses and wind-down tools from world-class scientists and sleep researchers.
Discover what your dreams could be made of
Get early access to the DUST app, plus lullabies, exclusive insomnia support courses and wind-down tools from world-class scientists and sleep researchers.
Discover what your dreams could be made of
Get early access to the DUST app, plus lullabies, exclusive insomnia support courses and wind-down tools from world-class scientists and sleep researchers.