“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; It is a profound source of spirituality. When we understand our life, the beauty and the subtlety of life, in the abundance of light years and in the period of age, it is the sensation of intensity, feeling and humility, spiritual. “- Carl Sagan “The Monster-Haunted World.”
Learning about the universe, I have experienced these spiritual moments, because I can better understand my connection with the all-pervading. Like when I first realized that I was literally made up of stellar ashes – the atoms in my body were dispersed into the eternal ether by supernovae. Another spiritual moment was seeing this image for the first time:
In the brain a neuron is composed of clusters of galaxies and their connected filaments of matter and dark matter. The resemblance is immediately clear. Implications? You can have the whole universe in your head. But similarities between images can be a case of apophenia – understanding similarities where nothing really exists. After all, how can these two things be the same based on the huge scale difference between the two? But if beyond the visual similarity between the network of neurons in the brain and the layers of galaxies in the cosmos, can an objective measurement compare how similar they really are? Franco Vaza (an astrophysicist at the University of Bologna) and Alberto Felletti (a neurosurgeon at the University of Verona) decided to find both of their disciplines to be published in “Physics of Frontiers”.
An intergalactic link
The human brain is literally one of the most complex structures known in the universe – the largest of all complexities in itself. Your brain has about 80 billion neurons – the cells that process input from the senses and send signals to your body through the nervous system. There is also a network of neurons, which communicate with each other through connections and connections known as dendrites. There are over 100 trillion connections on the order between the neurons that make up the neural network that makes you.
– Patrick Hussey CC BY-SA 4.0
There is also the universe network. While we may think of space as objects… well અલગ separated by large stripes of space, that is not entirely the case. The universe we have seen with our scientific instruments is almost known as the “serv bizarre universe”, with a diameter of about 90 billion light years and a few trillion galaxies with a loss of hundreds of billions. These galaxies, like our own galaxy, are a collection of billions of stars, grouped together into galaxy clusters. Our galaxy is part of a “local group” of neighboring Andromeda and triangular galaxies, as well as 50 other galaxies. Those galaxies, consequently, are part of a larger group called the Kurva supercluster. The space between groups and clusters is not empty, but hosts connecting filaments of both normal and dark matter spread over millions of years. In this way, the universe can be thought of as a vast network of galaxy clusters, all interconnected like a neural network in the brain. That network is called the Cosmic Web.
A universe within a universe
Research was born to find similarities between the two networks in the partnership between neuroscience and astrophysics. Using the techniques and tools of both branches, Vaz and Felletti turned their attention to these two networks to find more similarities than similar perspectives. Were these networks comparable and, if so, what do they mean?
The researchers used 4 micrometer-thick pieces of the human cortex – the outer layer of the brain that is responsible for processing language, sensory information, thought, memory and consciousness. This comparison is taken from a computer simulated volume of 25 million megaparsecs (approximately 1 parsec = approximately 3.26 light years) of 1 million cubic megaparsecs of space in the thick “pieces” of the universe. The brain and the pieces of the universe are relatively comparable in thickness then they are both given Order of 27 intensities The sizes are different from each other.
– Waza F and Felletti A (2020)
Depending on the scale at which the fragments were examined – similarities in composition were not always apparent. But at 40x magnification in brain tissue, researchers began to see similarities in composition. 40x magnification represents a scale of 0.01-1.6 mm in the brain and 1-100 megaparsex in the universe. Here, the neuronal network looks like galaxy clusters. Moreover, the similarity of networks can be objectively measured and compared using two techniques. The first is “network degree centralization” which measures the length of network connections and the degree of connectivity in a given network. The center or center of the neuron is much smaller in radius than the length of the connecting arrays and dendrites. Similarly, galaxy clusters are much smaller in radius than the length of connecting filaments. Another method of objectively comparing the two networks is the “clustering coefficient” which quantifies the amount of structure next to each connection node (neuron or galaxy cluster) and compares the structure to random points inside the network. This comparison is the opposite of organization vs. randomness in both networks.
Using techniques on these scales, Vaz and Felletti found “significant” similarities between both the brain and the universe. They also found that the networks were more like each other than other biological and physical structures, including tree branches, the dynamics of cloud formation, or the instability of water. These other constructions are fragmented in nature. Fractured patterns are self-repetitive and will look the same regardless of the scale you observe them. In contrast, the universe looks completely smaller than large scales. The galaxies and solar systems they make are not like the cosmic web. Therefore, the brain also looks like a neural network when observed on different scales. The scale itself can be important for creating these compositions in terms of how they align themselves.
Researchers concluded their findings “The implication of this is that identical network configurations can arise from the interaction of completely different physical processes, resulting in the same level of complexity and self-organization, despite the dramatic differences in the spatial scales of these two systems.” In other words, networks such as the brain and the universe can share the same structure when completely different in size and formed by different processes (gravity vs. biology). Yet it is possible that something like this is the reason for both to evolve and grow.
Researchers noted two other interesting similarities between the brain and the cosmic web. The first was the composition ratio. The brain is 77% water while the cosmic web is about 73% dark energy. Water and dark energy are not only part of the network but are considered “inert material” or inert ive energy. The presence and ratio of passive content / energy radiation may be relevant to how this network is built. Another interesting similarity is that the amount of computer data needed to map the models of the simulated universe is comparable to the theoretical memory storage limit of the human brain. Data are needed to simulate the evolution of an observable universe on scales where the cosmic web is clear between 1-10 petabytes (1 petabyte = 1000 terabytes). The total storage capacity of the human brain is estimated at approximately 2.5 petabytes. A good part of the creation of a theoretically observable universe after a human being … can store inside their brain. Or, more surprisingly, the Cosmic Web could theoretically store data on human life experiences.
The farthest galaxies ever imagined. – NASA / ESA
There are similarities as well as differences between the cosmic web and the brain. While the brain samples used were of the mantle, the whole brain is not the same. Different parts of the brain are designed for different purposes while the main characteristic of the universe is its similarity in almost all directions. The links between neurons in the brain are for the transmission of sensory information while the links in the universe transmit energy and solitary matter. Vaz and Felletty hope their research will inspire the development of more powerful algorithms to discover more similarities between the brain and the universe. Perhaps we will learn about situations in which two networks are produced from completely different processes that are so closely related to each other.
We have heard Carl Sagan describe that our bodies are literally made up of stars. Now we understand that our brains can be just like them. A whole universe of connections is in your mind – a universe within one universe – and able to reach the other who gave birth to it. Millions of neurons touch billions of stars – precisely spiritual.
More to explore:
Images of the real simulated universe used for research: https://cosmosimfrazza.myfreeites.net/cosmic-web-and-brain-network-datasets
Does the human brain feel like the universe? | Eureka Alert! Science News
Show up below art display
Your brain is like a cosmic web (ntils)
[2008.05942] Explore the connections between the Cosmos and the Mind through six interactive art installations in “Like Below Up” (arxiv.org)Ask Ethan: Is the universe itself alive? (Ban.com)
How big is the universe? – The universe today
[astro-ph/9512141] How filaments are woven into the cosmic web (arxiv.org)Aquarius Dark Matter Simulation Video – ESO
