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Recently, Franco Vazza, astrophysicist from the University of Bologna and Alberto Felleti, neurosurgeon from the University of Verona, decided to compare the network of human brain cells and the network of galaxies in our universe. Even though the universe is 27 orders of magnitude larger than a single human brain, remarkable similarities have emerged:
The human brain functions thanks to its extensive neuronal network which is believed to contain around 69 billion neurons. On the other hand, the observable universe is composed of a cosmic network of at least 100 billion galaxies. Within both systems, only 30% of their masses are composed of galaxies and neurons. Within both systems, galaxies and neurons arrange themselves in long filaments or knots between filaments. Finally, within both systems, 70% of the mass or energy distribution is composed of components that play an apparently passive role: water in the brain and dark energy in the observable Universe.
University of Bologna, “Does the human brain resemble the universe?” to Phys.org
Other similarities included:
➤ The distribution of the fluctuation inside the cerebellum, with a distance ranging from 1 micrometer to 0.1 mm, follows the same progression as the distribution of matter in the cosmic network, with a distance ranging from 5 million to 500 million years light
➤ “Unexpected agreement levels” were found in the average number of connections.
In the open access paper, Vazza and Felleti write: “The tantalizing degree of similarity our analysis exhibits seems to suggest that the self-organization of both complex systems is likely shaped by similar principles of network dynamics, despite the radically scaled different and processes involved “.
Note: In the illustration: Left: section of the cerebellum, with a magnification factor of 40x, obtained with electron microscopy (Dr. E. Zunarelli, University Hospital of Modena); right: section of a cosmological simulation, with an extension of 300 million light years on each side (Vazza et al. 2019 A&A). Credit: University of Bologna
It appears that the universe is not random, but rather shaped in the way it unfolds. Perhaps very complex systems can only develop in a certain way; otherwise, they simply wouldn’t exist. It will be very interesting to see if other very complex systems follow the same or a similar pattern. And, if they vary, is there a logic behind the variance?
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