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The complex network of neurons within our brains looks eerily similar to the cosmic network of galaxies, an Italian astrophysicist and neurosurgeon said.
University of Bologna astrophysicist Franco Vazza and University of Verona neurosurgeon Alberto Feletti detailed the surprising similarities in a new article published in the journal Borders in physics.
Despite the huge difference in size, the human brain exhibits similar levels of complexity and self-organization, the researchers say.
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Neural and cosmic networks
The human brain contains about 69 billion neurons, while the observable universe is estimated to contain at least 100 billion galaxies.
Within both systems, only 30 percent of their masses are composed of galaxies and neurons. Both galaxies and neurons arrange themselves in long branching filaments.
Finally, within both systems, the remaining 70 percent of mass or energy plays a seemingly passive role: water in the brain and dark energy in the observable universe.
“We calculated the spectral density of both systems,” Vazza explained in a press release. “This is a technique often used in cosmology to study the spatial distribution of galaxies.”
“Our analysis showed that the distribution of fluctuation within the neuronal network of the cerebellum on a scale from 1 micrometer to 0.1 millimeter follows the same progression as the distribution of matter in the cosmic network,” he added, “but, of course. , on a larger scale ranging from 5 million to 500 million light years “.
Expand our knowledge
What’s behind these strange similarities? Researchers say it may just be because the same physical principles apply to the two incredibly complex structures.
“Probably, the connectivity within the two networks evolves following similar physical principles, despite the obvious and evident difference between the physical powers that regulate galaxies and neurons,” explained Feletti.
The duo hopes their study will help us deepen our knowledge of the evolution of the universe and the human brain by enabling new analytical techniques in cosmology and neuroscience.
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