The network of neurons in the human brain and the cosmic network of galaxies are among the most difficult and complex systems in nature, but are there similarities between these two systems?
Those interested in the wonders of the universe circulate a lot of pictures that show the great similarity in the complex shape of each of the brain's neural network and the network of large, branching galaxies, even they believe that the universe is nothing but a giant brain.
Others think that the matter is nothing more than an illusion visually, and that to prove the similarity, it takes more than placing two similar pictures next to each other.
This is what the researchers did in the study published in Frontiers in Physics on November 16, for they provided for the first time a scientific answer to this question, which is yes, there is a great similarity between the neural brain network and the cosmic galaxy network. .
The answer to the controversial question
In this new work, the researchers say the study, we apply methods from cosmology, neuroscience, and network analysis to explore this controversial question quantitatively for the first time, and explore the structural, morphological, network, and memory capacity of these two remarkable systems through a quantitative approach.
Franco Faza, an astrophysicist at the University of Bologna, Italy, and Alberto Feletti, a neurosurgeon at the University of Verona, Italy, compared the two networks to show surprising similarities.
Despite the vast difference in size between the brain's neural network and the cosmic galaxy network, their quantitative analysis - which lies at the crossroads between cosmology and neurosurgery - indicates that various physical processes can build structures with similar levels of complexity and self-organization.
In order to obtain a homogeneous analysis of both systems, the researchers say, our work does not take into account the true neural connection but approximates it.
Based on the simple proximity, the dramatic degree of similarity revealed by our analysis seems to indicate that the self-organization of both complex systems is likely to be shaped by similar principles of network dynamics, despite the radically different scales and processes.
Watch .. an old video that shows some similar images between the universe and the human brain
Confirmed and unexpected faces
The human brain works thanks to its vast neural network that contains nearly 69 billion neurons, while the visible universe consists of a cosmic network of at least 100 billion galaxies, and within both systems only 30% of the mass of the two networks consists of galaxies and neurons within both systems as well, Galaxies and neurons arrange themselves into long filaments or nodes between filaments.
Finally, within both systems, 70% of the mass or energy distribution consists of components that play an apparently negative role, water in the brain and dark energy in the visible universe, and starting from the common features of the two systems, the researchers compared simulating the galaxy network with sections of the cortex and cerebellum.
"We calculated the spectral density of both systems, which is a technique often used in cosmology to study the spatial distribution of galaxies. Our analysis showed that the distribution of oscillations within the neural network in the cerebellum on a scale from one micrometer to 0.1 millimeter follows the same distribution of matter in the cosmic network," explains Franco Vaza Of course on a larger scale, from 5 million to 500 million light years. "
The researchers also calculated some parameters that characterize both the neural network and the cosmic network, such as the average number of connections in each node and the tendency to aggregate several connections in the relevant central nodes within the network.
"Once again, structural parameters defined unexpected levels of agreement," says Alberto Feletti. "It is possible that communication within the two networks develops according to similar physical principles, despite the clear difference between the physical forces that regulate galaxies and neurons."
According to Feletti, these two complex networks show more similarities between each other than those shared between the cosmic network and a galaxy, or neural network and within a neuron.
The encouraging results of this pilot study prompt researchers to believe that new and effective analytical techniques in both fields - cosmology and neurosurgery - would allow a better understanding of the dynamics underlying the temporal evolution of these two systems.