A new study examines the differences and similarities between the two most complex systems in existence, although completely different scales: the universe and its galaxies and the brain and its neuronal cells.
They found that while the scale is clearly different, the structure is significantly similar. In some cases, the two systems seemed more similar to each other than the part they make.
It suggests that a large number of different physiological processes can lead to very similar complex and organized structures.
For example, the human brain works because of a network of about 70 billion neurons that make up one. It is believed that there are at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe.
In each system, they assemble into a complex web or network, spreading into long filaments and nodes that connect them. Those spreading nodes are familiar with images of both the universe and the brain, and share some superficial similarities in images.
But in each system, those threads make up only about 30 percent of the mass. Water in the Brain and the Darkness of the Universe: About 70% of the mass in each is actually made up of parts that are dormant.
To further these similarities, the researchers compared the structure of those galaxy networks with sections of the brain. They were spread across two very different networks to understand this matter.
“We calculated the spectral density of both systems. This is an often employed technique in cosmology to study the spatial distribution of galaxies,” said Francopo, an astrophysicist at the University of Bologna who worked on the study with Alberto Felletti, a neurosurgeon at the University of Verona. .
“Our analysis shows that the distribution of fluctuations on a scale of 1 micrometer to 0.1 millimeters within the cerebellum neuronal network follows a similar progression of the distribution of matter in the cosmic web, but, of course, on a large scale which increases from 5 million to 500 million light-years.”
They also examined the ways in which the webs of neutrons and galaxies connected to each other – once again found significant similarities, the systems seem more similar to each other than their component parts. To do this, they compared the average number of connections between each node and how they formed the cluster.
“Once again, the structural parameters have identified the level of unpredictable agreement. Presumably, despite the striking and obvious differences between the physical forces that regulate galaxies and neurons, the connection between the two networks develops following the same physical principles.” .
“These two complex networks show more similarities than the distribution between the cosmic web and the galaxy or between the neuronal network and the neuronal body.”
A quantitative comparison between the neuronal network and the cosmic web has been published in a paper journal describing these findings. Physics of Frontiers.
