Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Psalm 139:14 NLT
"Neuroscientists used a classic branch of maths in a totally new way to peer into the structure of our brains.
What they discovered is that the brain is full of multi-dimensional geometrical structures operating in as many as 11 dimensions.
This brain model was produced by a team of researchers from the Blue Brain Project, a Swiss research initiative devoted to building a supercomputer-powered reconstruction of the human brain.
The team used algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics used to describe the properties of objects and spaces regardless of how they change shape.
They found that groups of neurons connect into 'cliques', and that the number of neurons in a clique would lead to its size as a high-dimensional geometric object (a mathematical dimensional concept, not a space-time one).
"There are tens of millions of these objects even in a small speck of the brain, up through seven dimensions. In some networks, we even found structures with up to 11 dimensions."
Just to be clear - this isn't how you'd think of spatial dimensions (our Universe has three spatial dimensions plus one time
dimension), instead it refers to how the researchers have looked at the neuron cliques to determine how connected they are.
Human brains are estimated to have a staggering 86 billion neurons, with multiple connections from each cell webbing in every possible direction, forming the vast cellular network that somehow makes us capable of thought and consciousness.
By connecting these two levels, the researchers could discern high-dimensional geometric structures in the brain, formed by collections of tightly connected neurons (cliques) and the empty spaces (cavities) between them.
"Algebraic topology is like a telescope and microscope at the same time," said one of the team, mathematician Kathryn Hess from EPFL.
"It can zoom into networks to find hidden structures, the trees in the forest, and see the empty spaces, the clearings, all at the same time."
Those clearings or cavities seem to be critically important for brain function. When researchers gave their virtual brain tissue a stimulus, they saw that neurons were reacting to it in a highly organized manner.
The progression of activity through the brain resembles a multi-dimensional sandcastle that materializes out of the sand and then disintegrates."
ScienceAlert
"Neuroscientists used a classic branch of maths in a totally new way to peer into the structure of our brains.
What they discovered is that the brain is full of multi-dimensional geometrical structures operating in as many as 11 dimensions.
This brain model was produced by a team of researchers from the Blue Brain Project, a Swiss research initiative devoted to building a supercomputer-powered reconstruction of the human brain.
The team used algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics used to describe the properties of objects and spaces regardless of how they change shape.
They found that groups of neurons connect into 'cliques', and that the number of neurons in a clique would lead to its size as a high-dimensional geometric object (a mathematical dimensional concept, not a space-time one).
"There are tens of millions of these objects even in a small speck of the brain, up through seven dimensions. In some networks, we even found structures with up to 11 dimensions."
Just to be clear - this isn't how you'd think of spatial dimensions (our Universe has three spatial dimensions plus one time
Human brains are estimated to have a staggering 86 billion neurons, with multiple connections from each cell webbing in every possible direction, forming the vast cellular network that somehow makes us capable of thought and consciousness.
By connecting these two levels, the researchers could discern high-dimensional geometric structures in the brain, formed by collections of tightly connected neurons (cliques) and the empty spaces (cavities) between them.
"Algebraic topology is like a telescope and microscope at the same time," said one of the team, mathematician Kathryn Hess from EPFL.
"It can zoom into networks to find hidden structures, the trees in the forest, and see the empty spaces, the clearings, all at the same time."
Those clearings or cavities seem to be critically important for brain function. When researchers gave their virtual brain tissue a stimulus, they saw that neurons were reacting to it in a highly organized manner.
The progression of activity through the brain resembles a multi-dimensional sandcastle that materializes out of the sand and then disintegrates."
ScienceAlert
