Students who are facing exams in a matter of weeks may be pleased to learn that no longer should they have to burn the midnight oil. According to new research, staying up late into the night for a last minute cramming session may actually be detrimental to remembering facts in the exam the following day.

Researchers at the University of California have found that sleeping all night allows for twice as much brain plasticity - the ability to of the brain to change - the next day as not sleeping.

"This is the first direct evidence that sleep modifies the effect of environmental stimuli on the development of new brain connections", explained Dr Marcos Frank, who led the study. His research appears in the current edition of the journal 'Neuron'.