[ad_1]
There is a whole universe in your brain, but have you ever thought that your brain could reflect the vast universe?
The neural network in the brain and the network of galaxies in the cosmos could in fact be reflections of each other. This is what you get when you bring the mind of an astrophysicist and a neurosurgeon together. Besides being two of nature’s most complex systems, the number of neurons in your brain is eerily close to the number of galaxies in the observable universe. Neurons form in long strands or knots between filaments, much like galaxies, and there is a mass or energy that has a seemingly passive role in both – water in the brain versus dark energy in the emptiness of space.
As unlikely as it may sound, astrophysicist Franco Vazza and neurosurgeon Alberto Feletti, who recently published a study in Frontiers of physics, merged their knowledge of the brain and the cosmos into something with the potential to advance both sciences further than they ever have been. This study and the work it inspires in the future could revolutionize both cosmology and neurosurgery.
“Our research tries to show that with shared statistical tools, the two networks can be analyzed quantitatively, and we have found a good degree of structural similarity over a wide range of scales,” Vazza told SYFY WIRE. “Despite the obvious differences in their internal interactions, complex networks tend to evolve according to similar laws, in order to save energy and fill space more efficiently, but this is only the beginning of the quest.
The human brain and the structure of the universe are two of nature’s most complex systems. Everything in our brains is interconnected, from the molecular level to networks of neurons and other cells that create even more complicated structures. The same goes for everything in the universe (at least what we can see of it). It started at the molecular level when the Big Bang went off like fireworks out of nowhere, and these molecules created bigger molecules that continued to build up and eventually became stars, planets. , asteroids, comets and other objects born from swirling disks of gas and dust. . Many of these objects became their own star systems, and groups of star systems formed entire galaxies.
Now think about this. There is a network of approximately 69 billion neurons in your brain. In the observable universe, there are at least 100 billion galaxies. 70% of the brain is water while the same percentage of interstellar substance is dark energy. By studying spectral density, or how the power of a signal as opposed to its frequency, Vazza and Feletti discovered that fluctuations in the cosmic network are on the same scale as those distributed in the neural network of the cerebellum, which primarily powers movement, balance, coordination and posture.
While the proportions aren’t always exact, they are always a little scary. There is still a huge difference despite all of these possibly disturbing mirror images.
“The biggest difference between our brains and the universe is the way they process their information content,” Vazza said. “In the case of the cosmic web, it is about the 3D structure of galaxies. In the human brain, it is recorded thanks to the local connectivity of neurons, and at a very different rate. Some qualitative estimates suggest that the human brain has about 10 to 17 times the computing power of the cosmic web – meaning that the local organization of the human brain can be altered extremely faster than galaxies can. “
It’s hard to say if this is more fascinating or even scarier. It is impossible to deny that the two networks, the one in our heads and the one above our heads, are both organizations of clusters and nodes, whether they are made up of molecules and neurons or of star systems and of galaxies. Vazza ran revealed simulations, among everything that makes our brains reflect something much bigger and almost unfathomable, something else unreal. There are actually less similarities between the universe and a single galaxy, or the brain and a single neuron, than between the brain and the universe as systems.
The search for parallels between the brain and the final frontier has brought to light things that each branch of science can borrow from another. The similarities between these complex networks could also mean some amazing discoveries, because if something about the universe can have implications for something in the brain or vice versa, there could be major scientific advancement depending on the results of the simulations and experiences.
“Our work exposes how these different systems (indeed located at opposite ends of cosmic scales) can evolve in complex ways in which physical laws combine to evolve macro-objects, or in this case networks of events, ”Vazza said. “We hope this will trigger further research in the near future.”
This should blow your mind enough.
[ad_2]
Source link